The mess that is finding cycling gear for women and smaller people

My partner and I are headed on another bikepacking trip soon and once again we’re reminded that the bike industry has issues catering to women and smaller persons. My partner is 158 cm tall (5' 2") and of a slender build.

Two years ago it was a mess trying to find a gravel bike that fit her and that didn’t have a completely compromised geometry and handling. Out of all the bikes in the market, only roughly 6 models were even worth considering¹ and even on those the componentry was sometimes ill-conceived with bars that are too wide, brifters too large, really long cranks (think 170 mm), two instances where the seat post was too long to allow for any kind of proper seat height, and just strange saddles.

This time around she was trying to find a hip bag with

• decent usable volume,
• proper waterproofing,
• an outside attachment point for a bottle or a rain jacket,
• and optionally: the ability to attach it to the handlebars of the bicycle.

We’ve scoured the web to find something and in the end ordered a Chrome Doubletrack Bike Bar Bag (5 l, already discontinued) and a Restrap Utility Hip Pack (6 l). Both bags are well-made (the Restrap definitely taking the cake, though), check all the boxes of features she was looking for … and both do not fit her at all.

On the Chrome bag the strap is way too long, making it impossible to cinch it down around her hip (the waist is completely out of question). If she wanted to use that one, she’d have to modify the strap and shorten it by about 20 cm.

The Restrap can be cinched down to fit her hips at least but the way the straps attach to the body leave the top half of it always dangling and rocking, creating discomfort and instability. Oh and the padding of the hip belt is very oddly cut so it digs into her hips.

The search continues and my hunch is that she’ll have to work with the people from Wizard Works in the UK or someone else for something custom and expensive.