Why are ladies frames still built?

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yoothgeye

yoothgeye

I build stuff.
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When I was growing up I was taught early on why ladies frames had the drop bar, basically for modesty when ladies rode the bike in their dresses that they wore ALL the time. So my thought is that they are still made just out of tradition. I see road bikes advertised now as women's bikes, but they don't have a drop bar, just different geometry, that's cool. When I had the Sand Rover at church last night one of my 15 year old youth girls wanted to ride it, she is very short and she tried to throw her leg over the seat from behind and the Sand Rover seat is so tall she couldn't get on that way, but what that showed me was even though she's always had step through frames... she's never stepped through the frame!

Don't get me wrong, I know they have their place and I think they should be offered, but I think it's time to start phasing them out... or maybe I'm just an idiot. :mrgreen:

Thoughts? (not on the idiot part :wink: )
 
I really don't see the point. Women and girls don't ride in a skirt or dress. Guys don't ride in kilts. Just seems silly to me to still make those kinds of frames. *shrug*
 
As people get older and bigger* , they won't be able to get over the top bar of a traditional men's frame. Thus, why the term "ladies model" is being phased out in favor of "step thru model".

What I don't understand is why 24" wheeled bikes are being offered. They should offer only 26" wheeled bikes, but have different frames. Save money on logistics and manufacturing costs!

** = bigger in the fatter sense, not the height sense.
 
Must be regional, lots of women here still ride in skirts/dresses...I see it every day. Step throughs are are actually in a revival in the cities...
 
When riding a bike with a surfboard in yer hand it is way easier to get off a girls bike with out that top bar there.So when we were kids hanging at the beach before the Spitfire Schwinn's started to show up bout 77-78 I guess The old lady's bike as we called them, were much coveted .Really started my old bike obsession.Cheers
 
yoothgeye said:
, but I think it's time to start phasing them out...
Click to expand...

I've been phasing out every one I get for 20 years...parts to the basement, frames to the salvage yard. :p Gary
 
My wife likes the way they look, and she wears dresses and skirts. I do agree though, and lets face it the modesty of the old days is about gone. :roll:
e17eb687.jpg
 
I'm glad to know some ladies are still choosing these frames based on the actual reason they were made this way. Cruiser and city bikes, I can understand it, but so many (China made) mountain bikes with the drop bar, that doesn't make much sense to me.

clerkkent said:
What I don't understand is why 24" wheeled bikes are being offered. They should offer only 26" wheeled bikes, but have different frames. Save money on logistics and manufacturing costs!
Click to expand...

Don't get me started here, I gather, fix up, and re-distribute kids bikes. When I was little it seemed like you started off on a little solid rubber tire "toy" bike, then you went to a 20" bike then a 26". I get bikes now 12", 14", 16", 18", 20", 24", it's just a ploy to sell more bikes, soon they will put age ranges on bikes, but the age will only span 1 year. Ugh.
 
I have a weakness for 24 inch Schwinn mini- cruisers! I have two,one 79 that I have had since bitd and a 50`s serial number that's getting wrenched on lately..love them 24`s :mrgreen:
 
Apparently, you've never tried to swing your leg over the seat of a cruiser that has a surfboard in a side-mounted surfboard rack.
I live near the ocean, and practically every surfer I see rides a step through.
 
GameBent said:
Apparently, you've never tried to swing your leg over the seat of a cruiser that has a surfboard in a side-mounted surfboard rack.
I live near the ocean, and practically every surfer I see rides a step through.
Click to expand...

Ha! I was in Mission beach earlier this summer and could not understand why so many guys were riding "womens" bikes. Then I saw a couple guys riding with boards and had a serious palm to forehead moment :mrgreen:
 
regardless of frame style,...
if you are swinging the leg over
the saddle... your mounting/dismounting
in the wrong fashion.going over the backbone;
a.k.a- top tube,, is the proper way. and for
the ladies with skirt/dress the step thru frame
was designed;also, allows the garment to hang
properly while riding.as for the mountain bikes
with the lower top tube; yes, it looks funny.but,
on my U.S.A. made HUFFY mountain bike with that style frame.. i have been thankful on a number of
occasion the bar wasn't higher. :)
 
KJV said:
regardless of frame style,...
if you are swinging the leg over
the saddle... your mounting/dismounting
in the wrong fashion.going over the backbone;
a.k.a- top tube,, is the proper way.
Click to expand...

Proper? Regardless of frame style?

Pardon me, but how does that work with an Ordinary or a Pederson? For that matter, most early safeties had a mounting peg attached to the offside rear axel for mounting before coaster drive trains became commonplace. I also imagine mounting by hoisting a leg over the top tube was uncommon for children in the 30's-50's when they were trying to get going on what would have been a behemoth 26" tanker. As far as I can see, mounting over the top tube seems to be a stunt perpetuated by the track and fixie crowd, a group doubtless more limber than most.

On the girl’s frame front, The reason for the gender specific design of bicycle frames does have its origins in a past time and the cost of continuing the tradition generally makes for a weaker frame design structurally but tradition and image both play an important part in human behavior, otherwise, today we might all be wearing dresses.

On wheel size, every wheel size ever developed was done so because someone thought it was the best and most logical wheel size for some reason, Over time many were discarded because or their relatively small market and their similarity to something more universally used. Still, in the greater scheme of things there are reasons any wheel size could be considered ideal based on the parameters used to judge it.

24” has become the odd one out in collecting circles but its primary purpose is to fit juveniles needing a bike sized between a 20” and a 26.” Even with a smaller frame, a 26” bike will be heavier and handle differently than one with smaller wheels and the geometry that enables.

And… while it would make refurbishing easier if there was more standardization in the industry then we would all decry the lack of choice afforded the consumer.
 
KJV said:
regardless of frame style,...
if you are swinging the leg over
the saddle... your mounting/dismounting
in the wrong fashion.going over the backbone;
a.k.a- top tube,, is the proper way.
Click to expand...

What about swinging the bike so it's only on the back tire,stepping over the sissy bar,and letting gravity do the rest? :p

Speaking as someone who has a leg issue which makes it impossible to mount the "proper way"; yet can still ride just fine, I must say I don't care if I'm "doing it wrong", and neither should anyone else.
 
A good reason to still build step-thru frames is that some people are proportioned with a shorter legs to torso /and arm length ratio. A step-thru makes a good utility bike ,such as when the grocery getter has baggage on top of the rear rack.And after all, because they sell.
 
yoothgeye said:
clerkkent said:
What I don't understand is why 24" wheeled bikes are being offered. They should offer only 26" wheeled bikes, but have different frames. Save money on logistics and manufacturing costs!
Click to expand...

Don't get me started here, I gather, fix up, and re-distribute kids bikes. When I was little it seemed like you started off on a little solid rubber tire "toy" bike, then you went to a 20" bike then a 26". I get bikes now 12", 14", 16", 18", 20", 24", it's just a ploy to sell more bikes, soon they will put age ranges on bikes, but the age will only span 1 year. Ugh.
Click to expand...



Volunteering my time to fix bikes at various venues, and giving the kid the "you have a 22" wheel - we don't carry that tube or tire - better off getting a new bike" talk is gutting. A close second is the young rider who has the Schwinn OCC Stingray with a troubled rear tire or tube, and giving them the "you have a 24" x 4" wheel - we don't carry that tube or tire - you can get them online but they're expensive " talk.
 
clerkkent said:
What I don't understand is why 24" wheeled bikes are being offered. They should offer only 26" wheeled bikes, but have different frames. Save money on logistics and manufacturing costs!

** = bigger in the fatter sense, not the height sense.
Click to expand...
I've got a 10 year old daughter that is way to long- legged for her 20" bike and yet not long-legged enough for a 26" bike. Sure the bike will probably only serve it's purpose for about a year or two and then it'll be time to get her a bigger model...but isn't that what we do anyway? You know, ride that bike we worked so hard on for about a year, then grow bored with it and change it all up or get a "prettier, newer" model? :wink:
 

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