The daughter of a friend is having a bike built by Sweetpea Bikes, in Portland:
https://www.sweetpeabicycles.com/blog/?page_id=59. Anyone ride one or know anything about these folks? I'm curious: sounds cool but not much information on the website.

I haven't. Can you keep us posted? Bought my first real bike in August, I'm commuting, and already I'm making a wish list for my next bike. I'm female, 5'2", recovering from major pelvic floor sugery.

One of the smaller LBS in town will carry Terry by the spring...

Will do. Hope your recovery is going well.

"we design and build bikes for women"

The question is: Is there really a need for a women's line of bikes, or is this more of a marketing stunt. It would seem that a competant frame builder could fit a bike to female and male with equal competance. On the other hand women might be more comfortable buying from and being fitted by a female sales person (and her bo), even if the resulting bike is the same as the one bought from the hairy bandanad middle aged fabricator.

Cruising the financial news I am currently seeing alot of women's products like artificial joints and other things that 'experts' say should not be different for similar sized men and women.

BTW, isn't sweet pea a Dahon trademark?

There was an exhibition of Portland framebuilders at city hall in June. Sweetpea was there. Beautiful bikes. I'm really fortunate that my build doesn't require a WSD bike, but I know a lot of women who could never ride without pain until those bikes came into being.

I thought I'd report that as of today, January 2, 2007, my friend's daughter has not yet received her Sweet Pea; my friend doesn't know the reason for the delay. A shame to have not had that new bike for the fall cycling season.

notenspeed, I hope your recovery from surgery is complete.

Natalie makes them one at a time by hand. If she caught any of the nasty viruses that were going around Portland this fall/winter, I could easily imagine a delay in getting a custom bike.

I havent ridden a sweetpea, but ive met the builder. she is nice and the bikes look great. sure, any frame builder could probably build a women's frame, but natalie works with a big bike fit guy to ensure good fit and being a woman she probably thinks about how the bikes fit women. anyhow, as far as waiting a while to get the bike, it is a CUSTOM frame. theyre made one by one, by one person. try buying a vanilla (also built in PDX)- the waitlist is a couple of years long.

I wasn't criticizing Sweetpea so much as simply posting an update. I waited for my Spectrum, and I have also heard that the wait for a Richard Sachs is ~4 years, so I understand what "custom" can mean.

Photos of the long-awaited Sweetpea:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sweetpe...7600278269003/

The welds look fabulous, as does the apple green color.

I found the "perfect fit" in using multi-adjustable folding bikes with wide enough sprung saddles. I did not have to special order or spend alot of money for them.

Wow, that bike is pretty. I love the combination of super-smooth welds and lugging in some parts. Very pretty bike. Almost too pretty to ride...just kidding.