Women on Bikes

[Mark Blacknell]

@Joe Chapline 12727 wrote:

I haven’t tried a bike with a 7-or-8 speed enclosed hub, but I wonder if that’s more reliable than derailleurs. Trek also has a bike with an enclosed hub and a belt drive; I’d like to try that.

There are loads of internally geared bikes out there. And they’ve been around a lot longer than the 24-speed bikes you don’t like. So why don’t you have one?

My guess is that it’s because it’s more expensive. People say they want one thing (more leg room/free food on flights!) but they do another (is this Airtran flight $3 cheaper than Delta? Okay, Airtran.).

I don’t think basic bike mechanics are any more complicated than a stick shift, but I suppose we’re now living a world full of automatics. But if you want the convenience of not having to think about it (too hard to shift), or bothering with basic maintenance (taking it in for a regular oil change), you pay the price, no?

[Joe Chapline]

@Mark Blacknell 12728 wrote:

There are loads of internally geared bikes out there. And they’ve been around a lot longer than the 24-speed bikes you don’t like. So why don’t you have one?

I didn’t say that internally-geared bikes are better, I said I wondered if they were. I don’t know, I’ve never had one. One reason to post to the forum is that someone might provide useful information from their experience. The last time I bought a bike (I don’t buy bikes often) I made what I thought was a good choice, and I’m not complaining about it. I do wonder about the internally-geared bikes. Do you know anything about them, other than that there are lots of them?

What I meant to suggest, as a thought, a possibility, is that maybe bike design and marketing strategies focused on the small number of current cyclists might not be the best to appeal to a broader audience, including more women. I thought it was worth mentioning.

[bikenurse]

@KLizotte 12015 wrote:

I do think women have a harder time of it though when it comes to wardrobe since they often need/choose to haul jewelry, hair accessories, pantyhose, matching shoes/belts, make-up, etc. in their commuter bags. And hair that is any longer than a buzz cut is a royal pain in the arse to style quickly at work.

I ride to work almost every day now. I’m a college professor and make it a point to look serious and professional. I do not have a shower at work. I’d like to think I don’t sweat…but I do. My bike commute is 12.5 miles each way. And I have pretty long hair. And I wear make-up at work. So here’s what I do – I keep action wipes, face soap and towels at work. The action wipes usually make me presentable. I keep toiletries, cosmetics, hair dryer, a couple of pairs of shoes, a winter wrap, and winter boots in my office. I bring fresh clothes to work – including suits, hose, jewelry and the like, and my laptop in my panniers. It cracks me up when people complement me on my post-bike hat/helmet just out of the ponytail “new” hairstyle. And the bike in my office gives me great street cred with my students. I’ve been doing this for about a year and a half and it’s very very do-able! And in regard to repairs, I don’t think that is gender dependent. I do the minor bike repairs in our house (tubes/tires, chain cleaning, tightening cables) but we take our bikes to the shop for real repairs. The manicurist just has a little extra challenge getting the bike grease out from under my nails
Great thread – lots of good ideas for getting families on bikes!
–Laurie

[americancyclo]

I just heard about the Specialized/LuluLemon team. Do any of the female cyclists pay attention to women’s professional cycling? I know a few of the men’s big names in competitive cycling from casually following the TdF, but the only female cyclist that I can name immediately is Liz Hatch, mostly because of her association with action wipes and BikeSnobNYC. Just wondering if the professional world of cycling has any influence on the rest of the female cycling world.

It seems to me that women are really only presented with two options.
1) Beautiful Godzilla
2) Uber fit Racer

It’s my impression that it is more acceptable for me to be an average cyclist on an overpriced bike and ‘that guy that bikes to work all the time’ just because I’m a guy. I’d like to be wrong.

[Marcella]

@americancyclo 12741 wrote:

I just heard about the Specialized/LuluLemon team. Do any of the female cyclists pay attention to women’s professional cycling? I know a few of the men’s big names in competitive cycling from casually following the TdF, but the only female cyclist that I can name immediately is Liz Hatch, mostly because of her association with action wipes and BikeSnobNYC. Just wondering if the professional world of cycling has any influence on the rest of the female cycling world.

It seems to me that women are really only presented with two options.
1) Beautiful Godzilla
2) Uber fit Racer

It’s my impression that it is more acceptable for me to be an average cyclist on an overpriced bike and ‘that guy that bikes to work all the time’ just because I’m a guy. I’d like to be wrong.

I would follow women’s pro cycling if it was easier to do so. They get very little media coverage in the US, and pretty much no TV time. I follow men’s road cycling pretty closely, though I paid no attention to it before I started cycling as an adult.

There are plenty of female cyclists who are just ordinary people riding bikes. Their fitness levels, skill levels and reasons for riding vary. You see them on the trails and at club rides all the time.

I started cycling as an adult because the woman who used to cut my hair told me there were great trails in the DC area, and I thought it would be a good way to get some exercise. A few guys I knew then encouraged me and gave me some advice on buying a bike.

BTW my hairstylist was not uber fit or into racing. She was just an ordinary person, albeit with a great hair style.

And I have never seen a “Beautiful Godzilla,” except in photos.

Why is it more acceptable for you to be an average cyclist on an overpriced bike and ‘that guy that bikes to work all the time’ just because you’re a guy? How is ordinary person on a bike an option for men but not for women?

[dasgeh]

A lot of the recent posts on this thread seem to me to be more about the divide between what I’ll call “transportational cyclists” (people using bikes to commute, run errands, go out, etc) and bike racers. The former are often less interested in the mechanics and gear involved in bicycles. The latter are more interested. Both care about the “look” but in different ways (racers like bikes that “look” fast, others like bikes that fit whatever look they’re going for).

I think there are lots of parallels to cars in the relationship of these cyclists to the mechanics of their bikes — some drivers just want the car to work, and take it to a pro to do everything else; some drivers like to do the tinkering themselves. The big difference is that the proportion of drivers who are in the former category is much larger (in the U.S.) that the proportion of cyclists with similar attitudes. So while non-mechanic drivers also have a hard time at the repair shop, there are a lot of them, and consequently repair shops catering to them. There are also retailers catering to them (selling low-maintenance cars, like automatics v. sticks). If transportational cyclists start growing in numbers/proportion of cyclists and becoming more visible, I think we’ll see more LBS’s like you see in Europe that sell low-maintenance bikes (internal gears, belt shifters), cater to maintaining bikes for those who don’t want to do anything, etc.

And while more women cyclists might fall into the transportational category than the racer category, I don’t think it’s a gender issue. I think there are plenty of guys out there who would prefer not to lube their own chains, and plenty of women who like changing their own cassettes.

@KLizotte 12723 wrote:

And I’d feel equally goofy trying out a carbon racing bike given that I seriously lack six pack abs (I have enough blubber to keep a polar bear happy) even though such a bike would probably help me acquire that desired six pack.

I don’t actually think a carbon bike gives you a better workout. It allows you to go faster for a given effort. So if all you’re looking for is the hardest workout, then you want the heaviest bike around. Getting the best fit possible will help you stay on the bike longer, which will help with the fitness angle.

[Mark Blacknell]

Circling back around to this . . .

@Joe Chapline 12733 wrote:

I didn’t say that internally-geared bikes are better, I said I wondered if they were.

I’m saying they are, for the requirements I think you have (simple thought-free transport by bike).

@Joe Chapline 12733 wrote:

One reason to post to the forum is that someone might provide useful information from their experience. The last time I bought a bike (I don’t buy bikes often) I made what I thought was a good choice, and I’m not complaining about it.

I hope I didn’t come off as challenging you/your experience. I was trying to illustrate that there are plenty of bikes and efforts out there to address your needs, and that – despite that – you (and really, it’s the you as an example, not you as in Joe) don’t seem to have taken advantage of that. There are a number of reasons, I suppose, including that they’re usually more expensive than one expects (there’s a price for convenience) and that they’re not widely stocked/pushed on the sales floor.

@Joe Chapline 12733 wrote:

I do wonder about the internally-geared bikes. Do you know anything about them, other than that there are lots of them?

I have one. And I might end up with with another (converting my existing grocery getter). Everyone here can test one by just getting on a CaBi bike. My view is that they’re pretty analogous to automatic transmission cars – more convenient, but at the cost of less performance and being rather challenging to fix if something goes wrong.

@Joe Chapline 12733 wrote:

What I meant to suggest, as a thought, a possibility, is that maybe bike design and marketing strategies focused on the small number of current cyclists might not be the best to appeal to a broader audience, including more women.

I think there’s a very wide spectrum of design and marketing. See, e.g., http://www.bikesfortherestofus.com/. Trek, a company as mainstream as it gets, has a slew of internally geared and even belt-based bikes that are designed for easy transport. Shimano and Trek certainly teamed up a few years back to push the idea of an “easy” bike – http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_38/b4050078.htm. Given the reception, though, I do have to wonder whether it’s not really about the bike . . .

[americancyclo]

@Marcella 12757 wrote:

Why is it more acceptable for you to be an average cyclist on an overpriced bike and ‘that guy that bikes to work all the time’ just because you’re a guy? How is ordinary person on a bike an option for men but not for women?

Maybe acceptable wasn’t the word I was looking for. Maybe ‘common’ was the word I was looking for, but that brings us back to the initial question again.

[Mark Blacknell]

@Marcella 12757 wrote:

I would follow women’s pro cycling if it was easier to do so. They get very little media coverage in the US, and pretty much no TV time.

Just wanted to note – for Marcella and anyone else who wants to check out coverage of women’s pro cycling – that Podium Cafe is an excellent option.

And anyone who wants to see pro women’s racing in person should put June 9th’s Clarendon Cup on their calendars.

[americancyclo]

@Mark Blacknell 12786 wrote:

anyone else who wants to check out coverage of women’s pro cycling – that Podium Cafe is an excellent option.

cool vids about the team, and one of the riders getting a bike fit, as well as some interviews:

http://www.podiumcafe.com/2012/1/1/2674354/specialized-lululemon-team-videos

[Marcella]

@dasgeh 12781 wrote:

A lot of the recent posts on this thread seem to me to be more about the divide between what I’ll call “transportational cyclists” (people using bikes to commute, run errands, go out, etc) and bike racers.

There is another category, recreational cyclists who ride for fun and exercise. Within that group is a broad range of riders, including long-distance riders (for fun and fundraising), tourers, club riders and others looking for a bit of socializing on the ride, people who cruise around the neighborhood for 1/2 hour for exercise, and people who enjoy riding with their kids.

I had the impression that the forum was most interested in the gender gap in transportational cyclists. But that might be because of something I read about it, I think it was an article on TBDonfoot. At any rate, I think there are different issues to address to encourage more women to ride bikes for transportation vs recreation vs racing. For example, for transportation there are issues like riding in traffic, your appearance once you reach your destination, and carrying objects which might be bulky or heavy. For recreation, there are a fair number of women who are reluctant to ride by themselves due to concerns about safety or simply due to a desire for a social element to the ride.

One issue that cuts across all categories is the question of what kind of bike to get. Along with this comes questions about proper fit and what other equipment is necessary or useful to have. The options can be quite bewildering.

[baiskeli]

Saw this news and thought of this thread.

There’s a new bike shop on H St. NE that is co-owned by a woman. From their web site:

As co-owners of The Daily Rider, Loren Copsey and Beth Rogers each came to the bicycle business with their own perspective.

Loren got a blue Schwinn for his sixth birthday and taught himself to ride it by the end of the day. He developed into an avid road and mountain rider in central Virginia and worked for one of the Mid-Atlantic’s largest bicycle shops throughout his late teens and early twenties. Bicycles, used for both sport and transportation, have been his lifelong passion.

Beth’s love for bikes came both earlier and later than Loren’s. Growing up in L.A., she rode to Thrifty Drug every afternoon for 15-cent ice creams, finding her freedom on the bike. Once on the East Coast, she forgot her love of biking until five years ago when Loren reintroduced her to the joys of riding a bike. For the past two years she has commuted to work on her stately Pashley Roadster Sovereign, very often in a skirt and heels. This bicycle, and Beth’s quest for a unique, stylish bicycle shop, was truly the inspiration for The Daily Rider.

Both Loren and Beth believe that riding a bicycle is a safe, enjoyable, and easy way to navigate Washington, DC. They are committed to providing a well-curated collection of bicycles and accessories as well as a high level of personal service.

http://thedailyriderdc.com/

[baiskeli]

@Mark Blacknell 12786 wrote:

And anyone who wants to see pro women’s racing in person should put June 9th’s Clarendon Cup on their calendars.

Yes – there’s nothing like seeing a race live.

[dasgeh]

Back to the part of the thread about family biking, my husband and daughter were featured in Tales from the Sharrows for their “commute” to preschool. Thanks Brian!

http://talesfromthesharrows.blogspot.com/2012/01/i-blog-your-ride-grant-and-sydney.html

[zanna_leigh]

I’d like to revisit a few of the recent posts that were made.

@Marcella 12795 wrote:

I had the impression that the forum was most interested in the gender gap in transportational cyclists.

Yes, Marcella, this is more or less correct. BikeArlington is primarily concerned with encouraging biking as a mode of transportation – although we understand that just getting someone to start riding for recreation can spark this in them. So we don’t ignore the importance of bike riding for any reason. However, on to your other points AND to KLizotte’s point….

@Marcella 12795 wrote:

I think there are different issues to address to encourage more women to ride bikes for transportation vs recreation vs racing. For example, for transportation there are issues like riding in traffic, your appearance once you reach your destination, and carrying objects which might be bulky or heavy. For recreation, there are a fair number of women who are reluctant to ride by themselves due to concerns about safety or simply due to a desire for a social element to the ride.

One issue that cuts across all categories is the question of what kind of bike to get. Along with this comes questions about proper fit and what other equipment is necessary or useful to have. The options can be quite bewildering.

@KLizotte 12723 wrote:

What I did find daunting (and still do) is going into a bike shop and figuring out what kind of bike I should buy, asking the right questions, test riding a bike adequately, etc. I suspect most women feel too embarassed to test ride more aggressive road bikes if they aren’t in 100% physical shape since they don’t want to appear as if they are buying “over their head.”

…It doesn’t help that the vast majority of folks working in the sales departments of LBSs are men and most are poorly trained as sales people.

This topic of transportation riding vs. recreation or racing cropped up with a few members. I think Marcella makes a good point in saying that an overarching issue is knowing what bike to get. As a follow up KLizotte makes a great point that most of the sales people at bike shops are men and are not trained in sales. This is something that can be resolved and must be taken up with the bike shops. At the women’s forum that WABA hosted there were two women representatives of bike shops in the area – both I believed were branch managers and both women noted significant differences in the number of women in their stores compared to other stores where men run the floor. This is from their experiences and isn’t backed up with research specific to the bike purchasing trends of women. Research in this area I think would be a very valuable investment for bike shops to understand how to better market their bikes to women.

In regards to transportation I think most people (not just women) would prefer a low maintenance bike. If you’re riding recreationally and putting on a lot of miles, or training for races, then you would probably want something that performs better which in turns requires more maintenance. It comes with the territory and most people probably understand this…maybe not most people, but some do. Which brings me to my next point which is basically that these issues are still not gender specific. There are men out there that don’t feel comfortable performing basic maintenance on their bikes, for one if they don’t have time, but also because they don’t know how to / don’t want to learn how to. Which is perfectly fine and most of you noted this issue being gender neutral.

However, I think that Joe makes a good point when he raises the following questions:

@Joe Chapline 12715 wrote:

This raised a couple of questions in my mind:

1) Is present bike technology “geared” (no pun intended) toward people that enjoy working on bikes, as well as riding them?
2) If that’s the case, does that exclude a lot of women from the pool of potential riders?

I don’t think I’m being sexist when I say that there are more men bicycle mechanics than women. I don’t know why this is the case, but in doing some brief internet browsing of the topic the assumptions are true. So that does imply that this seemingly gender neutral issue is more of a women’s problem than a men’s problem. What are our solutions to this??

@KLizotte 12723 wrote:

I do think CaBi will help women overcome their self-confidence issues regarding biking though and this is a good thing.

I completely agree. I think CaBi in general is a great option for people to start biking for transportation, and even more so for women. They don’t have to make any decisions…the bike is there and they can ride it, and they don’t have to perform any maintenance on it. It’s a great way to introduce the beauty and ease of biking to work, or to run errands. The only decisions they might want to make as a result is whether or not to buy their own bike. In this case I think the bike shops have a lot of work to do to cater to the female market share which has a huge potential.

@dasgeh 12781 wrote:

If transportational cyclists start growing in numbers/proportion of cyclists and becoming more visible, I think we’ll see more LBS’s like you see in Europe that sell low-maintenance bikes (internal gears, belt shifters), cater to maintaining bikes for those who don’t want to do anything, etc.

I tend to disagree with this notion. For example, the parties interested in installing CaBi didn’t think – “hey let’s wait until there are more people looking to ride their bikes to work or to run errands in the city before we install this system.” Their mindset was “if we build it they will come” which should be the same mindset as the bike shops. I do believe that if these bikes are available for women (specifically the Dutch style, practical use bikes) they would be more likely to buy them. Not to mention the price is lower. Mark’s links below indicate that there has been some movement here, but obviously not enough for it to become mainstream yet.

@Mark Blacknell 12782 wrote:

I think there’s a very wide spectrum of design and marketing. See, e.g., http://www.bikesfortherestofus.com/. Trek, a company as mainstream as it gets, has a slew of internally geared and even belt-based bikes that are designed for easy transport. Shimano and Trek certainly teamed up a few years back to push the idea of an “easy” bike – http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_38/b4050078.htm

So after all of that, I think that bike shops have a large role to play here. Women do ride bikes but the ones who don’t, need some help changing their perspective. Bike shops can help by making it easier for women who want to buy a bike for the first time to do so. I know that some men face the same issue but as was brought up at the WABA women’s forum, women are constantly stereotyped as knowing nothing about bikes and the salesmen assume they know what kind of bike the woman wants (i.e. salesman “you don’t want a kickstand” woman “yes, I do”.

That being said, I do think the community can play a large role as well. The bicycle “show & tell” event is a fabulous idea which can be geared for both families who want to haul their kids around, or women interested in a bike for their specific needs. Allowing people to feel and touch the bikes without the pressure of having to buy the bike on the spot is essential and requires volunteers to bring their bikes out for people to look at. An informal and comfortable setting with other ordinary people who actually use the bikes can make a world of a difference. This is an event I would hope to see come to fruition this Spring/Summer.

Thanks for your ongoing thoughts and perspectives on this topic!

[Author]

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