Women's single speed

My girlfriend's cast-iron MTB was damaged earlier this week and as an interim measure I lent her my single speed. She came home after one day on it and has expressed her undying love for he single speed (would that I got the same...) Anyway, I am thinking that I might get her a bike as a present and I was wondering if there are any OTP single speeds that are built specifically for women? As she has been riding mine I doubt that women's specific geometry will be required, but it is always good to look into these things... All advice (on what bike to buy, rather than on what a bad idea it is to hand your pride and joy over to the girlfriend) welcome

Why not take this opportunity to start a new current project instead of going OTP?
Make sure you get the sizing right if it's going to be a surprise & you can't fit the bike around her.There is no real woman specific geometry however a step through frame may be slightly more elegant.

Yeah, seriously. Maybe I'm just being machisma about this but I hate "women's" bikes. Gimme a regular top-bar, I can carry it over my shoulder when I need to. Get her an old road bike & convert it. I gave guapo undying love for the one he built me so we could tool around together when I first got here.

Yeah, seriously. Maybe I'm just being machisma about this but I hate "women's" bikes. Gimme a regular top-bar, I can carry it over my shoulder when I need to.

Couldn't agree more.

me three!

Get her an old road bike & convert it.

+1

you could do this for under 50 pounds...

just be sure the bike you get fits.

What about those mtb with women's geometry? Are they better?

There's women's geometry bicycle? huh?

yeah i think so, i know gary fisher used to do it, its cos womens legs are proportionally longer than mens or summink.

Yeah...summat about shorter top tubes and that kind of thing, isn't it?

I don't like "women's" bikes either. They always come in a putrid pearlescent pink or turquoise, as far as I can tell...

There are, as far as I know, NO women-specific OTP fixed/ss bikes on the market, at least not in the UK.

Obviously it's all bollocks because women don't have a specific geometry but it still sucks because it makes it seem even more blokey than it already is. Road bike women specific is usually shorter top tube, shorter stem, shallower/narrower bars to compensate for women on the whole (not in every case, I know) having a shorter torso/arms and longer legs. Easiest quick fix solution is get her to buy whatever fits her nice and if the top feels too long switch to a shorter stem.

I like them cos i'm a man and it makes me feel superior knowing that women need smaller lighter things, and that they can't manage a 'mans' bike!
only joking. But it does seem like a good idea, my girlfrinds quite petite and i'm tall though, so all of our stuff is way out of proportion...

Theres no womens bike in my house... no boots at the end of my bed... bed-head bereft of notches... one or two notches actually, just to test so that when the time came I'd be able to add real notches.

:(

This is not true.

Actually, theres so many bloody notches I sleep on a pile of wood-chips! Hell yeah! Men FTW!

EDIT: I mean... not as in "Men FTW" like I like men.... I mean, in the way that Im a man, and therefore I win because of all my woodchips.

This is also not true.

Liquid lunch Balki?

I've been off solids for some weeks now.

Thanks everyone (especially @Balki - useful stuff there) I know that my girlfriend would be mighty unimpressed by a pink pearlescent number (she's the kinda girl who headed straight for the matt black snowboard and secretly laughed to herself when the assistant gave her a discount because he was having trouble shifting said black snowboard to any other female boarders!) so I guess the thing to do is go for something that fits and she is happy with.

I would love to go down the route of getting a bike built, but I am technically totally inept so it would have to be built for her and I would like to get something quick (I'm really missing my SS after only two days!) As you may have gathered this is not an entirely selfless thing I am doing - the girlfriend gets a new bike, sure. But I get mine back :-) and I get to ride even more with her!

I'll post how we get on.

dammit was selling this a while back... might fit the bill?

and I get to ride even more with her!

I'll post how we get on.

(lowers tone)

Hello, I have seen some racing bikes with velocities for just girls, but the only difference that i see is that the geometry is a little bit more round, i don't think that make a real difference. I am riding a normal ss bike (i am a girl also) that is for my measures and rides really nice, i wouldn't change it....
so, my recomendation is just find a frame for her measurements and she will be happy :D

Thanks Natchat. We actually spent this weekend looking for a bike and it seems that I will be parting with my hard-earned pounds and pence in either BLB or Condor... none of the bikes in Evans, etc were quite right. The smallest Pista that Condor do (49cm frame) caused a smile that I think was a good sign. There is a limited number of options in anything under 50cms however.

i bought a bike off of Ebay, for £60, and ive converted it for £50 to a single speed. its a regular guys frame (im a girl also). if youve got the time to do one up if its a big old and can drop on one the right size for your girlfriend its a pretty cheap that way