Women's heavy cruiser bikes: ever recommended them?

[OakLeaf]

I see plenty of people around here cruising around on cruiser bikes with smiles on their faces! Enjoying them simply takes a relaxed attitude towards cycling and not being in a big hurry to get anywhere but just enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells along the way.

^This!!!!


The author of the original piece seems to be under the impression that more women than men ride beach cruisers. That's not what I see around here. Sure women typically get the bikes in pastels and men get them in bolder colors, and how much of that is corporate marketing, how much is retail pressure, and how much is actual customer preference I have no idea. But in terms of the hardware itself (or the apparent experience and knowledge of many of the riders)? Equal as far as I can see.


Fit was the only reason I spent an extra $200 on my hybrid. I certainly don't need gears or fancy brakes (though I do use three of my bike's 24 speeds pretty regularly on bridges and in wind), and least of all do I need even this bike's rudimentary suspension - all of which are vulnerable to sand and salt. It all came down to the cruisers come with huge long cranks - 175 mm if they're a mm, and frames and seatposts set up that you *can't* get good leg extension. I knew my knees wouldn't take that. So in that sense, I suppose cruisers are designed for larger, taller people, who are statistically way more likely to be male. Just like all off the rack road frames were when I built my race bike in the late '80s. (I think Georgena Terry might have just started building frames at that point.) But there are also plenty of women who *don't* have kneecap tracking problems and who are perfectly happy on cruisers.



ETA - I rode a bikeshare bike in Columbus once, and it was a LOT heavier than my hybrid which I think is around 37# IIRC. The bikeshare bikes have got to be at least 50# and I wouldn't be surprised if they're heavier.

EATA - I wonder how much the Dutch commuter bikes weigh. That's most of what anyone rides over there.

EYATA - LauraElmore's post reminded me of the century I did in Amish country a few years ago - which for those who don't know, is pretty darn hilly. It was far from "all," but there were plenty of Mennonite ladies in their long skirts and veils on step through cruiser bikes. Which goes to the point that I kind of got lost in making about my own purchase, is that much of it is about the expense, and about the conviction or just the feeling that they don't need anything fancy. Still, there were at least a few Mennonite men on road bikes, which I suppose goes to the original point that women are more likely than men to be convinced that they don't need anything "fancy," even in a culture that expressly rejects "fancy."

[Jolt]

Sure women typically get the bikes in pastels and men get them in bolder colors, and how much of that is corporate marketing, how much is retail pressure, and how much is actual customer preference I have no idea.

Ugh...definitely a pet peeve of mine, with bikes, clothing etc. I really don't like pastels, give us real colors. I doubt it is really customer preference, unless I am just an oddball (which I suppose is entirely possible). And on a similar note, what is with so many women's jerseys being white? That pretty much guarantees getting grease on it, according to Murphy's law.

[lph]

Well, if I get the gist of the original blog post, her rant is not really about women choosing cruiser bikes, but about couples (who one assumes will be riding on the same terrain, and together at least some of the time) consistently choosing much higher quality bikes for the guy than for the girl. Which is interesting. I don't doubt that heavy one speed cruiser bikes can be fun, simple to use and suited to some kinds of terrain, but they're a pretty bad match for a ride together with a faster, lighter bike with higher gearing. I agree that the reason is probably complex, a combination of real personal preference and the very subtle assumptions and pressure we all are under about what is "suitable" for a woman. Maybe guys consistently get overrated in bike stores, and get pressured into buying bikes that are more expensive and more fancy than they would otherwise choose, I dunno. But I like that at least this woman (the blog poster) isn't adding to that pressure from the salespersons point of view.

ETA: I think women in general are more concerned about what others think of them. For better and for worse, and of course there are huge personal differences etc etc. But in general still - I do think that a man is less worried about being thought a poser by buying an expensive bike when he is an inexperienced rider than a woman is. "The status comes with the object" rather than "the object comes with the status", as it were.

[Aromig]

I must be a "fashion victim" because I covet one of the cute Electra bikes. I have a hybrid, but I bought a men's bike and while I'm fine when I'm on it, the standover height is pretty high and I'd be uncomfortable loading it down with panniers and baskets. I also have a decently nice carbon road bike and I'm not going to load it down either. So I keep thinking I want a nice cute Electra bike to ride the 4 miles to the grocery store and to run errands with my twelve year old on his mountain bike that rarely goes more than 10 mph. I have about 350 feet of climbing on some hills in that 4 miles....but I keep telling myself riding that heavy bike with groceries will make me stronger!

I haven't bought one yet because that $700 or so could buy a lot of entries to fun organized bike events, but boy they do look cute to me! (FYI, my bikes are MUCH nicer than my husband's bikes)

[OakLeaf]

This morning on my way to yoga, I saw a middle-aged man in scruffy clothes standing near a convenient store smoking a cigarette, leaning on his bicycle.

A pastel green, step-through cruiser with a huge white saddle.

Basic, cheap transportation. Somehow I doubt he thought he looked fashionable.

[Crankin]

I rode a cruiser on Hilton Head Island, on the beach. Was great when going with the wind, not so great when I had to ride back! My knees hurt for 2 weeks after that.
When I went with DH to buy my first road bike, I had been riding a modified mountain bike for almost 2 years. I was fit. The first 3 bikes the guy brought out to show me were flat bar road bikes/hybrids. I said to him, "What part of road bike don't you understand?" All of those flat bar bikes were nice, but not what I wanted. He made a lot of assumptions.
I refused to go to Landry's for anything after i made that purchase.

[Owlie]

The "fun" part of cruisers aside (there's definitely a place for them!)--

When I was selling bikes, most of the women who bought bikes bought hybrids. I worked there for a year. I can only remember 4 women who bought road bikes. In 2 cases, she was with her husband or significant other who was also into cycling, In one, both she and the husband bought road bikes together, with similar specs. That leaves only one case where a woman came in looking for a road bike by herself. The one she wanted was entry-level. The reason we didn't have any really nice women's bikes (unless by some miracle one sneaked onto the truck)? No one ever bought one. Most of the time, that went for the nicer hybrids as well--the vast majority of them were bought by men. Most of the bikes I sold to women were the step-through hybrid/cruiser things.

Oh, I think there may be many reasons for it. Many of the cruiser sales were probably "I want to ride with the kids/in the neighborhood/on the bike path sometimes." OK, that's cool. I feel like many of the women I talked to didn't want to spend a ton of money on it. Maybe it's the idea that a bike, in the suburbs, is a toy and you don't need anything fancy. Maybe there's some concern about whether or not they'll use it enough to justify spending the extra money. I think lph's point about status/object is valid. "I don't need a fancy bike" is also code for "I don't think I'm athletic enough to warrant a fancy bike." I think men are more likely to say "Yeah, I'm awesome, I'll buy that!"

[PamNY]

I see a number of people on cruisers, and they look fine to me. If they are cycling mostly in Manhattan and Brooklyn, they aren't encountering many hills and don't need to go fast. I tried a bike-share bike and didn't love the weight or the low gears (I almost fell over), but people seem to find them acceptable for short distances, which is how they are generally used. They weigh 45 pounds.

When I was bike shopping (at age 55), I didn't encounter any salespeople who steered me toward cruisers. One person even said "When you are ready for a road bike..."