Ladies Bikes - What are you riding?

hi, im new here, this is my bike, i bought the parts and put it together, took me 8 months as it was my first. (:

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Hi Ivy, love the colour. Rather lush and red is my favourite :-).

Good on you for building it yourself!

Charge Hob size Small, 2011 model, cycling fixed now with SPDs

http://www.lfgss.com/album.php?albumid=2550&pictureid=14797

Thorn XTC 2004 steel made in UK tourer 525L, 26" tourer with clearance to 2.1 tires ideal take it everywhere bike and takes 20-25KG load too

http://www.lfgss.com/album.php?albumid=2550&pictureid=14796

(too big top tube 55cm but it works with saddle all the way forward and short stem)

And build soon to come Ciocc San Christobal. My first build :)

I am 1.65/5"5' with short upper body/arms and 3o" inseam legs, so yes TT is often the problem. Need 38 bars too.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/955b7d41dea1d47a6c2560d235183233/tumblr_mj4zd0BHO11r8irawo1_1280.jpg
my recently nearly but never really finished bodged together elswick!

great fun for scooting round london

need to build up another geared bike (again) now... but fixed is far too fun...

Here is my lovely single speed franken bike. It's an old Raleigh frame, resprayed with new components added on.

I also ride a mean 10 speed Trek Road bike, but we won't talk about that here ;)

I need a bit of help.
I'm trying to build up a nice classic-ish light touring bike for my gf- day camping trips at maximum...
She's 5'7 and has an inside leg of 33", but has never ridden a traditional triangular frames (prefers the step-through).
I'm not sure whether to build it around a step-through, or try and make it lighter by going triangle?
Thoughts?

Many thanks.

Step thru touring bike will be much heavier due to the lack of triangle, and likely to feel unstable when fully laden.

One good thing about a touring frame is they tend to have quite a low bottom bracket to begun with making mounting/unmounting the bicycle a lots easier than a road/fixed frame.

To be honest, it's more a question of getting used to it, my g/f used to ride a step-thru, but after riding a road frame, she got used to it straight away because it felt so much lighter and nimble to her that she haven't thought about the step-thru design, I'm definitely certain that once she got used to a decent bike, she'll forget about this step-thru business.

Just realised I haven't post both of kati's bikes on here.

Her touring/commuter (now with a 175mm stem);

Her favourite/fun bike;

Unless you want to wear a skirt...I'd say go with a straight TT.

I have a Mixte, which means lowish stepover if I do want to wear a skirt, and two straight tube bikes.

The kid carrying bike is a low instep frame, but with 20KG on the back to balance I prefer to be able to put my feet down fast.

Do any of you ride a crabon road bike? Thinking of dropping some serious money on a Focus with Sram Red soon but wanted to see what women I know are riding first...

Unless you want to wear a skirt...

I'll never understand this. The universe won't implode because somebody put a skirt on and then rode on a diamond frame. I understand skirts to have been a problem circa 1830 when wimmin were all fannying about in bustles and voluminous skirts with 15 petticoats underneath, but modern tastes and hemlines are rather different.

Eyebrows, if your woman prefers the look of the step-through, then think about getting her a step-through. Obviously her preference in this case would be wrong and she should be preferring the diamond frame, but nobody is perfect.

She's coming round to my way of thinking.
Anyways- project is on hold till after US.

Surprisingly Kati rode with dresses and skirts on both bicycles.

Some alarming (read; amusing) moment when she realised the dress she chosen was a touch too long and got caught in the brake block.

On diamond frame bike I can't lift my legs when I wear a skirt in such a way that my underwear isn't on display to the whole world.

That may just be my skirt choice though...maybe me and Bothwell should have a skirt-off consumer test :P

The trick to it is to lean your bike downwards before swinging your leg over the top tube :p

awaits Scobleadvice on whether to Lean or not to Lean

Or, always wear the trousers like at home :)

Yeah fuck the step-through, she'll be nervous at first but get over it fast. I was real iffy just moving from a mountain bike to a road bike a few years back. Had always ridden fat tubing and fat tyres, worried about sliding about the place, felt like I'd bend the wheels.

It didn't take long for me to realise the errors of my ways. She'll come round!

Skirts aren't a problem unless you wear them skin tight or well past the knee. I ride in skirts ALL THE TIME. Probably give lots of guys an eye full too, but fuck it, I've got the legs :D

Do any of you ride a crabon road bike? Thinking of dropping some serious money on a Focus with Sram Red soon but wanted to see what women I know are riding first...

I'm on a Wilier. It's unreal. Welcome to a test ride if the stars align and we three are in the same place at the same time. Even if it's just for comparisonz.

I'll never understand this. The universe won't implode because somebody put a skirt on and then rode on a diamond frame.
yeah this.

Probably give lots of guys an eye full too, but fuck it, I've got the legs :D

I ride in skirts a lot of the time, mixte, roadie, bojo when i need, whatever. Don't want to give guys an eyeful.
I just wear a pair of short shorts underneath and no one gets to see my undies. comfortable enough to go under a dress/skirt and freedom to swing my leg over any bike :)

Do any of you ride a crabon road bike? Thinking of dropping some serious money on a Focus with Sram Red soon but wanted to see what women I know are riding first...

I'm a few days away from going on an epic splurge on a bit of plastic, too. My options so far are the Trek Domane 5.2 - either WSD or normal. The WSD one is hideous, so that's definitely out. Also considering the Trek Madone 5.2 WSD only (can't go for the normal one due to my T-Rexiness), but that's even fucking uglier than the Domane so I can barely bring myself to look at it. Alternatively I could go for a Ruby Comp which is less aesthetically repellent but not as well specced. My bike fitter also has a Colnago model in mind but she hasn't told me what it is yet so I can't compare. I'm disappointed in Trek, tbh. They've put a lot of thought into their groupsets and wheelsets but they keep designing the WSD bikes to use the most grotesque colours they can think of. Why Trek?! Y U DO DIS?!

I ride in skirts a lot of the time, mixte, roadie, bojo when i need, whatever. Don't want to give guys an eyeful.
I just wear a pair of short shorts underneath and no one gets to see my undies. comfortable enough to go under a dress/skirt and freedom to swing my leg over any bike :)

I would just like to point out I DO wear tights or sometimes cropped leggings underneath, I'm not flashing my knickers at everyone!!! I might check out those short shorts though, definitely a better option for summer!

Boffwell, have a look at BMC, their sizing are much more sensible and the men one will likely to fit you well without being all pinky.

Do any of you ride a crabon road bike? Thinking of dropping some serious money on a Focus with Sram Red soon but wanted to see what women I know are riding first...

Patricia (5') is away in Germany so I have posted this image with her 44cm Specialised Amira. The smallest they do but the Amira range is women specific.

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I'm a few days away from going on an epic splurge on a bit of plastic, too. My options so far are the Trek Domane 5.2 - either WSD or normal. The WSD one is hideous, so that's definitely out. Also considering the Trek Madone 5.2 WSD only (can't go for the normal one due to my T-Rexiness), but that's even fucking uglier than the Domane so I can barely bring myself to look at it. Alternatively I could go for a Ruby Comp which is less aesthetically repellent but not as well specced. My bike fitter also has a Colnago model in mind but she hasn't told me what it is yet so I can't compare. I'm disappointed in Trek, tbh. They've put a lot of thought into their groupsets and wheelsets but they keep designing the WSD bikes to use the most grotesque colours they can think of. Why Trek?! Y U DO DIS?!

I've got the Madone 5.0 wsd from a few years ago (recently changed the groupset to sram). Paint job's not too bad once you've got used to the baby blue highlights. I have to confess I couldn't actually use the brakes properly until I changed to sram, but I did tolerate that for about 5 years and thousands of miles, so I suppose it can't have been that bad.

Missus just bought this from Kinoko Cycles, it's Tokyo Fixed Dream Machine 48cm, the smallest frame they make, if Ed hasnt praised this enough I should add that it also makes a lovely ladies bike. My missus is 5'2" and the current set up (smallest possible stem) fits her well with no toe overlap due to her small feet. She reckons she can go for a longer stem though, which is good :)

Now someone buy her previous bike:

https://www.lfgss.com/thread108946.html

Back to plastic. I bought this in the end.

It's taking a little while to get used to the way it leaps forward from a standing start like a thoroughbred racehorse. Anyway, after one (1) short ride in the pissing rain I'm happy with it so far.