howeeee

I have bought and sold many step through bikes, I am 5' 9 have rode hundreds of ladies bikes, I have yet to ride one I dont feel cramped on. Has nothing to do with ego, they are basically made for smaller people. If you look at ones from the 50's the pedals are small like childs pedals. A man needs to be on a mans bike.

crank_addict

Everyone gets to ride Kathy Ireland.

This bike will never be for sale. Long standing joke, but is what I consider the community loaner. Grand-daughters love it. Its never been locked up, left outside most of the year even when were out of town. Almost too funny as its been gone a few times and returned all nice and clean. US made, lifetime frame warranty.... huh? Dig the 'rumble' seat, stylish bar cover complete with compass. Look out V.O.!!

mooncountry

@Velocivixen I don't, and I haven't really done much research since buying her, but I remember not being able to find a ton about the Riviera mixtes except that they were made mid-80s. I do like it a lot, though! What do you have on your bike? I have no idea if what's on mine is original or not, but the guy who sold it to me was a bike mechanic (it had been his ex-girlfriend's) so he would have had the capacity to shuffle things around, I suppose? How'd you pick yours up/how'd you find your information? I also guess I could go back and re-research, now that I know a tad bit more about bikes and could probably more effectively execute a search...

Velocivixen

Here is a link to the Nishiki Serial Number Database on the sub forum.

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...-database.html

Look for the serial number, typically on the bottom bracket of the bike (easiest to flip bike over to see it), and compare letters/numbers to the database. Also every component has a date code, so if the components are original to the bike it will tell you age of bike. Easiest date codes are on the back side of derailleurs. Look at vintage-trek.com for component date codes by brand.
Dont want to hijack this thread and get too off topic, so you can always start your own thread asking for info. Hope this helps.

Kactus

Rebecca Twigg rode a Sekai 4000 for training so I guess I do ride a woman's bike!

mooncountry

Thanks!!

RiseAlways

If I was a woman I would,... but to each his own really.

ncyue

Love my Trek pilot WSD! The geometry is perfect for me. I had a Cannondale racer first and it never felt comfortable.

BFisher

I'd ask her first.

randyjawa 

"Would I ride a woman's bicycle? My immediate answer would be no. Until I gave it some thought...

First, I find, build and ride vintage road bicycles because I like to find, build and ride vintage road bicycles. With that in mind, I have no interest, what so ever, in riding a woman's bike. However...

I did ride this for a while and wow, what a decent bike to ride. The look appealed to me. And the feel of the bike was unlike any other that I had ever ridden...


So, would I ride a woman's bike? Yes but it's not something that I fantasize about.

Mogens

I often grab my wife's step through Trek Multitrack to go to the grocery store because it has the basket and it rides really well. What exactly is there to be worried about? That someone might think I was gay because I ride a "woman's bike?" How dumb does that sound? This isn't 1985 anymore, being gay isn't an insult. This whole issue is dated, a bit offensive, and really very silly. It's really just a structural question. Step throughs and diamond frames each have their pros and cons. I prefer diamond frames, but they can really suck to swing your leg over if there's a basket on the back. Step throughs really are more practical for doing errands. Anyway, pretty sure this is just a hang up of ours in the US that people need to get over so we can stop worrying about silly things and enjoy cycling technologies to their full advantage.

beicster 

I would have no trouble riding a step through or a mixte. I have admired the Rivendell Cheviot for a few years. And, now that my wife and I have spent the last two days stripping our hardwood floors and have to seal and finish them today, I can tell that one will be needed in the future. I am so sore that I can barely lift my legs.

P!N20

Or 2014.

cudak888 

Doesn't really matter to me. I tend to collect men's frames only because I like the double triangle/diamond shape.

However, there's a particular subset of bikes that I collect which are exclusively step-through, and have no diamond frame equivalent. Most don't have a top tube either. My favorite are the loop-frame Social Bicycles 3.0's.



-Kurt

non-fixie 

Those are not bicycles. Those are Mobility Solutions. They only get to be called bikes on a technicality.

cudak888 

The 600 recipients of retired Spins would beg to differ with you.

https://twitter.com/bikesharemuseum/...150893058?s=21

and

https://twitter.com/bikesharemuseum/...838708736?s=21

These things are more bicycle so than any Wal-Mart junker can ever hope to be. Almost all of them are IGH 3 or 8 speeds too.

They also make for pretty fun e-bike conversions.

-Kurt

mdarnton

After a couple of hip operation limited his movement, in his early 80s, my father finally abandoned his Schwinn LeTour for my mother's pink and white single speed half-ton girly bike for his daily 20 mile run around town. No complaints from him about it.

non-fixie 

Don't get net wrong, Kurt. I applaud what you're doing there, and am genuinely glad those "bikes" don't end up in a landfill and that those kids are happy with them. It's the fact that there are so many of these "retired bikes" in decent condition that they are donated by the truckload which bothers me.

Each "bike" represents an amount of resources take from this planet, and I feel that they should be made into attractive good quality products that people want to take ownership of, and responsibility for. I think concepts like rent-a-bike and our local swapfiets are fundamentally flawed for that reason. There is no pride of ownership involved. They represent a business case. Or not.
/rant.

cudak888 

I won't argue with the inherent flaws and waste of the business model - at least for dockless bikes. It doesn't reflect every company though - Spin, for instance, has been using the same fleet of about 300 Ninebot Max scooters locally for the last three years, and whatever doesn't work gets rebuilt with parts from other wrecks.

But I will challenge the claim that these "aren't bicycles," or that their waste is anything unique. A Wal-Mart special is equally problematic in regards to wasted resources, and easier for people to give up on - if not more so. @randyjawa's dumpster dives are a pretty good example of how the $79.99 specials get thrown away quick.

Any Huffy and Roadmaster rotting on the side of someone's house is part of the exact same problem. They're built in equal or greater quantity than dockless bikes, have lousy front derailers that don't work, steel chains that will rust to an unusable state within a week after a single dousing of rain (of course they're not well-lubed as delivered to prevent this either), handlebar stems that slip, steel hubs with pressed raceways that split in half under hard use, and single-wall rims that are so thin that I've seen a few commuters who can't afford any better wear them down to the point that the bead split from the braking surface.

It's just easier to point fingers at a clearly identifiable operator's name on the downtube of a dockless bicycle.

It's the value of these bikes as starter commuters that keeps me going with them. You can't go to any big box store and pick out a well-made commuter bike that'll put up with the "throw it on the side of the house" storage approach, which is predominantly how big box bikes are treated. These are made for it, and their 3-speed IGH hubs solve all the issues of derailers and sticking chains that newcomers aren't accustomed to (not to mention that every single one of these bikes come with KMC Rust Buster chains too). That's why I'm adamant about seeing these retired machines find homes. Even if someone doesn't use it for a month, the moment they do come back to it, it'll be ready to go. Even if they left it on the side of the road. About 150 of the bikes I worked on had been left outdoors for a year and a half. Didn't really do anything but stain the hubs where the spoke surfaces rusted at the J bend.

The Twitter post happened to show a few kids that received them; there were many adults who received them as well through charities that handled smaller giveaways from the larger giveaway. These people are using them as commuter bicycles.

Speaking of which, I had one spare Spin Gen 3 which I gave to friend of a neighbor - a front-line healthcare worker who's a pretty avid rider. Has a Specialized MTB kitted out for the street (he didn't need the charity of a free bike, but I had Spins coming out of my ears to give away). After about three weeks, he started using the Spin for grocery store runs and any nearby trips. He found it more comfortable for an easy jaunt to the store, less likely to get stolen than the Specialized, and eventually he went for the same rear rack addition that I did on my Spin Gen 2.

It's zip-tied here only as he forgot to order the seatpost collar. That was sorted out the following week.




-Kurt

RobbieTunes

Yep.

merziac

This is the crux of the matter. "mixte" literally means universal, unisex, one for all.

They were originally utilitarian, think butcher, baker, candlestick maker, etc.

Many companies made only mixtes for this and yes they were and have been labeled women's bikes, especially in the biased US.

And as always, remember true mixtes have the twin small tubes running from the HT to the RDO's.

So I guess I would ride a "womens" bike if I ever find a big one.

Ex Pres 

I just want to be able to ride like a girl (most that I ride with are faster than me)

tpadul 

Well since I am a woman I sure would

non-fixie 

Yes, good point. I may have been a little harsh, and you'd be right to call me a grumpy old man, but both practices just irritate me. Whether it be good quality products that are designed for The Average Person (who's that?) and get an early retirement (if it weren't for people like you) or products that are just crappy. Neither invokes the love or care needed to give these products a meaningful lifespan.

OK, back to the main program. Would I ride a women's bike? No. I guess I'm not unisex.

I do regularly fall in love with bikes designed for women, and I do buy them, but I've got a mrs non-fixie to ride them for me and look snazzy while doing it.

And to show I am open to new ideas (well, some of them): I do own (and like) this:

10 Wheels

I rode my sisters bike for one year after I tore mine up.