LBS question

[mimitabby]

Sounds like he's already doing it. But add bikes fit for women to his inventory would be a good idea.

[DebW]

Hire a woman. Sponsor women's rides or classes.

[DDH]

I like the sponser womens ride idea!

I think that catering a little more to women regarding inventory would be a nice thing. My LBS is small to begin with so they have very little to choose from regarding, shorts, tops, shoes, helmets, and even bikes.

I think classes that are specifically designed for women, as far as changing tires and maintenance would be nice. Just like the fact that I have a problem filling my tire completely when I change it because it gets very hard to pump those little hand held air pumps.

[SouthernBelle]

These are good. Some match what I suggested, some he has done.

Anything else??

[li10up]

He's already doing the most important thing - actually talking to the women. I'll bet a lot of women are basically ignored in LBSs until they walk up to a cash register with item in hand.

Also, sponsoring a Women's Clinic would be a good idea. The LBS here did that last year and it was a HUGH success. They expected about 40 people and ended up with about 200. It was a mtn. bike clinic. They had you rotate through stations. There were bike handling skills, ie. learning how to bunny hop over logs, maintenance skills, etc. Even had a pro racer at the clinic who gave a talked to us and did trail rides with us. It was very cool. They are doing it again this year.

[SouthernBelle]

He's already doing the most important thing - actually talking to the women. I'll bet a lot of women are basically ignored in LBSs until they walk up to a cash register with item in hand.

Also, sponsoring a Women's Clinic would be a good idea. The LBS here did that last year and it was a HUGH success. They expected about 40 people and ended up with about 200. It was a mtn. bike clinic. They had you rotate through stations. There were bike handling skills, ie. learning how to bunny hop over logs, maintenance skills, etc. Even had a pro racer at the clinic who gave a talked to us and did trail rides with us. It was very cool. They are doing it again this year.

Very cool. I'm a roadie but would like to learn some of that stuff as my old bike would do well on trails if I fatten the tires a bit.

[pooks]

I'm wondering if some of the women who are uncomfortable are uncomfortable about their size. That has been brought up in other discussions on this site -- larger women worrying that people will think they're crazy/stupid to want to get on a bike at "their size," whatever that size is. Offhand I can imagine that a display of photos of people on bikes (possibly people in that area if possible) that shows all different kinds and sizes of people riding might be reassuring.

Also, I'm kind of on the border between XL and 1X clothes and it's hard to figure out what to buy. It's even harder when an XL in one cycling brand is a size 12 (!!!) and in another it's (hopefully) more realistic. The man at the LBS motioned toward the women's cycling clothes and said, "Eventually you may want to invest in cycling clothes, most people prefer them," and he explained the reasons in general. I was aware that his "eventually" could be interpreted as "when you've been cycling longer" or "when you're read to invest more money in the sport" or "if you've lost weight," since he probably wondered if I'd fit in anything he had. It was a tactful way of handling it.

HOWEVER -- if I had a bike shop one thing I would do in addition to having whatever kinds of cycling clothes I could affort to stock is have printouts of websites or brands to give people. I'd probably have them arranged in a file where people could fish their own out, or in a notebook where each printout was in a different clear plastic sleeve, and I would make it a point to include and find a way to indicate those that have "plus" sizes for men as well as women. It's a way to acknowledge that not everybody is going to find what they want in the shop and you're trying to help them.

Edited to add: I'd also be ready to point out in a heartbeat that cycling clothes often run small, ahem.