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What do people think of this?

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  1. chdot
    Admin

    Posted 6 years ago #
  2. gembo
    Member

    Think as in is it a good looking bike I wouldn't mind owning,mriding, though maybe too small for me kind of think?

    My twelve year old likes it but not its redness

    Whereas red is my favourite

    Posted 6 years ago #
  3. LaidBack
    Member

  4. chdot
    Admin

    Ok, but I was kinda thinking about the words.

    (And to a lesser extent that it's a three speed.)

    Posted 6 years ago #
  5. dessert rat
    Member

    bless them

    agreed - its a bit 70s.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  6. gembo
    Member

    The words rhyme. Sometimes the constraint of achieving a rhyme makes the meaning come out cheesy

    I like a three speed

    Posted 6 years ago #
  7. weezee
    Member

    Honestly? When I saw it today, I felt a bit queasy. But not surprised - that kind of tone-deafness fitted with the event. It's the 3 gears that makes me hopping mad.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  8. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    It just looks like a practical bike to me (practical for somewhere flat).

    The words are odd in that male and female requirements of a bicycle aren't that different (if different at all).

    Keen to hear what female CCE posters think.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  9. Greenroofer
    Member

    I think the proportions are all wrong, the saddle is too low. The front mudguard doesn't look as if will actually work and the curved down tube doesn't do it for me. The basket seems to be mainly for decoration. It looks like a bike designed to look like a utility bike rather than actually be a utility bike.

    Oh yeah, and how come it's only women who are interested in riding bikes with step-through frames and baskets on the front? Why couldn't that stand have had a selection of bikes of different kinds in neutral colours and let people make up their own minds about what kind they liked?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  10. weezee
    Member

    I always bought bikes that were classified as 'men's' because I figured that 'women's' bikes, in the price bracket I was operating in, were less well-built. That's going back a few decades. Now, my main bike is a Dutch upright because I wanted a civilised riding position and, in the UK, that is a 'women's' bike (not the case elsewhere, I am aware). I made sure it was 8 speed though.

    Explicitly gender-targeted advertising is cringe-worthy most of the time (c.f. car ads). I can't look at an ad that uses the word 'sisterhood' and identify with that although I am a feminist. Or indeed 3rd person labels like 'mum' or 'gran'. It just makes whoever was behind it look like numpties. Totally agree with @IWRATS, needs of people who ride bikes do not run along gender-lines.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  11. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @weezee

    Was the token bloke on an all-female rideout at the weekend. Still distilling the experience. Very positive but ever so slightly unsettling.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  12. gembo
    Member

    The step through electric bike that the council have is better than the other one with the crossbar. Wider handlebars.

    Trying to be less critical (just trying this out to see if it is any different from my usual bemused mild despair at formal cycling organisations) would the wording get more girls cycling? I do not know. Also did the event get more people cycling? How did it compare to PoP which I think has more people who already cycle than new people?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  13. chdot
    Admin

    "would the wording get more girls cycling?

    Indeed.

    "How did it compare to PoP which I think has more people who already cycle than new people?"

    Useful question.

    Worth separate thread.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  14. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Looks less diddy without the seat rammed right down;

    Posted 6 years ago #
  15. Trixie
    Member

    I'd deal with the words better if it was a really nice/aspirational bike. Cos unless it's on an airfield, you're not going to really enjoy a ride out 'for the sisterhood' on that bike. Right next to it was a sleek black/charcoal hardtail, I didn't notice the (probably manly) words because I was drawn to the bike. Then I saw the red one, saw a bit of the wording, bristled and strolled on before it bugged my chill too much.

    The whole step-through being a woman's bike thing is daft. It restricts both women and men. A bike is a bike. You ride what works for you.

    I understand that there are apparently fewer women cyclists than men. I don't think this sort of promo is going to have any impact on that.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  16. Morningsider
    Member

    Ah, women - why won't they choose to mix with 44-tonne HGVs, even when we give them a basket AND pretty colours.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  17. c30c60
    Member

    Dreamy!

    In other news from the 1970s: "Women value the opportunity to chat to each other during a ride, perhaps as much as any physical or technical challenge”.
    From http://www.cyclinguk.org/article/cycling-guide/encourage-female-participation-cycling

    Posted 6 years ago #
  18. chdot
    Admin

    From link

    "

    Lycra, helmets and hi-viz are all seen as barriers to cycling by many women. Cycling UK's policy is to promote freedom of choice when it comes to cycle clothing. If somebody wants to cycle in 'normal' clothing and wear full make-up, that's up to them, as long as it's safe. As an experienced rider, you might show by example how stylish cycle clothing can make a ride more enjoyable.

    "

    I think there are issues beyond gender here...!

    Posted 6 years ago #
  19. c30c60
    Member

    Indeed. That whole page has a 'Viz meets Private Eye' feel. I've emailed CyclingUK about the text - no reply yet.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  20. Lezzles
    Member

    Actually this is exactly the kind of bike my sister says she wants to start riding to work instead of driving for 5 minutes.

    I'm on a hybrid but have a basket on the front to carry all my kids stuff to/from nursery as the bike seat on the back made me take my panniers off. With a bike like this you don't need panniers, or fancy clothing (I have to wear leggings under my dress when I'm cycling as I flash when i swing my leg over the bar).

    As for the wording - its a bit urgh but then they're trying to attract women who wouldn't ordinarily see cycling as something they can do because of the MAMIL connotations of most advertising.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  21. sallyhinch
    Member

    It would be fine, if it was alongside a bunch of other bikes: a fast road bike, a mamachari, a gnarly mountainbike, a cargobike, a recumbent.

    The reason why we formed the Women's Cycle Forum was because the women who cycle are as different as the men who cycle and we felt that variety needed to be made much more visible. As long as women who cycle are stuffed into one stereotyped box (or one basket) then all advertising aimed at them will be tone deaf.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  22. gembo
    Member

    We have had previous threads about girls continuing to cycle. My soon to be 13 year old has gone off cycling. She was out running with her pal last night but they went way out in the country (her pal has moved that way) instead of just the WoL Path where she used to run because she has become self conscious all of a sudden.

    So is there any actual consensus that girls need a different apporoach to boys?

    Was the intention in the red bike bad poerm backed by a need for a female only approach?

    I like talking and indeed singing when out cycling (Navigator, North To Alaska, Bandiera Rosa, Will Your Anchor Hold, anything with a good tune). A lot of the serious dudes I roll with do not like this. But then none of them had seen the big pink aeroplane poking its nose out of a normal sized garage due south of Winchburgh. Too busy on their Strava/Garmin etc.

    I don't suppose I am typical of anything. But who is?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  23. unhurt
    Member

    If somebody wants to cycle in 'normal' clothing and wear full make-up, that's up to them, as long as it's safe

    I am enjoying the unintentional implication that cycling in makeup might be seen as a risk factor.

    Though... hmm. Hi-vis and reflective eyeshadow and blusher: that's how I'll make MY fortune!

    Posted 6 years ago #
  24. unhurt
    Member

    "Mum" and "gran" here are tooth-grinding because it's part of a long tradition of defining women's identities by their relationship to others (usually a caregiving relationship at that).

    Posted 6 years ago #
  25. Snowy
    Member

    Just saw the pic above...well, there's no accounting for taste. But could be considered pricey for what you get? Only 3 gears and I wouldn't want to try stopping it going downhill on a wet day...

    Posted 6 years ago #
  26. Snowy
    Member

    @gembo We are all individuals...

    Posted 6 years ago #
  27. gembo
    Member

    I was enjoying the step through electric bike so much on my trip down leith and back through the mental road works and mental traffic that I decided to cycle it home. Through the mental traffic. All good until it cut out Error E6 just at slateford so had to cycle it all way up kingsnowe. That was. Bit of a schlepp.

    It says ladies bike on the tag on the bag BUT I am going to change that right now

    Posted 6 years ago #
  28. chdot
    Admin

    " I wouldn't want to try stopping it going downhill on a wet day"

    Not like the old days, this one has alloy rims and dual pivot brakes.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  29. chdot
    Admin

    "It says ladies bike on the tag on the bag BUT I am going to change that right now"

    'Suitable for all genders or none'(?)

    Posted 6 years ago #
  30. chdot
    Admin

    "So is there any actual consensus that girls need a different apporoach to boys?"

    Unlikely.

    As you know, personally and professionally, teenage years are difficult - not just for girls.

    UK generally regards cycling to school as uncool (or whatever the 2017 word is).

    I guarantee that more people would cycle to school if it was easy/safe to do it with two people (or more) side by side.

    Posted 6 years ago #

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