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

[cyclingtosydney]

Hi!

Im a graphic designer an i am working on some graphics for some new womens bikes. (mountain bikes)

my question is what colour bike would you like!

do the majority of women go for feminine colours like pale blue?

Thanks a lot for your help,

Kira

[HoosierGiant]

I avoid "girly" colors like the plague. Baby blue, pastel pink -- UCK!

But, that's my personal preference; there are plenty of women who like them. To each his own...

[Andrea]

I think that a touch of a pastel color is nice. Then there are some women who want a bike that looks like it's been airbrushed w/pepto bismol as well as some that don't want any type of "girlie" color anywhere near her ride.

So the obvious answer to your question is definitely maybe.

[beccaB]

I think a pink bike that has some high end features might be cool. Something on the higher end of the spectrum for avid cyclists. Maybe it could be tied into some kind of breast cancer awareness campaign. I've always liked pink. (I like Hello Kitty too, much to the embarrassment of my teen-aged kids)

[Becky]

I like neutral colors- white, black, etc.- that lend themselves well to accessorizing with any color. There are so many cool bartapes, water bottle cages, etc. out there! My "colored" bikes don't necessarily match that stuff, but my black one and white one do

[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

[7rider]

Hi!

Im a graphic designer an i am working on some graphics for some new womens bikes. (mountain bikes)

my question is what colour bike would you like!

do the majority of women go for feminine colours like pale blue?

Thanks a lot for your help,

Kira

There are over 4,900 women members on this site. (well, maybe a bit less, if you remove the guys)
I imagine you will get just about that many different opinions about color preference from it.

Here's mine: I depends. (How do you like that as a starting point for design? ) Bike clothing-wise, I have many things that are black. I also have a few blue things and pink things. And a few screaming yellow thrown in for good measure.

My bikes are silver or black - better to accessorize and add that dash of style and color with the clothing.

My $0.02 (what's that in pounds?), just cuz you asked for it.

[arielmoon]

I think you are going to find that personal preference is all over the board!

I love pink. I recently designed a pink and black bike on the Trek Project 1 website. AWESOME!

[cyclingtosydney]

sounds like the best thing is to have a range then... to suit all tastes!

Ive added a poll now with some colour options..

7rider - thanks for your $0.02! the exchange rate isnt so good for us in the uk at the mo so that is quite valuable to me :-)

[shootingstar]

Is purple not a unisex colour? I had a purple bike for 9 yrs. Come to think of it, I hardly see purple bikes. Maybe it's gonna be the next colour craze.

I want a pink bike...for only 1-2 days. Novelty would wear off for me.
No, light blue doesn't do it for me at all for a bike.

I've seen a few guys on a pink road bike here and there about town. It must be the wierd cool factor for them...like seeing a pack of guys cycling in team kit with a bit of pink in their jerseys & shorts.

I do like wearing certain shades of pink near my face in non-cycling clothing. So am not against pink itself. But for a bike, it's like a tool of strength for me, hence need a colour for myself that conveys that.

I ride a silver bike ...with a red heart bike bell. So I do concede to a tiny bit of frivolity.

[tulip]

I answered the poll with the orange/green option, but I have a variety. None are pastel, but that's just me. If someone offered me a pink Orbea or Lightspeed or Seven or IF, well, I wouldn't turn it down. I have a persimmon red bike, a white bike, and an unpainted steel bike. They are all great, and I wouldn't trade them. I would like to have a yellow mountain bike someday.

I really like how my white bike looks, especially when it's clean.

[IvonaDestroi]

I love feminine bikes, but the way I dress is sort of the anti-thesis of femininity (well, its sort of feminine, just a lot more on the rock n roll side), so what I love about colors like pink and blue are the contrast I get when I ride them. And they match my pink and blue hair. I do love it when things match my hair, lol!

I'm actually about to powdercoat my motobecane periwinkle with a pink fork and then add pink components and a pink single speed chain for detail. Note: it came as a single speed, it was free, and that would not be my first choice. However matching chains are pretty cute.

I think the best looking bikes though are unusual custom color combinations, things that are hard to come by like neon details/components on a neutral frame, or vice versa. (I hate fixed gears, so dont get the wrong idea, lol!) I also really like the look of a contrasting fork on the frame and then matching components to that.

I just got a solid slate grey cannondale (kind of bright pastel grey, if you can imagine that) and I'm changing out all the components/housings to bright yellow. So it will be grey with neon yellow housings, pedals, brake hoods, sidewall tires, grip tape, etc... If I could put a yellow chain on it I would I ended up choosing yellow because it was the only non red/blue component color that I could find everything I needed in. The only other option was bright green. My original choice would have been neon pink components, but no can do on tires and pedals in my price range. And you don't even want to know how much they wanted for the rims, lol!

I think it's great to have a custom look. Blue and red are so easy to find, but as soon as you try to get unique colors like green, yellow, pink, purple, orange, etc.. It's almost impossible to get all matching parts and you have to do a lot of ordering and searching around, and it usually ends up costing more too.

I think if you could find a good source of unique matching component colors and did something creative with them your bikes would sell pretty well, because everyone wants a bike that they feel is their very own, and not just a generic factory issue.

Also I think minimalism on stickers/labels tends to make a bike look much less tacky...

just my personal opinions here,but to each their own by all means!

[shootingstar]

Ivona with your personal fashion sense, what you choose for bike frame colour would look really funky and cool.

Not many of us can carry and match our personal fashion to complement a funky, unusual multi-coloured bike. But then I've barely met many TE'ers in person.