Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
I wouldn't mind adding a nice quality mixte frame to the fleet, if I could find one my size.
Male riding female bike??
- Thread starter dannyJAE
- Start date
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winjim
Smash the cistern
Soma Buena Vista frameset caught my eye a few years ago although it's doubtful I'll have the time or money to do anything about it in the near future. I see it's now been replaced with a disc brake version which is even better IMO.
Sizes go up to 62cm C-T...
Mrs M
Guru
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
I wouldn’t worry 
I often ride Mr M’s bike and he likes my ladies road bike.
As long as it feel right just enjoy the ride
I often ride Mr M’s bike and he likes my ladies road bike.
As long as it feel right just enjoy the ride
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
I try to get my leg over but the kids dont go sleep till me and msCK come to bed so not much chance .....
andrew_s
Legendary Member
- Location
- Gloucester
The differences between what's sold as a women's bike and what's sold as a men's bike come under several headings:
a) The trivial
Model names, colour schemes etc
b) Frame style
A "man's frame" has a high top tube diamond frame; a woman's frame often has an open/step-through type of frame - mixte, dropped top tube (approx parallel with the down tube, or no top tube but an oversize down tube).
Historically speaking, this is to facilitate the wearing of skirts.
An open frame will generally be less stiff than an equivalent diamond frame, which will give more uncertain handling if you put a lot of weight on a rear rack (especially when out of the saddle).
c) Frame geometry
A woman's frame will generally be a bit shorter and higher than a man's frame.
Women tend to prefer to sit a bit more upright. This isn't because of different leg/body/arm proportions (which, whilst commonly believed, isn't actually the case), but because when the pelvis is rocked forwards on the saddle as you reach out to the handlebars, an man's delicate bits move out of the way, whilst a woman's don't (to put it bluntly).
d) Saddle
A woman's saddle will have a shorter nose (skirts again), and be wider at the rear (babies).
Saddles are such a personal thing that unless you know that model X suits you, you just try it out, and change to something different if it doesn't suit.
e) Component choice
A woman's bike will often have shorter reach brake levers, narrower handlebars, shorter cranks, or a shorter stem (for example).
Since bike producers have a distressing tendency to fit the same components to all sizes of a model, this may be an advantage to a small bloke.
What differences you actually find will depend on the target market, and whether the producer has actually put some effort into a women's design, or is just ticking the woman's bike box at least cost/effort.
a) The trivial
Model names, colour schemes etc
b) Frame style
A "man's frame" has a high top tube diamond frame; a woman's frame often has an open/step-through type of frame - mixte, dropped top tube (approx parallel with the down tube, or no top tube but an oversize down tube).
Historically speaking, this is to facilitate the wearing of skirts.
An open frame will generally be less stiff than an equivalent diamond frame, which will give more uncertain handling if you put a lot of weight on a rear rack (especially when out of the saddle).
c) Frame geometry
A woman's frame will generally be a bit shorter and higher than a man's frame.
Women tend to prefer to sit a bit more upright. This isn't because of different leg/body/arm proportions (which, whilst commonly believed, isn't actually the case), but because when the pelvis is rocked forwards on the saddle as you reach out to the handlebars, an man's delicate bits move out of the way, whilst a woman's don't (to put it bluntly).
d) Saddle
A woman's saddle will have a shorter nose (skirts again), and be wider at the rear (babies).
Saddles are such a personal thing that unless you know that model X suits you, you just try it out, and change to something different if it doesn't suit.
e) Component choice
A woman's bike will often have shorter reach brake levers, narrower handlebars, shorter cranks, or a shorter stem (for example).
Since bike producers have a distressing tendency to fit the same components to all sizes of a model, this may be an advantage to a small bloke.
What differences you actually find will depend on the target market, and whether the producer has actually put some effort into a women's design, or is just ticking the woman's bike box at least cost/effort.
I believe that particular model was the same geometrically but with different frame size options for each gender. The saddle was probably womens specific too though the stock unit on the male version was terrible so replaced. It doesn't really matter what colour the paintwork is and if it does some electrical tape can soon cover up the bits you don't like! Beisdes, a cheap bike is a cheap bike
It could make him more attractive to other men. Or other men think that he's attracted to them, possibly both.
Cycleops
Legendary Member
- Location
- Accra, Ghana
People down here don’t worry about riding a step through frame meant for ladies, in fact I recently bought my brother in law one of these and he didn’t even mention it.
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
That can't possibly be a ladies' bike - it's blue!
mickle
innit
- Location
- 53.933606, -1.076131
Step through frames are great for hopping on and off when going shopping and that .
