Dear Bike Companies:

[Meg McKilty]

I am fed up with looking at new WSD bikes and finding nasty, unserious colors on them, such as "Tangerine Orange" or "Caribbean Bayou Blue".

Do you think I am not a serious biker? Or perhaps you should add a big pink honkey-horn to the front to match my Canari Yellow threaded plastic basket on my roadie or triathlon cycle.

Please stop trying to make me look like an *** when riding with the boys. I do not appreciate donning Precious Purple when attempting to be taken as a professional, grown-up rider in a line of cool Steel-Gray Blue, Pewter, Black, Burnt Orange, Maroon, or Ivory/Creme -colored boy bikes.

I refuse to purchase a bike that is tailored to me with Seafoam Green splashed on it. Why don't you hire Lisa Frank to add some puppy and dolphin stickers on them, while you're at it?

Barely Cordially,
-Megan S.
(What else pisses you off when you look in bike catalogs or stores?)

[mimitabby]

um, Meg, SOME of us think Tangerine orange is a hot, fast color!
Just last year I went into a bike store and all he had was black bikes!!
I am glad some colors are leaking back into the mix. but I agree with you
about more cool colors for us gals!

[KnottedYet]

I tried not to laugh out loud when I saw the pink floor pumps with hibiscus blossoms all over them at my LBS this weekend. Lots of pink floor pumps on display, but only a couple regular colored ones left.

Unless a woman is doing a pink theme (like PinkBike), I don't see the appeal of a pink floor pump.

(phallic imagery can be taken just a little too far...)

[mimitabby]

I saw those things too. It might be a fun gift to give to a too macho guy (like my younger son, but he already has a good pump)

[farrellcollie]

I somewhat agree (actually I really want an orange bike - it is pastels that i despise as well as flowers, or ladybugs or butterflies on a bike)- I do not understand why all the bikes from same company and which are the same model- both wsd and non-wsd - are not the same color. I am not criticizing anyone who wants a pastel bike or even those who enjoy bug or flower designs - I just don't want it foisted on me because the bike company has a stereotyped vision of women.

[bouncybouncy]

Forgive my ignorance...but don't most bikes come in basic colors as well as (what you call) unserious colors??? Every bike I have looked at lately has had a "serious" color option as well. (I am looking at mtbikes so that may make a difference)

btw: I consider myself a pretty serious rider (did over 13 hours and well over 100 mountain miles last week...doing a pretty serious ride tomorrow and training for a really serious ride in a few weeks (the website warns riders of the difficulty of the ride several times!!) ALL of this on my TANGERINE ORANGE SANTA CRUZ with PINK cables and a PINK saddle ....and my training road rides are on a ROSE QUARTZ GUNNAR (yes...PINK!!!)

I am not trying to sound blunt but I think there are just as many of us who like color (crazy colors even) and of course it would be great if the options were endless...sometimes custom is the only way to get exactly what you want. No one has treated me any less of a rider cause I ride wacky colored bikes...in fact I get noticed a little more...your performance on the bike is going to ultimately prove what kind of rider you are!

Finally...I must say I would whole-heartily agree that bikes (WSD & non-WSD) should have a few more color options!

[Kimmyt]

Is there such a thing as an unserious color?

Seriously, your riding should speak for itself. I've seen DUDES riding pink bikes. It's silly looking, but it doesn't seem to phase them.

Anyway, though, I do agree with you on the girly color thing. But for every one of us out there that hates 'typical' girly colors, there are those that say, 'hey i'm riding a GIRLY bike and i'm passing your ***, so why don't you kiss it (if you can catch up!)'.

I think the WSD bike market has it difficult, you know? Because we're all so split. Some women really go for feminine colors on a bike. Some loathe them.

K. (who rides a teal... effing TEAL bike and hates the color, but loves the fit)

oh, and the pink floor pumps, explained to me by a salesguy as 'its supposed to be easier for women to pump up their tires', to which i said, 'well i don't have any problem pumping up my tires, and even if i did i wouldn't buy it because it was pink' to which he responded 'please? we haven't sold a single one and i want to know if it really is easier!'

[mimitabby]

that's really funny about the pump.

My DH bought me a JOE BLOW floor pump for St Valentine's day a few years ago.
I LOVE IT! (and i loved the gift)

[Trek420]

Wondering about the other side o' the gender spectrum issues because .... I think about these things ... are there macho bikes? Bikes that whether by color or design say to you "yeah, I'm wearing lycra, so? You gotta problem with that?"

[mimitabby]

Yes, MTB's are macho.
and what about the cruiser with the can opener built in onto the frame?

[IFjane]

Meg - While I do agree that you should be able to get a bike in a color that you like, let your riding speak for you. No matter the color of your steed, if you are the strongest chick the guys have ever seen, they won't notice the bike.

[Deanna]

My husband works in a shop that has a couple of the pink pumps. He thinks their silly, but the company says they are sized differently or something. Neither one of us is sold on that (and neither are the pink pumps in the shop!).

[lizbids]

Sorry, just wrote a huge post to find that it's gone! Stupid computers.

Anyway, this subject is a sore spot for me. I don't feel I fit into what is considered masculine or feminine, and I believe many will agree with me. I wrote to Jamis bikes asking why their women's bikes had such a limited color pattern, especially in baby blue or pinks. I told that some of us may like the lighter colors and of course, others like darker colors (like me). It's like the bike companies are trying to remind us that we should still be cute and "lady-like" while trudging through mud or sweating a lot on an open highway...we live in a binary world that makes it hard for people to really just be themselves. It's a shame that there even has to be definitions of masculine and feminine. Why can't colors just be colors, that anyone can pick? Oh, and I do want to add that if lighter and typically more feminine colors and patterns are your thing, I am by no way wanting to step on that, or judge it. I'm just talkin' from the ol' noggin today.

Jamis told me that they do have more colors available outside of what their web site calls for, but when I bought a Jamis through my LBS, the colors were still limited. Jamis then went on to tell me that the owner of the company is a woman, but to me, that's like saying, "The boss is black; we couldn't possibly be racist!" To me, women often fall into stereotype myths and perpetuate them--and they don't do it maliciously. But Jamis' argument annoyed me, b/c I think we as women are all so unique, and I don't think one voice should speak for us all.
That's my rant of the day.

[missymaya]

I like the fact that there are colors out there! Yeah, I HATE pastels and "cutsee bugs" and such, I'm glad that bike companies are trying to change it up a bit. I looked on the Trek website the other night and noticed their paint job options on some of the bikes (both wsd and mens). I like that they provide an option (granted for some $$). For me, right now, I don't care if the bike is pastel purple with a seafoam green seat and pastel yellow bar wrap, if it rides like a charm and fits like a glove, damn I dont care (as I go to my pearl white with aqua marine green and fuscia pink accent bike with pink pedals and handle bar wrap; those crazy 80's colors ).
Anything is better than real rust!

[Meg McKilty]

While, true, my riding should speak for itself, I had a pink Huffy when I was 10. I have moved on to a grander color scheme since then.

I want darker colors, such as the ones I named in my letter, and if you want to decorate them with maroon Hibiscus flowers on a dark gray slate background, fine. I only ask they stop giving us only elementary colors. I have't carried around a Care Bear lunch box in years; don't make me look Sunshine Bear with my bike.

In the catalogs I have looked at with WSD cycles, I have found very few other color options, and in most, none others at all to choose from.