Curves and competence: Mona on bike fitting, Smartfit & consultation for women

Curves and competence: Mona on bike fitting, Smartfit & consultation for women

Store manager, bike fitter, trail queen - Mona Fahrbach shows that bikes are no longer just for men. In this interview, she explains why wider pelvises need different advice, how Smartfit rocks their sales and why a well-fitting saddle gives you more confidence than a carbon frame. Welcome to the Ö-Bike Store - where women have the handlebars in their hands!

The team from the Ö-Bike Store in Öhringen relies on competent advice with a lot of power and humor

You have two “special features”: Firstly, you founded the Ö-Bike store (under different management at the time) in 2020 at the height of Corona and secondly, you are a female store manager. Who are you at the Ö-Bike Store?

Mona: We are a small business with three permanent employees and three mini-jobbers who support us. During and after Corona, we sold everything we could sell. Now, however, we concentrate purely on sporty bikes, mainly mountain bikes and gravel. Last year (2024) in October, I took over the store as Store Manager.

Mona Fahrbach knows about the differences between men and women when it comes to sizing and fitting

Unfortunately, female store managers are still rare in the bike industry. A recently published study by SAZ Bike makes it clear just how underrepresented women still are in the bike industry, whether in sports or retail. However, women certainly bring a great deal of added value to the industry and to sales advice. Where do you see differences in the advice you give as a woman versus a male colleague?

Mona: Female customers sometimes have completely different needs when it comes to bikes or fitting. As a female mountain biker and riding technique trainer, I see this regularly and as a woman I can simply respond to it more specifically in my advice. Women with a large bust size in particular have problems with their posture on the bike, especially when they are riding in alpine, rougher terrain. The additional weight (of the bust) pulls us women further forward. Standard mountain bike handlebars are also simply too wide for women's shoulders, which are generally narrower than those of men.

When measuring and fitting, we often have issues such as the pelvis or ischial bones, because the vast majority of saddles are simply too narrow for us girls. As a rule, we simply have wider pelvises than men. Many women also have problems in the pubic bone region (chafing or falling asleep). I am convinced that, as a woman, I can deal with this much better than my male colleagues and, of course, women are less ashamed to talk about such problems.

Customers can benefit from Mona's expertise as a riding technique trainer for sizing and fitting

How does Smartfit help you with the consultation?

Mona: Smartfit in combination with SQLab works incredibly well for individual settings. We measure our customers and see exactly where the problems lie. Fortunately, more and more women are coming to us who feel that they are in good hands, also thanks to our female consulting power (Mona and another employee). Of course, our guys are just as competent when it comes to advice, but when it comes to specific problems due to the female anatomy, my female colleague and I are usually better able to deal with them. A perfectly fitting bike simply gives us women much more self-confidence and security in an already very male-dominated cycling world. While men just blast down the trails, we women are usually a bit more cautious. This makes it all the more important to have a perfectly fitting bike underneath you. Measuring with Smartfit gives us additional security when giving advice.

Customers come to the Ö-Bike Store especially for the extensive measurement

What do consultations with Smartfit look like for you and what has been the biggest change for you since you started using Smartfit?

Mona: Every customer who comes to us for a bike consultation is measured and we've had a lot of symptom-free customers since then. For the customer, the best case scenario is that they don't have to come back. Smartfit has become an integral part of our everyday life. Smartfit measurement with the inner leg spring helps us enormously, especially when customers are between two different sizes and we are not immediately sure which frame size is best for them. After the measurement and adjustment, we take the customer for a test ride and see how they sit on the bike, because often you also have to work on their posture and not just on the bike's adjustment. I have the feeling that our customers feel much more comfortable since then. Customers come to us specifically because they have heard or read that we measure them ergonomically, which means it has a positive impact on our sales and service as well as our image.

Thank you for your time and your testimonial, Mona!

>>> You can find out more about Mona and her riding technique training sessions on her Instagram channel @goodvibesmona

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