Girls don't cycle?? What's up with that?

I have a man's mountain bike but would struggle to find a man's road bike that was comfortable because I am a shortarse petite.

Women's specific bikes are not all about making room for skirts, they're about tailoring the geometry of the bike to slightly different proportions, e.g. shorter handle bars for narrower shoulders.

"Sit up and beg" bikes are no good for long rides / performance cycling but useful for pottering in town as you can watch the traffic. A dropped cross bar allows you to get on and off without flashing your knickers if you are wearing a skirt.

Basically you should get the bike that's most fit for purpose, whether it is a women's bike or not.

Does anyone remember that French and Saunders spoof advert...

"Because you're you. And because you're special. And because you have your cycle....... Cycle clips!!"

... and instead of sanitary protection DF holds up cycle clips with a smile.

My dd is frightened of cycling on the roads. I cycle every day and it scares me too.

Yesterday we saw a cyclist unconscious on the floor waiting for an ambulance. Maybe boys are not as worried about the risks? Although I haven't noticed any differences in cycling rates between the sexes in my town tbh

So what are "boy graphics" then? Girls who are out and about on their own on their bicycle probably will have outgrown Hello Kitty and pink streamers.

a teenager at my house last night - girl - bmx flourescent pink.
dd - bmx
dil - bmx

in fact i know more girls with ikes than without tbh

Himalaya I've always preferred "boy's bikes" over "girls' bikes", i.e. bikes with a proper crossbar because they're more stable. At the moment road bikes are very popular and fashionable, and they don't come in a "girly" frame by default.

Especially if you're cycling for exercise rather than going from A to B, I'd expect a "boys' bike".

It kind of does show your own prejudice, though - there's no need for a step through frame for women anymore, as wearing long skirts is not default attire anymore.

Mine was and still is a 'boys' bike. Not something you can base it on imo
I used to live on a bike as a teen and still ride one with a trailer though with four children not so much anymore

A dropped cross bar was to allow for skirts, how many girls wear long skirts to ride a bike anyway these days

I love cycling because I want to get there now and in all the cities I lived in as a student I've had a bike, except for Manhattan because I lived a 3 minute walk from work and the traffic on there was a bit scary! But in Edinburgh and Oxford I loved cycling everywhere and I loved being part of a (relatively) cycle-friendly culture. Now I cycle to and from the train station as part of my suburban commute and I think I will be very sad if I ever don't own a bike.

that said, did I cycle anywhere as a teenage girl? Nope. For all the reasons outlined above- crippling body-consciousness, not wanting to look sweaty and manky, wanting to walk chat with my mates instead, and above all, my parents were willing to drive me places rather than have me walk/bike there alone.

Interestingly, my big brother did a cycling-and-youth-hostel holiday with one of his friends when he can't have been much older than 14 or 15. Mum wouldn't have let me do that at the same age. Or at any point until I left home, I think. I think we are afraid of our daughters being out on their own.

As an adult approaching my prime, I LOVE the independence my cycle gets me. DH has to drive to his work, dropping our son in his nursery on the way. I use public transport but can bike for 4 minutes rather than walk for 20. that's 15 minutes more MNing/sleeping time. Result! And on days when I walk from home, I will cycle 3-4 miles to get something from the shop, or 2 miles to the post office, in my lunch hour. My bike stops me from being stranded in the suburbs. It's brill.

sportsfanatic - I completely agree with you about quality of bikes. I bought the exact same bike for my DTs a couple of Christmases ago, except one was purple and the other red. The purple one - despite looking identical was definitely inferior quality (things like plastic screws holding the pedals together, rather than the metal ones on the 'boys' bike. No difference in the price though.

I notice the same thing with girls shoes - less sturdy and certainly less range in girls sporty shoes when compared to boys. As I have twins who are both very active and do the same activities with no distinction for gender, I am uniquely positioned to notice this I think.

My own mountain bike is a 'man's'. It is red and black and I love it and I have matching 'go faster' flames on my helmet.

I've been a bike geek of various sorts since my mid-teens. I've custom-built and loved riding mountain, road and fixie bikes and always shunned 'girls' bikes'. Not because I have some kind of internalised misogyny, but because bikes with dropped crossbars are generally heavier, not as well spec'd and designed for a type of trundly, dull sit-up-and-beg type riding that bored the tits off me.

Any teenage girl who's internalised the idea that they should ride a dropped crossbar bike in order to be seen as 'feminine' is going to have less fun cycling IMO, just because the kit is designed for ladylike pootling around and is definitely not optimised for an exciting, challenging ride.

sportsfanatic - agree with what you have said, sport is good for your physical and mental health. It's also great for meeting friends and if you are single then there are lots of men in running, cycling clubs etc!

However, girls being "wimpier" now - it's hard to compare across generations. In the past possibly girls cycled more because their parents were less likely to have cars / chauffeur them around as happens more these days. Generally we live more sedentary, convenient lives so cycling is more of an anathema than it was 20 / 30 / 40 years ago.

Sport generally hasn't kept up with other changes - e.g. 30 years ago we were all pretty happy with communal changing rooms in clothes shops, now we expect cubicles (and shops know they sell more clothes if they provide nice changing rooms, mirrors etc). Yet gym changing rooms are still usually communal and some are grubby and smelly (even the private ones you pay a fortune for!). Because we have come to expect a certain standard in one aspect of our lives we want it from all.

When you think how body conscious many girls are - the obsession with not getting fat, body image - it's so counter intuitive that they don't do sport or cycle. How many fat sporty people do you see? Easiest way to keep your weight down is to do sport, not to push a lettuce leaf round your plate.

As a teenager all my (girl) friends cycled. Many of us had boys' bikes because the design was better and sturdier. And we certainly couldn't be arsed about our hair. The obligatory rude comments from passing knobheads were swiftly dealt with by a choice (picked from ones we we made earlier) put downs.

Are girls simply wimpier these days?

Yes it really has to do with teenage girls dropping all sorts of physical activitets, and start to become uncomfortable in their bodies :( Sport is really great for taking your mind of how you look to what you can do.
The bicycle meant a lot for women and our liberation in the 19th century:
www.feministfatale.com/2010/07/feminism-and-cycling-the-untrammeled-woman/ (US blogpost but v interesting)

A comic about the rebellious velocipedestriennes: (read this)
beatonna.livejournal.com/154048.html

dd has always cycled and my boys dont. But she is a student and its a cycling city. Mind you, she tied her bike up weeks ago and has forgotten where it is .

slug....now you have me thinking what might be shouted at me "Who's that fat-arsed momma in Bon Marche joggers holding up the traffic?"

I would never cycle on roads because I am too terrified of being run over. But I could name 3 or 4 boys in my circle of friends who cycled to school, college or work, including going on quite busy roads. I can think of one girl, and she was not a typical "girly" girl, she was quite the opposite.

Once you hit 16 it tends to be the boys who opt for mopeds, too. I only ever met two or three girls who used mopeds despite it being a cheaper form of transport than a car, easier to pass the test and available a year earlier. Easily twice the amount of boys I knew had/have one.

Again, personally, I was terrified I'd fall off! This I think stems from school PE lessons too. I always feel like I'm useless at anything physical or requiring balance, co-ordination etc whereas actually I was quite good at gymnastics. Other issues are it being cold and uncomfortable - okay, sounds like a real "girly" complaint but maybe that's a real distinction? That boys are less likely to mind?

Useful info here