K2 Bike T:Nine Alliance

What’s in a name? That which we call a women’s bike, by another brand’s name might not ride as sweet

Why do we believe that distinctly different models, names and sometimes even prices than our K2 Bike men's line are so critical to the success of our women’s bicycle collection?

• Pride of Ownership – We all feel a stronger emotional connection to products whose names speak to us.  Conversely, we may choose to ignore items with names that don’t appeal to us, or actively avoid those that offend.  Our Alliance Team feels, and we think you’ll agree, that you’ll be more likely to share your enthusiasm about your new T:Nine Ridgeline or T:Nine Whirlwind than a "W" or "WSD" version of a men's bike from another brand.
• Priced by Design, not by History – Women value different features and benefits from their bicycles than men, and to properly address these separate desires in a women's model, it may cost either less, the same, or more than an existing men's bicycle depending on the particular style of bicycle.  Using separate names allows us the freedom to position our T:Nine bicycles at different prices than our traditional men's models to deliver what women have told us is most important to them, without either compromising to meet an existing price point or charging too much for features that aren’t desirable.
• Authenticity Above All – These days, too many products marketed as being women’s-specific follow the “pink it and shrink it” strategy, which is simply not good enough for us here at K2 Bike.  The T:Nine brand, along with our separate models and names, is your guarantee that we design the frames for every T:Nine bicycle to achieve balance with carefully selected, properly sized components, resulting in fit and performance characteristics truly appropriate for women riders.

I’m tall enough that I fit on many unisex and men’s bike designs pretty well. Why should I consider a T:Nine women’s bike?

The three keystones to every K2 T:Nine bicycle design are fit, performance and aesthetics that are we feel are more appropriate for women riders.  While many riders may find an acceptable fit on bikes not designed specifically for women, our T:Nine models offer a number of weight, comfort, ride quality and visual appeal advantages over traditional designs.  Here are a few examples why.

Weight

Unisex and men’s bikes are designed with more material to safely carry loads far greater than models designed specifically with lighter women riders in mind.  Why spend more effort carrying this extra weight up hills than you need to?

Comfort

In addition to excess strength, men’s and unisex frames are usually stiffer than a well-executed women’s design, to resist taller, more muscular average riders.  Extra, unwanted stiffness results in less control over rough surfaces and more rider fatigue over longer distances.

Ride Quality – Mountain Bikes

Proper tuning of the suspension is key to increased comfort, control and confidence when riding off-road.  A typical men’s or unisex bike is likely to use stiff springs designed to support male riders that are 20-40% heavier than women of similar heights.  Women riders rarely experience the same quality of suspension performance on men’s bikes, and almost never benefit from the full quantity of suspension available.

Ride Quality – Road Bikes

For road bikes, women can often switch to a shorter stem on a men’s bike and approach a good fit, but this inevitably compromises performance.  The shorter the stem, the twitchier the steering will feel, resulting in a less stable handling and increased rider fatigue over long distances.  T:Nine road bikes are designed with special forks that allow the frame to be designed for appropriate reach with a standard length stem, ensuring consistent, reliable steering.

Visual Appeal

Many men’s and unisex bicycles approach the looks of racing cars, with wildly contrasting colors, sharp transitions between hues and blatant, billboard-like graphics.  K2 T:Nine bicycles are styled to blend, not offend.  We use complimentary colors that fade across long transitions, with subtle graphics that disappear into the paint at the edges.

In some cases this subtlety may mean that it may be difficult to determine at a quick glance what brand of bike you’re riding, but that’s OK with us.  We’re confident that you’ll love the way your T:Nine bike weighs, feels, performs and looks so much that all of your friends will eventually hear about it.

I’m significantly smaller than most women. Why isn’t there a T:Nine size that fits me?

We are very aware that not all women riders fall between 5’ and 5’10” in height, and that some riders at the bottom of this range and beyond may not find optimal fit and performance on our smallest current T:Nine size, which we call Extra Small.  Here’s what we are doing to address the unique fit requirements of smaller women going forward.

Making an authentic T:Nine bike smaller than our current sizing range isn't easy, but we are closely investigating this possibility.  Many bike brands use smaller wheels on some of their women’s-specific models.  Instead, we've carefully designed our current T:Nine bikes so that they all use standard-sized wheels.  Why?

• Many women told us that they prefer the looks of bikes with standard wheels, and that considering bikes with smaller wheels made them feel as if they were riding a children’s bike.
• Bikes that use the most common wheel sizes are far easier to source replacement parts for.  A road rider using a smaller 650c wheel will find it much more difficult to find appropriate tubes, tires and wheels if they experience a flat, accident or stolen wheel.
• Using smaller wheels often involves accepting compromises in function.  For instance, smaller wheels require bigger front gears to cover the same ground as standard sized wheels.  Larger front gears on a mountain bike compromises ground clearance, and larger chain rings on a road bike may exceed the design parameters of the shifting system, reducing shifting ease and reliability.
• The overall number of small-wheeled adult bikes is relatively small.  As a result, the selection of components in the smaller sizes is limited, and the available parts are often more expensive than parts built in far greater numbers for standard wheels.

With these concepts in mind, we worked hard with our vendors to design complete bikes for a wide range of women riders that use standard-sized wheels.  But what about riders at or below the limits of our current XSM size, at about 5’ tall or less?

We are looking into developing an even smaller size for selected T:Nine models in the future, using smaller-sized wheels to achieve this goal.  However, the limitations described above make it unlikely that we will offer this new size across every model in the collection.

I’m significantly taller than most women. Why isn’t there a T:Nine size that fits me?

We are very aware that not all women riders fall between 5’ and 5’10” in height, and that some riders at the top of this range and beyond may not find optimal fit and performance from our largest current T:Nine size, which we call Medium.  Here’s what we are doing to properly address the fit requirements of taller women in the future.

We are currently developing an additional size that should better meet the fit requirements of women from 5’10” to 6 feet tall.  In order to make sure that you can trust that this size will work if you are significantly taller than the average woman, we are thoroughly testing the fit-related data and resulting bike designs before adding this size to our collection.

Once we are convinced that we have the fit dimensions and performance characteristics of this new, taller size correct, it should eventually be offered in all T:Nine bicycle models.  We hope to introduce this new size during the 2007 model year.  Thank you for your patience!

How does our sizing science behind the scenes helps most women find proper fit and comfort?

Many women are intimidated and confused by the charts, drawings and terms traditionally used to describe how bikes are sized.  However, finding a bike that fits properly can dramatically improve the cycling experience through enhanced comfort, confidence and efficiency.

Through scientific sizing research and a dash of common sense, we’ve pushed the confusing figures into the background of the bike buying experience.  As a result, most women can easily and accurately detemine the correct sized T:Nine bicycle at a glance.

The K2 Bike Fit System for T:Nine currently includes three frame size ranges, based on a dimension that every woman is familiar with – her height.  You'll find a sticker on the seat tube of every T:Nine bike that indicates which of the following three height ranges it best addresses.

• XSM sized T:Nine bikes are designed to fit women between 5’0” and 5’3”.
• SML sized T:Nine bikes are designed to fit women between 5’3” and 5’6”.
• MED sized T:Nine bikes are designed to fit women between 5’6” and 5’10”.

We developed this sizing system based on custom fit sessions with women of many heights, proportions, riding styles and ability levels.  Once we had accumulated enough data, we sized our bikes to perfectly fit the average rider in the middle of each size range.  What does this mean to you?

• If you are within 1 inch of the middle of one of our size ranges, there’s a very strong chance you’ll fit well on all T:Nine bikes in that size with no modifications.
• If you’re within 2 inches of the middle of a T:Nine size range, you’ll probably still find an appropriate fit, but may need to make some minor changes.  Working with your K2 Bike dealer to select a stem length up to 15mm  shorter or longer might improve your fit and comfort, while maintaining proper performance and stable handling.
• If your height falls near the transition height between two of our size ranges, try both of them and go with the one that you feel more comfortable and confident while riding.  As a generalization, riders at the transition heights with longer legs and shorter torsos than average may feel more at home on the smaller size, while riders with shorter legs and longer torsos may appreciate the longer reach of the larger size.

Of course, since our fit system is based on averages, there will be a few exceptional women for whom our sizing assumptions don’t hold true.  However, we’ve found that most women between 5’ and 5’10” find an appropriate sized T:Nine bike much easier and more accurately than with bicycles from other brands – women’s specific or otherwise.

Question authenticity! We do it every day when developing new T:Nine designs

Dictionaries define the word authentic as meaning true, genuine, valid, dependable, faithful and real.  Authentic products are often promised by brands in today’s world, but it’s all too common to see these promises broken in the relentless pursuit of profits.

People passionate about their beliefs know true authenticity when they see it.  To these folks, no amount of marketing can substitute for trust that's been earned through offering reliable products that remain consistent with their core values over time.  K2 Bike’s organization and our Alliance Team are such passionate people, dedicated to improving the cycling experience for women through our actions.

While other bike brands had produced women’s-specific models before us, our development group and Alliance Team agreed that we could provide a uniquely different, completely separate and naturally authentic women’s line that embodies the following key concepts:

• Select unique names for our distinctive women’s bicycles, not just recycle traditional names from men’s or unisex models and call them women’s-specific
• Choose new, vibrant colors which women felt strongly about, not fall back on hues that had traditionally sold well on step-through framed versions of existing bikes marketed as ladies' designs
• Design stand-alone aesthetics with gradual color transitions and subtle graphic elements that break the bike industry clichés of hard-edged, high-contrast, blocky, billboard style colors and graphics
• Offer a wide range of bicycles that suit many womens’ budgets, riding styles, abilities and ambitions, not just a few models at high price points for elite riders
• Develop new, exceptional frame designs that offer high-performance features appropriate to women instead of accepting design elements from existing men's or unisex models
• Design proprietary women's fit-related dimensions according to a library of data from custom fitting sessions with a group of cyclists of many ages, heights and riding styles
• Pick specific components in coordination with the frame design process to properly suit lighter, smaller riders, not just add "women's" parts arbitrarily after the fact
• Make conscious choices to ensure that our bikes are more fun to choose, ride and own, and that safety and convenience are not compromised to achieve these goals
• Reserve the T:Nine brand name exclusively for bicycles that fulfill all of the closely held values of the Alliance, including every one of the above concepts

We want our Alliance to grow into a diverse community of women cyclists that fosters spirited discussions, sponsors incredible events and creates inspiring products that both enhance the cycling experience and make it accessible to more women around the world.

In order to succeed in this goal, it’s important that you understand what we feel is appropriate for women’s bicycles, and can trust that we’ll always act consistently with these beliefs.  That’s what authenticity means to us, and why we’re so serious about your fun!