Just outta curiousity do any you gals actually ride female frames?
 

I see older female style frames everywhere for cheap or free, frames that are better than the male frames I see around.. Do any of you FG girls ride womens frames or do you ride regular frames, and why? just wonder'n..

Step-throughs are always heavier and never stiffer, there's not much point. I did build up a sweet old french mixte for a friend last week, though, and Rivendell builds a mixte.

ladie's frames are boat anchors.

and a flat top tube does not make a "mens" frame. it just makes it a regular frame.

when you get out of the mindset that bicycles are for children and start buying better-quality bikes, you tend to fit for the actual size and proportions of the rider, not their gender.

although terry makes some women's specific frames that arent junk or at least so I hear. wouldnt know, I've never looked at them.

and no, I ride a normal "mens" track frame. it's just really small.

Women's frames are a pain in the ass to lock up, too.

I rode a women's frame when I was a kid, but now it seems to matter a lot less. I can swing my leg over a bike just like a man and I don't ride around in a skirt so I don't see the point. Plus, it sure is harder to find a women specific track bike...

There's a girl around here that commutes on what I've dubbed the "gender-ambiguous" frame. The top tube dips but then straightens out half-way down. She's got mustache bars on it and nice fenders, it looks very hot.

they are heavie as hell and are a pain to grab when walking up and down stairs.

those tanks scare the cars....what else could you ask for

Like I said, I was just curious... All of your explainations make a lot of sense...

A guy I work with bought an old female paramount frame (nervex lugs and all) to make a fixie out of.. he has a super short inseam, and wants to try something different.

hah. I had one of those. it weighed a billion pounds and had the freewheel in the bb shell.

the "ergonomic" top tube is for shorties. those frames are (I hear) primarily built for touring.

don't be a ******.

(double post)

if anyone of you have ever ridden/picked up a really NICE mixte or ladies frame, then you'll soon notice that they are not all tanks. it just so happens that most of the ladies frames you see are bombproof schwins, busted bike boom era peugots, etc. etc. i used to have a jack taylor ladies frame that was probably the finest fillet brazed bike i've ever seen. set up as a single speed w/ horizontal dropouts. light as a feather, but way too short for me to comment on ride handling.

also, please note the difference between mixte and ladies frames. mixtes have another set of stays that run between seat and chain, dividing the typical rear triangle into 2 rear triangles. interestingly enough, several french frame builders and some more recent japanese (and a few american!) are designing mixtes for heavy, heavy loaded self-contained touring under the assumption that they distribute weight better than traditional top-tube bikes. such as this colin laing mixte which i'm sure some of you saw on flea-bay a few months ago: http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/...laingmixte.jpg

not exactly single speed/fixed, but certainly cool. wrt the terry frames, my former roommate (lady, approx 5'3ish) has a lugged steel terry that she's ridden for almost 5 years including 4, or perhaps 5, serious tours. a really nice bike.

My top tube curves up to my junk. Does that make my bike a SUPER MANLY MAN bike? :OOOO

A womans bike that doesn't suck (and no you can't have it. It belongs to my girlfriend)

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...2/DSC00233.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...2/DSC00235.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...2/DSC00234.jpg

It's 531, Campagnolo, canti breaked goodness all the way. The levers, bar tape and seat do all suck, but hey, I got it for $50. I can afford to sort those things....

My fiance doesn't ride a "girl's bike" but her frame is "women specific": it was designed around smaller wheels to deal with standover and toe-overlap issues, which also allows a shorter top-tube. The handlebars could still use some fitment, but overall a good alternative to just getting a super-tiny road bike.

i ride a women's frame. see, it was custom made for me. and i'm a woman.

i also used to have a woman-specific road bike.

both are full triangle frames. they just have a shorter top tube. they fit.
btw- rivendell makes one of the most awesome, drop-dead gorgeous step-through frames on earth. ch-ch-check it out:
http://rivendellbicycles.com/images/GloriusSV.jpg
i saw one on the streets of chicago, and man... wow.

This was built by Sacha White of Vanilla for his girlfriend (I think) and is a bit gorgeous:

http://www.vanillabicycles.com/bikes...ke_c/lrg/1.jpg

they have one of those frames at college park bikes and my girlfriend really liked it... but i can't afford that frame right now. that bike is awesome.

Man that was a GREAT find Sammyboy! Where do you shop? You turn up some of the most unique stuff.

Well put.

I ride a normal bike. I'm not exceptionally short, and I prefer to ride in cycling shorts rather than skirts. Those bikes that y'all posted are nice, but there's so much more to choose from with 'men's' frames. Also, I prefer a more aggressive riding position, so bars higher than the saddle are not very appealing.

Honestly, I don't think I'd ever ride a ladie's frame. I just don't have any reason to do so, and as beautiful as the Rivendell and Vanilla are, I still like my bike better for going fast:)

There is this awesome old Raleigh Cargo bike at Old Spokes Home with a frame shaped similar to that, and a big ass front rack. The Rack is bolted directly to a the head tube so it doesn't turn with the forks. The frame was specifically designd as a delivery bike, and I have to assume the step through design was not because it was a "girl bike".

Something like this, but stepthrough?

http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/2090/dscn0560kt1.jpg

^^that is amazing. i would get that and carry around puppies and kittens in the basket. at the same time. fighting each other.