Originally Posted by
AnthonyG
Highlighted: And that's your problem. You've managed to convince yourself that Westerners are SOO much bigger than Asians that you have just started making bikes bigger for customers that you "imagine" that you have without understanding that MANY Westerners are no larger than asians are in reality.
Here's the thing. The Western women who truly are taller, can and will ride mens bikes, no problems.
Giant actually HAS made improvements for small people yet you have confined the advances to the Juvenile range.
The Giant ARX 24, has the correct fundamental geometry, in just about EVERY detail, for adults up to 5' or so.
The frame angles are good, the crank length is right. All it really needs is a taller head tube and longer seatpost and it would be just right. I ride one myself at 5'1". Currently the bike as made is chopped low, which I corrected with a riser stem and a long seatpost.
The market for womens bikes for Western women who are no taller than asian women is HUGE. Then factor in how many asians live in the West these days and there is a HUGE market that you are ignoring.
Giant has been building most “western” bikes for close to 50 years they know the dimensions of their customers all over the world.
While I generally agree that short riders get the short shrift the difference between a 559 and a 584 isn’t going to be the difference to whether a bike fits or doesn’t. If you watch/read some interviews of Georgina Terry who in essence created women’s specific bikes with wheels that match their smaller stature she talks about wheel size and modern geometry and how she designs small bikes. The era of 559/571 for small riders is gone modern ideas of fork rake and trail makes wheel size (within reason) moot.