sandman007

I've been noticing that lately I've been guessing incorrectly on what bikes are mens and what bikes are womens... Unless they are female themes/colors or male... I have no Idea... so I got this from my neighbor who was moving. He said that it had been sitting in his garage for about 2yrs.

So is it a girls bike or a boys bike?

JanMM

It's a dual-suspension mountain bike! If a man rides it, it's a man's bike. If a woman rides it, it's woman's bike.

sandman007

I like that answer, I just thought that if there was an angle in the top tube that was a girls bike. And if the top tube was straight it was a boys. Or... Mens... Womens... you know what I mean.

wahoonc

It doesn't matter where the tubes are...if a man is riding it...man's bike, woman riding it...woman's bike. I am 6'-2" and over 200# and have yet to have anyone tell me whether I am riding the "wrong" bike or not FWIW my grocery getter is a step through frame, makes it a lot easier to board when loaded down with 50#'s of stuff. Also some days my knees and hip give me the fits and swinging a leg over ain't gonna happen!

Aaron

JoelS

There's no such thing as a "man's bike" or "woman's bike." There are bikes that are marketed to men or to women, but that's it. Even that step-through frame isn't a "man's bike" or "woman's bike." It's just a mixte frame style.

Bionicycle

If you follow that logic though, just about all of the new Comfort, and Hybrid bikes, and many Mountain bikes, would be classified as a “Woman’s” bike. Not to mention Recumbent, bicycles, and tricycles. Look at some of the European U-frame designs that are just now becoming popular in the U.S.A., in Europe they are mainly considered Unisex. … The new frame designs, thankfully, are blurring the lines between, what have always been considered Men’s, or Women’s bikes.

If you look at a woman’s Road Bike, most of them have what would be considered a “Man’s” Diamond Frame design, with just a bit of difference in the geometry. Usually a shorter reach between the seat and bars.

Personally I wish the bike companies would finally grow up, and just label frames as Diamond Frame, or Step Through, or Recumbent frame, or High Tech Suspended. Make each style frame available in different sizes (within reason) to fit all manner of people sizes, and keep the paint scheme gender neutral (although I have read, pink is a masculine color in Japan)… it may surprise the bike manufacturers to find out someday, that not all women want a bike that is pink and white, or light blue, with flowers all over it,(my wife hates those) and not all men want to have to throw their leg up and over a high center bar.(I hate those due to a bad hip). Especially when you have a rear rack full of stuff, a child seat on board, or pulling a trailer…

If I were you, I would just ride the bike and not worry about whether it is a Man or Woman’s bike… it’s just a bike. Have fun with it…

Bionicycle

I think the bike manufacturers are finally figuring out that they are missing a huge market of aging male baby boomers, that don’t feel like throwing a leg over a top bar everyday, but who are still too stigmatized by the whole bike gender thing to ride a step through frames. That’s why the male comfort bikes keep getting center bars that are lower and lower. I saw a Giant Suede parked at a restaurant a couple weeks ago, and it looked like the center bar was only about 20 inches above the ground, if that. Nice bike, I may get one of those someday…

wahoonc

I like the super low step through designs that are coming out of the EU. Sweet rides for city use!

Aaron

CommuterRun

I still can't tell a male from a female bike, even if I flip it over.

Machka 

"men's bike" and "women's bike" classifications are ancient history.

Condorita

My bicycle has neither boobs nor balls, so I guess it's gender neutral. Or ungendered.

Siu Blue Wind

You gotta look under the.......bottom bracket....

sandman007

We'll it seems that I've opened a small "can o worms" so I will accept the gift and ride with pride. It needs some work so you'll see pics of it in the mechanics area also.

Thank you all for your 0.02 cents.

apricissimus 

What about bikes that have the traditional road bike frame, but are marketed as having a better fit for women? I have no idea what this would entail, but it doesn't seem outlandish to me that men and women with their different anatomies and proportions might have different fit needs for their bikes.

I could be totally wrong about that too, but it's not obvious to me.

Aren't there saddles designed for women who typically have slightly wider sit bones than men?

sandman007

uh ooh don't get me started on saddles I have one with a hole in the middle and one without...

Check these ones out... The first one on the top right of the page is the one I was referring to as "one with a hole in it" (racing seat)
https://chagalo.org/Bike/BicycleSeat.shtml

My other seat is an everyday regular seat seen in the 1st pic at the beginning of this thread.

BarracksSi

Basically -- narrower handlebars, short-reach shifters, a frame meant for longer legs and shorter torso, etc etc. Even so, some women fit better on men's frames, and some men actually fit better on women's frames (which means they either have to settle for pink flowers or find a "macho" paint job ).

We all remember that women's frames had the dropped top tube to make room for skirts. But, if I had a bike with a basket on the back, I'd really want it to be a "women's" step-thru frame.

somnatash

+1
A bike which not custom made is always a compromise and its set up derives from "average" body-measures. In comparison woman's legs are longer and upper body is smaller for a given height. That could require a shorter top tube and longer seat-tube. When looking at legs, its the calves that makes most % of the "longer" in legs - that can have effect of optimal crank length. Shoulder width is - in average smaller - that could make a smaller bar width appropriate. Hands are in average narrower, with % longer finger - has effect on optimum seize of grips and lever distance. A perfect saddle for a typical womans back is yet to designed. Not only the sit bones differ but also the arc to pubic bone...and so on.
Actually I would appreciate if there were more research on ergonomics for "woman" bikes.

Apart from that, I think some of you got it the wrong way round...
Didn't you realize that bikes ridden by men are almost always female?
My bikes are definitely male and also I believe pink on a man's bike is most sexy

Buglady

LOL! That made me realize that I think of all of my bikes as male. Hee hee. That puts an entirely different complexion on things...

I ride diamond frames because usually those are the ones that are tall enough for me (I'm 5'8" with a 34" inseam - I haven't seen a "woman's" bike that was built for anyone over 5'6"). I had to change out the brake levers on one bike so that I could reach them - although I do have long fingers, overall my hands are quite small. I have relatively broad shoulders so I have not found handlebar width to be too much of a problem.

I'm trying to figure out crankarm length and if I should be using something different. I have very long femoral bones (seriously, if I bring my knee up to my chest, my kneecap is exactly even with my shoulder) and I seem to be having trouble getting my knee in that magical 90 degree position without shoving my saddle so far back I can't reach the bars anymore!

operator

Yeah WSD is just all in my head. It has never appeared in real life or in present product literature or on show room floors.

Sirrus Rider

Not sure.., Flip it over and check its "Bits" and that should tell you.

Buglady

WSD is different from "sloping top tube = girls bike so you can wear a skirt". Most of the modern WSD bikes look just like the non-WSD ones, since the differences in geometry and sizing are not immediately obvious to the eye. The old style of assigning bikes by top tube slope IS ancient history since the manufacturers are now using actual biomechanical differences rather than sex-specific clothing (or other socially prescribed factors) to design bikes.

And besides, mountain bikes all have sloping tubes.

JanMM

Yep. WSD, done correctly, involves actual scientific process.

Bionicycle

I agree 100%…I love the fact that the manufactures are using WSD for a Woman’s bike. I think that it’s about time… Now if the manufactures could just do away with that stigma in our society and produce a MSD (Man Specific Design) Step Though Frame bike, and quit calling every bike with a slanted top tube a “Ladies”, or “Woman’s” bike. I think they would be on to something. Maybe they are afraid the markets not there for it, but I see so many middle age to older men, and even a few younger men too; riding step through frames already, (some that don’t look like they fit them very well) I think there would be a market for a MSD Step Through.

It could be very useful with older “Baby Boomers”, Semi Utility Cyclist, or Touring/Trekking Cyclist, and City Cyclist with a bunch start and stops to make. I’ve seen that type of bike on the Web advertised for sale in Europe, and Asia markets, but we never seem to see them here in the U.S.

I wouldn’t ever expect it would appeal to a hard core “Roadie”, not unless that kind of design ever won the TDF, or any track events anyway. But, I wouldn’t expect to see that anytime soon since the UCI is not fond of bikes like Graeme Obree’s Old Faithful design. I always wonder what the popular bicycle design would look like today if the UCI had not outlawed Old Faithful… I bet it would look quite different…

Bionicycle

P.S. Here is a picture of Obree's Old Faithful for you...

JPprivate

This is an old post, I realize. I just thought it was too funny.

So I walk into a LBS asking about the Trek Belleville mixte. They have only the men's bike not the Mixte version yet. So the lady at the LBS asks me "you want the girls bike???".

Anyway, I do understand the whole 100 year old skirt argument - but somebody has to explain to me why agile, less muscular women" get to ride the easily mountable, heavier bikes and stronger, less agile men get the lighter, harder to mount bikes... lol!