Storck make high end, racey road bikes, and they’ve recently added women’s specific options on some of their frames – by making smaller handlebars, cranks and women’s saddles available wherever the bikes are sold. Ian Hughes, managing director at Storck UK explained to us the brand’s views.
“What we want to do is provide road bikes for women athletes. The research that I’ve done, and we’ve done as a company, is that women don’t necessarily want women specific geometry or flowery colours or crazy stuff. They don’t want to be told ‘this is what you need’.”
Small frames and options to alter components
“We have smaller frame sizes to cater for smaller women. Then, the most important things are obviously the touch points – so we can provide women’s specific components and make sure through our dealer network that those bikes fit women.”
[TWC clarifies: So the Stork women’s bikes have the same frame – but come with shorter stems that can be swapped out. Why put a shorter stem on it if women don’t want shorter length – eg top tube?]
“Stem length is something that the bike fitter in the shop will determine with the customer – to provide the correct reach for them. Everyone’s torso is different. So rather than provide narrower bars and shorter stem that’s fixed, when the person comes to the shop, we get the fit right for you.
A lot of [female specific frames] come down to marketing to a degree
“A lot of [female specific frames] come down to marketing to a degree – but I think what a lot of the brands are now finding is that they’re actually moving away from women’s specific geometry – because it’s not necessarily what women want.”
