Dear Bike Companies:

[imdeanna]

I think there's plenty of room for those of us who like pink and those of us that don't!

Your liking pink doesn't make you any less cool than me (queen of uncool)

Phew!!!! I was going to start riding with a full face helmet so no one would recognize me!!!!

Funny thing...I've never really liked 'pink' for myself....it just happend to be what I dressed 'her' in....(my bike is VERY feminine!!!)

[Bron]

Having a bianchi makes it easy - bianchis are celeste and nothing else goes with celeste, so I can forget colour co-ordinating myself. Yes I know there are some bianchis in other colours....

I heard about a local high school football team whose coach wanted them to play soccer in the off season to stay in/get into shape. Big burly guys, most of whom had never set foot on a soccer field and weren't very good.

They called themselves the Rosebuds, wore pink jerseys with red rosebuds on them, and nobody dared laugh at them (though I'm sure everybody laughed with them).

Um. And I'm sure they all rode bikes.

(Sorry for the drift.)

Um, is this a cultural difference? Why would anyone think that men are girly for playing soccer?

[bouncybouncy]

I have not read this thread in its entirety (sp?) but I read most of it when it was first posted...my $0.02:

colors could go either way...I personally hate red! Don't want blue (hubby's bikes are blue and/or green) I like white...but not good for mtb even though that is what I got! Any and all components are pink, pink, pink, and um some pewter that look lilac in color!!!! Yep, I like pink!!! I also like orange...my previous bike was orange with pink components!!! You read correctly...pink & orange! They are mtbikes...tough, cute, girly, and can take a beating!!!

My roadie is pink too...but just the frame...the components are silver...it is a little more classy than my dirty girls!

Point is...I like I have the choice! I could have had pink, black, Yeti turquois, nude, or a redish color...but I had a choice!!!!

[Tokie]

I cringe when I see pastel bikes in a sea of other color bikes at the bike store.My first thought is that those are the low-end bikes in the store, aimed at women who don't know much about bikes. I do like some of the colors that Orbea uses on their women's frames. They are a bit feminine but look like the type of paint job you would see on a really high end bike. Tasteful and understated - in my opinion. I just want a great bike! I want a bike that fits with all the features offered on comparably priced bikes that are not women specific. I am pleased that the Specialized Ruby bikes have nice paint jobs that don't scream "girly bike". I don't mind that the name "Ruby" on the frame is in a feminine font. I love pink and feminine stuff. But I don't want a pastel car or a pastel bike. I can wear girly colored bike clothes, but don't put me a a girly color bike. Just me. Attract me to a women's specific bike with a great frame,components,fit and quality! Tokie

[Aggie_Ama]

I already weighed in a year ago on my opinion of bikes. I recently purchased a new Giro Atmos helmet- in pink. However, even with my love of the helmet I was completely annoyed with the Giro "Women's" Packaging. It looked like pepto bismal had been poured on the box with clouds and swirlies. Ummmm, a $150+ helmet is not your second grader's helmet. It made my girly helmet seem like a child's toy. I still like my pink helmet!

I notice the girly only color issue is mostly found in the entry to mid-range area. Higher end bikes seem (and I may be wrong) to be a little less floral, pastel or offer multiple frames. I know Cannondale does, the new Trek Madone that is pink is very subtle and the others are even less pastel. The Orbea diva comes in a white (last time I checked). I think the problem is selection, if you need a WSD frame you pay more for the same components and less choices. Slap a WSD badge, slightly modify the frame and charge more. That is what I find ANNOYING!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Glad to see that Terry is dropping the girly-swirls and flowers motifs that really turned me off when I was first bike shopping several years ago. They always reminded me of Laugh-in and sugary 'Up, Up With People' stuff from the 70's....

[Meg McKilty]

I am astounded this thread is still going a year later.

I still do not care for pink, and The Ice Princess (my Jamis) is a gorgeous bike. The ice blue really grew on me after a while.

http://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/bikes/...nithcompf.html

Edit: I did change out the seat and the bar tape to black, though.

[spokewench]

I think I've stated this before - I am not a pink person! BUT, I do own a black (carbon) and pink (Bright Fuschia sp?) Giant road bike - AND IT IS A MEN's BIKE!

Most of the boys on my old team hated riding the pink bike when they were sponsored and had to ride them.

For me, it is not the color of the bike, but the way it performs so I've come to grips with the fact that I ride a pink bike cause I LOVE MY BIKE! IT is sooo light and fast. That is what is important to me. So far, no one has been able to talk me into color coordinating with clothing i.e. jerseys (NOT), but one of my girlfriends as a joke bought me some white socks with pink flowers around the cuff so I could match my bike. I grin every time I put them on for the thought that was given to that gift!

spoke

[aicabsolut]

I already weighed in a year ago on my opinion of bikes. I recently purchased a new Giro Atmos helmet- in pink. However, even with my love of the helmet I was completely annoyed with the Giro "Women's" Packaging. It looked like pepto bismal had been poured on the box with clouds and swirlies. Ummmm, a $150+ helmet is not your second grader's helmet. It made my girly helmet seem like a child's toy. I still like my pink helmet!

I notice the girly only color issue is mostly found in the entry to mid-range area. Higher end bikes seem (and I may be wrong) to be a little less floral, pastel or offer multiple frames. I know Cannondale does, the new Trek Madone that is pink is very subtle and the others are even less pastel. The Orbea diva comes in a white (last time I checked). I think the problem is selection, if you need a WSD frame you pay more for the same components and less choices. Slap a WSD badge, slightly modify the frame and charge more. That is what I find ANNOYING!

That was my point. Of course, my bf wouldn't buy a Madone period because he hates Trek, but I wasn't trying to go there--he'd probably like the white one as far as paint scheme, but I digress...

So the bike manufaturers are starting to use the same or similar paint schemes for race caliber women's bikes as on the equivalent men's bike. I don't even know if I'd include the Ruby, though, as the Roubaix is essentially the same bike, just one size off. So a guy who would like a Ruby would go with a Roubaix to get the right width in handlebars for roughly the same geometry.

There's still a problem of selection. Say you want a Trek. Say you want something better than a 4.x series Madone. The 5.1 is your price range. Well, it's pink (or has girly pink accents). The 6.5 is not girly (as pictured above), but can you afford it? The men's Madones are all pretty neutral colors. Red, white, blue, yellow, black.

Cannondale and Specialized and Cervelo and Ridley and other manufacturers often give you paint scheme options per level of men's frame. Specialized does that for the top level Ruby frames. The Ruby Comp? Carbon with pink stencil. Again, what if you don't have $3k+ to spend on a bike? You have one paint option, and it's got pink.

If you LIKE pink, that's fine. There's nothing wrong with liking pink. What I think this thread is supposed to get at is what if you don't like pink? What do you buy at certain price points?

[mimitabby]

you know, it's funny; we don't have this problem with cars!
cars can be marketed to women in the same colors as those for men.

[gnat23]

I, as a representative of the "other" side, usually rant about how difficult it is to find high-end equipment that is pink. I'll fuss about how the lower-end frames have the pink and the flowers and the swirlies, but after a certain price range it goes all primary colors and daggers again.

Of course, there's really not much choice in frame color schemes in any given year, period. Even the guys may only get "silver" or "blue" for a particular model. Either we can wait it out and see what they offer for next season, or have it custom painted, or beg and plead that more places offer things like Trek's Project One engine.

Don't get me started on shoe color availability. Hello, Sidi, we need to talk.

-- gnat! (I miss my T-Mobile Magenta Men. *snif!*)

[kfergos]

Funny that this thread popped up when it did... My mother just bought a brand-new Giant OCR w 3, and her only complaint: "It's girly blue! I hate that color!" Personally I thought it could've been much worse, but she wanted a zippy red bike (which is the color I happen to have, and yes, it does feel faster)... I don't have much to add, except that I wouldn't let color dictate my choice, but given a choice I would tend to avoid flowers, traditionally feminine colors, and suchlike decoration.

Several people have mentioned custom paint jobs on bikes. I'm curious: How much does that usually cost? Where does one find a custom bike-painter? (I've thought for a long time flames would be *so* cool on my bike; plus I've had a lifelong love affair with that iridescent green/purple/blue color that you see on really customized cars and motorcycles (I hear that costs $$$ per pint, but how many pints would you need to paint a bike anyway?))

[OakLeaf]

even with my love of the helmet I was completely annoyed with the Giro "Women's" Packaging.

What's different about a women's specific helmet???

(honest question from someone who's never heard that the crowns of women's heads are shaped differently from men's)

ETA, my 2 cents: Women and men ARE shaped differently, and not just from chest to crotch, and I think manufacturers SHOULD label their products when they're made to fit a set of proportions that is much more likely to belong to a woman than to a man (and my understanding is that the difference in frames is more in the STA and the top tube length). What I have a problem with, is when WSD products are labeled as such, but products designed specifically for men's bodies are not labeled. As though everything is "really" unisex but there are some b*tchy feminists who refuse to accommodate their bodies to wearing men's clothes and riding men's bikes.

[GLC1968]

What's different about a women's specific helmet???

(honest question from someone who's never heard that the crowns of women's heads are shaped differently from men's)

In my experience? Nothing, except that they are in 'pretty' colors and they don't come in 'Large'!

I'd be curious of the real difference, too...maybe they have ponytail openings?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

In my experience? Nothing, except that they are in 'pretty' colors and they don't come in 'Large'!

I'd be curious of the real difference, too...maybe they have ponytail openings?

Men's helmets in small are too large for me. Women's helmets in small fit me just right.