Alex Pavon works for Juliana/Santa Cruz, so take it for what it's worth. Women's bikes are no longer in fashion, and most every brand has abandoned their women-specific bikes. Santa Cruz markets Juliana Bikes, but does not spend the money to make a women-specific frame. Giant, on the other hand, does have women's frames, but sometimes the bikes are not as capable. The newest 29er has less travel in the women's version--plus the geometry is not good. If you're gonna do a women's bike, get it right. On the other hand, yes, Julian and Liv are lifetyle brands, but all mountain bikes are lifestyle brands at this point, none more egregiously than Yeti and Ibis; Yetis are fucking garbage, but the rich white guys love the shit out of them. Yeti may have started as a racer's tool, but the only thing Yeti has left are the tools who buy them. Pinkbike always deserves the opprobrium, tho, just as much as rich white people need their taxes raised.
Women's bikes are probably a good thing, but in the age of plastic bikes from China, new or different frames cost big money up front, and the major brands found there was not really money to be made. Enough money, anyway. Orbea and Specialized--yeah, I know--had pretty excellent women's designs for road racing style bikes back five to 10 years ago--the Orbea Diva frame was amazing for its time--but those disappeared as prices began to skyrocket. I wonder if there's a connection...
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