Dear Bike Companies:

[Bluetree]

I have two female friends (one a tremendously strong climber) who have pink bikes.. and I mean EVERYTHING is pink. Great for them!

Personally, I hate pink. I would never buy anything pink. I prefer colors that kill and intimidate. The main difference is, my friends had the option to buy pink. Or powder blue. Or other pastels. The colors I liked were not as readily available for me, except when I went up the WSD carbon fiber food-chain or looked at men's bikes.

My LBS dealer told me that the higher quality of bikes for women, the less "pastel-y" they become. In fact, the women's team he sponsors unanimously asked that none of their bikes/kit had any pink in them.

My S-Works is stealth black and my Pinarello is black-red-white. To me, those are women's colors!

[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!!!)

[imdeanna]

My LBS dealer told me that the higher quality of bikes for women, the less "pastel-y" they become. In fact, the women's team he sponsors unanimously asked that none of their bikes/kit had any pink in them.

I can relate to this .... this is my first....and not knowing how far I'd go with cycling...was on a budget to give it a try.....so it was the highest quality I could get for my buck....

BUT...now that I know I'm loving cycling....when I get financially able to buy my next bike.....ya...your right....it's not going to be a 'girls' bike...... when I go into the LBS...I drool over the dark sleek colors...and the hot curves...of the BIG TIME bikes!!!

[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!!!!

[OakLeaf]

Would he ever buy a WSD bike? Hell no. Why? Because they are girly.

Um.

Madone 6.9:

Madone 6.5 WSD:

Ruby Expert Compact:

Roubaix Comp Triple:


To round out your mass-produced bikes, Cannondale does have completely different paint schemes for the WSD bikes vs. the men's bikes, but most of them aren't what I'd call "girly." Some of them are. Most not.

Unfortunately I think it goes back to what another poster said. It's the homophobia, or something similar. Most men wouldn't buy something branded as "WSD" even if it was cosmetically identical to a men's design. Even if it was identical in fit (as unfortunately a lot of so-called "women's" gear used to be, and some still is). There's absolutely a stigma attached to being female or appearing feminine.

[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

[GLC1968]

And yes - look at what's changed in a year. Ask and you shall receive...Think that Georgena read this thread?

There's nothing 'frou-frou' or 'girly' about these paint schemes:






Unless, of course, you find white to be too offensive.

[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

[Andrea]

I love raw carbon fiber with any color accenting it- especially with some custom touches

My current crush is my Blue Rc7. It's plain carbon w/blue, silver, & white, and I managed to find custom headset spacers in blue and silver as well as "install" metallic blue and white handlebar tape in a "harlequin" style weave on the drops. It's pretty flashy, but I think that custom touches on any bike really give it personality, no matter what color it is.

Edit: oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I found carbon waterbottle cages that have some silver on them as well... and they were on sale!!!

[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.