huhenio

yard sale .... 10 speed .... new wheels and tires .... bb and headset ... .good to go

Dahon.Steve

Both of my folding bikes were step through. The folding bike practically requires eliminating the top tube. One girl did made the remark that I was riding a girls bike. Now that folders have become more mainstream, I see less of this remark.

wb 86

Ah...........this thread brings back memeories of the beloved "Pinky De-Lux" the awesome city bred womens Huffy stone mountain where me and a few other "kids" sprayed every part in Testors label pink spray paint. Left an awesome bike shape on my lawn. Sure I got razed riding it around the bar seen, but no lock was necessary and I loved pedaling by the guys pulled over for DUI after last call while the cops ignored me on my trip back home. Plus several of the ladies dug it, the old if he can ride that he must be confidant in who he is, pro-feminism,yada yada yada......

Seriously, for some it may be more comfortable. others its their only option at the moment. Rock it for whatever reason and F the haters. At least your out riding and it makes YOU happy. The signifigant other will understand on some level.

Now I feel the urge to find me a mixte frame tonight..

Craig

Rick G

When I got my bike my son was only about 2 yrs old.I put his seat on the back and strapped him in.I had to have the step through to get my leg over.So I guess it was out of neccessity to get a girls bike.I still ride it with the family.When i am on my own I ride the roadie.The kids around town all laugh but I am not into it for very much and still enjoy riding.They got nothing on me.
If ya want to be avoided try this recipe
Blue girls mtn bike
dark blue sweats
pink Dora backpack
People think you are not all there.They leave you well enouph alone.Trust me I have lived it.
(course some people don't think I am all there anyway)

FlatTop

I bought a nice silver-gray Soma mixte 5-speed at a yard sale for my wife, and proceeded to tune it up and detail it for presentation. During this process I had to ride it, of course. What a sweet riding bike.

She loved the mixte, but it was a bad fit, about two inches too tall at standover. I want to sell it, but it just looks cool and rides great...

If you have concerns with being seen on a "girls bike", remember that the original design variation was to accommodate the flowing skirts of the era; a purpose long outmoded, so there must now be better reasons for step-through frames. Comfort and convenience, perhaps.

Are Vespas and Lambrettas "girls bikes" too?

4564646544

No-one is going to tell me what bike I can't ride because some of the metal is "the wrong shape" or the paintwork reflect photons of an "inappropriate frequency". I pity the foo' who's so sexually insecure that he needs reassurance in the form an appropriately shaped bicycle frame.

Michael71061

Yah know. This was the first thread I came across and I just figured it must be that off season waiting for Spring fever hitting, but than I noticed it was from May. Oh brother, ride what you're comfortable on and happy with. As far as I'm concerned if that's a step through than go for it. When I was a kid I had a Huffy Convertible and since I was short for a boy, or at least for the bike, I never had the top tube on making it look exactly like a girl's bike. Took a bit of kidding at times about it from the neighborhood kids but I dealt with it.

A few years ago I was happy riding a friend of mine's daughter's bike every once in a while. The daughter was 15 at the time, didn't bother me any and I was actually quite comfortable riding it.

Call it run what ya' brung, ride what you're happy with, or whatever. If there's two wheel's below you plus a crankset than who really care's, it's none of there business. It's all in your head.

Though just for a little reality sake if you live in a tough neighborhood you might want to think twice about what you're seen on. However, on the otherhand I live in an area that's tough on some spots and easy on others, and yeah, there's that occasional guy riding a step through or a mixte in the area. Nobody seems to bother them any. True; if you go to the Walmart they still seem to like to use the word's "men's" and "ladies", and yeah, the first letter of WSD stands for women's. Oh well, that's another world but who really care's what title's the manufacturer's or seller's want to apply.

And for a little further information I happen to fit a women's size 11 shoe a whole lot better than any men's size shoe in any width. Now just for fun go to a shoe store like Payless or Walmart, sit down and try on the women's 11 footwear when buying a new pair of sneaker's. You'll have no problem going to the bike shop to check out the WSD's and Mixte's to see if they are the right size and comfortable frame design for you.

Yeah I know. Not everyone has the attitude to be able to do this, but on the other hand you might want to try renting what you think you are interested in first and try it out. Who knows, just might surprise yourself!

nelson249

When I was a kid I paid $5 for an old women's single speed CCM with 28" wheels for delivering papers. It was a great bike and my dad is still scavenging it for parts for his old CCM (his original bike from when he was 8 years old). Everyone stopped laughing at me when I was able to outrun all my friends on their crappy Supercycle banana seat bikes.

crazzywolfie

as long as it aint painted pink or some type of girly color i would probably drive. i owned a couple of girls bike and no one knew it because they where blue or red.

fietsbob

Make that a Kilt* and do the whole sporrin, argyle knee socks and bring along that big old broad sword
and dare them to laugh..

JanMM

Zombie Thread Alert

I wouldn't want people to look at me funny because of riding the "wrong" bike. I'll continue to ride a men's frame style bike:

Carley P.

Whoa. I just realized that this thread is from 2006.

Even so, this guy said it best.

I'd rather be seen on a girl's bike than on a Magna. If i were forced to ride a girl's magna, I would make sure to tell everybody "I just ride it so I don't have to worry about someone stealing it."

Zephyr11

Women's specific bike:


"Men's" bike:


Has your mind been BLOWN?!

Sirrus Rider

I think you may have meant "Kilt"

531phile 

I've been thinking of getting a 80s ladies bike(mixte or sloping top tube) to use as a beater. I figure the chance of it getting stolen would be less. Ladies bikes from the 80s aren't that sought after especially since there were never that many high-end ladies bikes to begin with from this era.

Retro Grouch 

And yet you asked.

I think that it's one of those "Catch 22" things. If you hadn't asked, I'd say "Don't worry about it." Since you did ask I'm thinking that you have doubts. If you are going to have second thoughts about it being a "girl's bike" every time you're deciding whether or not to ride, I wouldn't buy it.

SunnyFlorida

I see men on "low step/sloping bar" type bikes all the time in Florida. I'm pretty sure their "cujones" are still very much intact - not that I'm checking that closely.

Arrowana

I rode a women's 3-speed around for awhile, and only had one person say it was a grandma bike. And if I did receive a comment, I could point out that it is black, and since Puch and Steyr are related, I could say it was made by a company that makes guns.

If I remember right, my dad's hybrid is a women's model. He talked my mom into letting him get it by saying they could share it, but that never happened.

Retro Grouch 

If he had to get permission I can see why he ended up with a girl's bike.

Artkansas 

The first bike I ever rode was friend's Schwinn Pixie at age 5. That's what I used to teach myself to ride. I figured the step-through frame would be easier to learn on.

I also had a woman's model Free Spirit 10 speed as a beater bike. One advantage was that it was much less likely to be stolen.

Amesja

There is no such thing as a "women's" bike.

There are step-through frames, mixte frames, and diamond frames.

Bikes don't breed or mate so they have no use/need for genders or sex.

Retro Grouch 

I'm not so sure.

I went for a lot of years with just one bike. Once I acquired the second one they just seemed to multiply. By the way - how do you think that hybrid bikes came into being?

xizangstan

Who among our ancestors decided to design a bike for males with a high top tube, that will only smash the balls? And for the girls who don't have the dangly body parts between their legs, they get a bike designed with extra clearance? How backward is that?

My GT Xizang mountain bike has the signature 'Triple-Triangle' frame that GT made famous, high top tube and all. But if a bike can have gender, I'm positive mine is female. She's a loving mistress who seduces me into spending my time and money on her, even after 16 years together...

531phile 

Simple. The high top tube is so women don't get aroused everytime they come to a stop. Men knew their manhood couldn't compete with 20"+ tube of steel.

asquith12

I think that should not be an objection any one can ride any bike. when women can ride the men's bike i think that should be fine.