womens bike colours... do women really want pink?

[cyclingtosydney]

thanks a lot for your answers, they are pretty similar to the ones I got after canvasing my female friends - some loathe girlie pastels, some love them and some want just a hint of them!

I personally am not keen on traditional women's colours.. but when im commuting i do see a lot of girls riding pastel bikes - i was wondering if it was because they liked them or because that was what was available at the bike shops..

its usually men designing the bikes so i wondered if women were getting what they really wanted!

beccaB - thanks for the idea of linking to something like breast cancer awareness - i will suggest that.

Thanks! Kira

[lo123]

thanks a lot for your answers, they are pretty similar to the ones I got after canvasing my female friends - some loathe girlie pastels, some love them and some want just a hint of them!

I personally am not keen on traditional women's colours.. but when im commuting i do see a lot of girls riding pastel bikes - i was wondering if it was because they liked them or because that was what was available at the bike shops..

Another who HATES the girlie colors (especially pink), but I ride with a lady who has about 20 million shades of pink on her bike. It's all a matter of preference.

As far as girls riding pastel bikes... It seems some manufacturers are worse than others. When I was looking at road bikes, one company in particular did not have a single paint job I liked! They were all too girlie

[blackhillsbiker]

Green, blue or red. Maybe black with bright color accents.

Deb

[sfa]

Bright orange, red, or lime green.

I don't mind pastels, but they have to match the type of bike--I'd ride a pink cruiser, but not a pink mountain bike.

And I don't think any bike should ever be mint green. Looks like toothpaste.

I'm also so over blue and white. Every single bike I've ever owned has been blue or white. Nothing wrong with them--I'm just sick of them.

Sarah

[Eden]

You can set up an official poll on here if you would like - it would be easier to really see data and more people tend to hit the poll buttons than will type a reply.

As for me - pastels don't turn me on. My current bikes (none of which I had much choice about) are a deep ruby red - which I like a lot, naked Ti - fine, if a bit plain jane - its my rain bike though so it gets dressed up with fancy mud flaps (I just found hula girl winky vinyl - the kind that the girl dances if you move it back and forth...) and a school bus yellow TT bike which has several derogatory nicknames.

I once had a bike that was metallic baby blue with hot pink accents - I really hated the colors. It was the replacement for one that had been stolen. The year I originally purchased it, the colors were red with black accents, so the new one was a bit of a disappointment.

[Biciclista]

I like bright colors, two tone bikes are especially cool. I ride a bright orange bike with red trim. I've also seen orange with brown trim and bright red and black bikes that I like.

I had far too many blue bikes as a kid to want to have another.

[kiwibug]

Right now I ride a bike which is mostly baby blue, with some royal blue as well. I would have preferred it to be all royal blue. I love bright orange, red, green.. I could even go for a hot pink bike, but definitely not baby pink.

I really don't like pastels.

[GrassyRidge]

I prefer normal (not pastel) colors with maybe a highlight of pastel to feminize them. I don't like pink bikes at all. I'm also not a fan of really dark colors (too hot in the sun). I would do white, grey, or blues and then highlight them with brighter colors.

[staceysue]

I'd like to see more pink accessories - things you can remove when you get sick of them like different colors of pink bar tape with embossed designs, etc. I'd never buy a pink bike.

[MartianDestiny]

NO!

Now, I do understand that some women do want those colors. The ideal situation is to be able to have two or three colors in your lineup (like Yeti does). Then you can have a "girly"/pastel, neutral (white/black/silver), and maybe a bright (red, yellow, orange, etc).

I really like Scott's new blue/green/white color scheme (though honestly, I want to SEE the carbon on my expensive carbon bike..). Girly enough, but it doesn't scream "HEY I'M A CHICK'S BIKE" and artfully done graphics that compliment the bike; I think this is what company's that are going to limit to one paint color should be shooting for. But at the same time I love my "men's" red/white/raw road bike and would really like something in lime green, orange, yellow, etc.

[NbyNW]

I like strong, bold, energetic colors. And I also tend to avoid so-called "feminine" colors. By some combination of accident and design, all of my current bikes are somewhere in the yellow-orange spectrum.

I think it's not uncommon to end up with a bike with colors you're not in love with -- sometimes you just don't have a choice, so you plunk down your money and enjoy the bike for what it does, and not what it looks like. For example, my mountain bike is a particularly ugly metallic yellow, but it was the only one left in my size. Still, it's been a great bike, it's been with me for a long time, and I like to think that its ugliness contributes to a certain amount of theft-proofness. That bike has survived San Francisco, Cambridge, New York, and Seattle.

That said, if I were to get a bike with any amount of pink on it, I'd prefer something closer to screaming electric pink, almost magenta, rather than a baby pastel pink. As accents, not as the main color.

[channlluv]

The most beautiful bike I've seen is the Cannondale Synapse Carbon Feminine 3.

http://www3.cannondale.com/bikes/10/...el-0RWC3C.html

Goooooooorgeous. Sexy. I love this bike. If only I could afford it.

I ride a lovely royal blue/cyan blue trim Specialized Ruby Comp, though, which is also quite nice. (Nobody tell her I'm crushing on the Fem 3.)

Roxy

[gnat23]

If I have learned anything on this site (and I have learned much), one of the takeaways is this:

Offer a choice of pink as well as one other non-girly color (black/white/red traditional seems to work well)

-- gnat! (will take pink)

[zoom-zoom]

<--- I like that. My hubby has a carbon fiber (not painted, visible carbon threads) bike with pink brake cables and sort of rose handlebar tape. He's 6'2" and closing in on 250#s, so he can do pink and no one's gonna pick on him for it.

[Irulan]

So am I the only one here who doesn't care about the color if the price is right?