Can someone explain what a "man bike" is?

[hurleygirl]

I've seen this term used a lot here, but I can't figure out exactly what it means.

Does it mean any bike with a straight top-tube?

Does it mean any bike that's not a women's specific design?

Or something else?

[mimitabby]

it's a bike that isn't woman's specific design. We coined that term right here on TE

[hurleygirl]

Ah, thanks for explaining. I don't ride a man-bike because mine is a WSD. The shop actually measured me and said because of my height and build I didn't need a WSD, but then they sold me one anyway.

At first I was offended because the WSD bike came standard with a triple, while the men's verson came with a double. That's highly insulting. But then I started riding some hills, and was very grateful for that granny gear.

[mary9761]

A triple ring is definitely something I will be wanting to keep if at all possible when I'm able to upgrade to a road bike. I like my granny gear for the hills as well.

[Bad JuJu]

Granny gears rock--especially for those of us who've scaled the menopause mountain and need to be even kinder to our knees than when we were younger.

[eclectic]

I love my granny gears! This past week I was riding w/ a gal that had doubles, she could rock on the flats and the beginning of hills but as soon as we geared down to Granny we blew by her and our knees were the better for it