So what sex is your bike?...

Bionicycle

I have a question… How many men on this site ride a (so-called) woman’s bicycle? I have read that in Europe, and other countries like Japan and China, that it is not that uncommon, and that they don’t really have a hang up about step through versus diamond frame bikes.

I ride a step through frame bike (a so-called woman’s model) and I enjoy it very much. I really find it somewhat irritating that I have been so brain washed about the sex of a bicycle since my childhood that I should even refer to my bike as a woman’s bike. ( I am a man by the way) I ride a step through frame, because I had to have my left hip replaced due to degenerative arthritis about two years ago. My doctor said ride a bike for some exercise, but he didn’t like the idea of throwing my leg up and around a tall center bar on my bike, so I got a step through frame cruiser. I plan on up grading my bike in the not too distant future, but I really get sick of going to my LBS and looking at a bike: only to have some sales person tell me that I’m looking at a woman’s bike…

I was just wondering if anyone else on this forum has went through the same thing. I’m just feeling like the bike manufacturers are missing a segment of the market, by hanging onto out dated views on what types of frames are supposedly male, or female.

I wish they made a step through frame, that could be fitted for a six foot tall, 250 pound male… So what sex is the bike you like to ride?…

By the way... Hello everyone, I look forward to being a part of this fine forum.

Cycler6n

No, I'm a roadie and the male and female models are very different due to the geometry (or something like that) of our bodies. You'll notice womans bikes are completely different than a mans.

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tx_newbie

Well, I'm a guy riding a WSB--Orbea Onix Dama (53cm w/90mm stem). The "men's" Onix felt too stretched out at 51cm, and I didn't want to drop down to an 80mm stem (as on my current Specialized Allez, 52cm). The 48cm Onix just didn't feel right; not cramped, but inexpicably 'not right' even after playing for an hour at the LBS. The Dama...all she needed were my Looks, 10 min of tweaking the saddle height/fore-aft, and the rest is history.

Yeah, I've gotten quizzical looks, both nice and not-so nice. Yeah, the bike has pink accents. Yeah, with it's shortened top tube and long head tube it looks about as WSB as a Specialized Ruby. Yeah, it's a "girl's" bike--but its MY bike that fits me well and keeps me on the road.

Bionicycle

Yes, I’m very aware of the anatomical differences between a man and a woman (viva le difference ) , and the geometrical differences between a (so-called) men’s and woman’s bicycle. What I was mostly wanting to know is, has anyone found it better to ride a step through frame: as in Touring, Commuting. I have read that there are some advantages to a step through frame when it comes to Touring, because it is so much easer to mount the bike when it is fully laden with saddle bags and all the Touring gear.

Since you are as you say a Roadie, I very much imagine that you would rather be caught dead, than on a step through frame. Peer pressure in the USA roadie world would no doubt dictate… it is better to be dead than Fred.

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My one and only true advantage is, a keen awareness of my own ignorance--- Socrates as quoted by Plato…

Bionicycle

I know what you mean there… I wouldn’t be riding a bike at all if it wasn’t for step through frame design. I just wish the bicycle manufactures would come out with a step through design, and not call it a woman’s model. I can’t for the life of me see why the American bicycle market seems to stick with the idea of separate men’s and ladies bicycles, just based on frame design alone. Why not make all frame designs available to both sexes? I know that the women’s bike design came about due to lady cyclist wearing long dresses, but we are way past that now.

I just wish some of the European Tour riders and Commuters would chime in on this and give their opinions about bike frame design, because I can’t help but feel that it is mostly an American prejudice about which bike frame design is for which sex…

Anyway though, I’m glad you are enjoying your step through frame bicycle (as am I mine ) and not letting a stupid out dated almost sexist dogma keep you from riding a bike you are comfortable on…

Safe and fun riding to you…

__________________
My one and only true advantage is, a keen awareness of my own ignorance--- Socrates as quoted by Plato…

stlblues

Both myself and my wife ride mens frames, she has a longer torso and likes the "stretched" design of the mens. I am rough on bikes and the mens are stronger due to the triangular design. If you've ever studied engineering, you'll understand, but I've knocked the nuts a few times on the top bar, no pleasant. My, well was mine now my sons, MT bike is a Y frame config so no problem there.

kdelong

I have always ridden a men's frame. I have test ridden a few WSBs but I cannot get a comfortable reach on one that is sized corresponding to the length of my legs. Also, all of my bikes have male names except for a pretty little Univega Restoration that I put together for my girlfreind. The Univega is a male frame but it fits her nearly perfectly with a short stem.

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Cycler6n

Nah, its not that a womans frame would embarass me, its that its so different, it'd be way to uncomfterble, I mean, have you seen there handlebars?

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-Greg Lemond

kdelong

It mostly has to do with the structural strength of the bike and how that effects the ride and weight. Frames that do not have a top tube are incomplete from a structural standpoint. To regain some of the strength lost because of the poor structure, step through frames have traditionally been constructed with heavier tubing. You also lose a fair bit of the rigidity of the bike. Rigidity is important in a bicycle frame because a frame that is too flexible wastes pedaling energy.

While a few riders "would not be caught dead on a girl's bike" because it is a girl's bike, the majority are swayed by the increased weight and loss of rigidity of a step through frame. Sexism probably is very low on the list as to why a diamond frame is chosen over a step through frame. And this is not just an American phenomenon, otherwise you would see step through frames in the TDF and other races, and see them featured in the international Bicycling publications.

If you go to Europe or Asia, you will find bicycles with no top tube called a Woman's Bicycle. It is just tradition to call it a ladies' bike, nothing more.
Ride whatever you are comfortable on, but don't automatically assume that there are nefarious reasons that it is not named what you would like it to be named.

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