Originally Posted by
mel2012
I'm a woman, so maybe my perspective is biased, but I believe the bias against step-through frames has everything to do with gender stereotyping ("that's a girl's bike") and very little to do with functional considerations.
That's not the case here. it's not considered masculine to show that you care about things like that, and the laid back posture the oma invites is very masculine. There's a company here that leases bikes for 12 euro's a month, and swaps them within a day when there's something broken, and it uses only oma step throughs. It's a huge success among young men, they bike slowly usually.
My Bike Friday Haul-a-Day is a stepthrough design and bi-partable to boot and I regularly carry myself, my kids (combined 130 pounds), plus cargo and while there's some "flex" it's nothing that's not manageable. My Workcycles Fr8 stepthrough (which was built like a tank) had no flex at all. I also have a flat bar hybrid stepthrough frame and it's no more "flexy" than my husband's equivalent Trek FX 7.2 bike. I use that bike as a "utility" bike as well and the stepthrough certainly makes it easier to mount and handle when loaded with 50 lbs of groceries. It also belies the assumption that a stepthrough frame necessarily requires a less aggressive geometry -- many of the Trek "Stagger" frames have a fairly aggressive geometry. I also have a Brompton, which is a step through design, and while I will concede that has more "flex", that's an inherent part of the design.
All of which is a long-winded way of saying that stepthrough doesn't necessary mean either: (1) flexy or (2) upright and slow.
Yes, but the FR8 is a very sturdy bike. I've ridden step throughs single speed oma's for years and thought they were great, but now I'm heavier, ride faster and mainly in top (3rd) gear I can feel it. I also have a compact bike that is very rigid but has small wheels with wide tyres, it's very nice for short slow errands and feels quick but any further it becomes hard work. I don't mind the effort but it has to be rewarded with speed otherwise pedalling becomes plodding. If it wasn't for the flexing I'd ride an oma.
I'm not saying it's the case for everyone at all time, it's the case for my 6ft 4 on a steel step through in the 15-25 km/h range. Flex is of course more of a problem with the taller frames.