Originally Posted by
mel2012
Bike share programs are becoming much more popular here in the U.S. and every program I'm familiar with uses stepthrough frames for a "one size fits all" approach and because the bikes tend to be heavy. I'm wondering if that will help de-gender stepthrough bikes here in the U.S.
I think there's something to this. I wouldn't have discovered the benefits of a step-through if it hadn't been for cycle hire schemes in Helsinki, London and Glasgow. Before trying them I had a similar attitude to Dan, but as I wanted to cycle to my destination rather than walk I swallowed my pride and prejudices and hopped on, and they were great as a practical means of transportation. In Helsinki there were just as many men on step-through bikes as there on ones with a cross-bar, possibly more. I am really struggling to see the benefit of the double diamond frame over a step-through for a city bike. The arguments about the additional stiffness of a double diamond frame makes sense when talking about a bicycle built for speed and handling, but when you just want to get from A to B safely and in comfort then the value of those benefits of the double diamond frame reduce drastically.