People who visit this blog sometimes search for the strangest things. I would never have thought of these things myself. But it’s really interesting to get a glimpse into the minds of some of the people who don’t regularly frequent this blog.
Recently, an anonymous person visited a post I wrote a long time ago. It was a review of a bike I bought a couple of years ago. Since there aren’t many reviews of this particular bike, my review still gets a lot of traffic.
Once in a while, someone who is shopping for a new bike contacts me with questions about this bike, the Jamis Coda Sport. I try to answer all reasonable questions.
My Coda Sport is still going strong and I’m still happy with it. So I don’t mind answering questions for people who are interested in buying this bike.
Most readers of this blog could predict what questions are most frequently asked. These questions tend to fall into the category of general bicycle information because the people asking don’t know enough about bicycles to evaluate any bike.
Despite this seeming predictability, one creative person always comes along who asks an unexpected question or searches for something out of the ordinary. That person is the one mentioned above, who visited my Coda Sport review.
He wanted to know whether a man could ride a Jamis model called the Coda Sport Femme. Now it’s pretty obvious from the name of this model that it’s a “women’s specific” bike. This Coda Sport version is supposed to fit the stereotypical female body.
Without further information, it’s difficult to flush out the exact meaning of this man’s question. The obvious, and most literal answer is: “of course a man can ride this bike.” There is nothing about being female which gives one a special advantage for riding this bike, and there’s nothing about being male which would preclude the possibility of riding this bike.
This, however, is probably not what he was asking. He may have been wondering whether a woman’s bike would fit a man, or whether he might be too heavy for a frame made for a woman.
But since he was searching for an answer on the Internet, and on a cycling blog in particular, I suspect that this question was more personal in nature. For instance, he may have liked the color choices. Or he might be on the shorter side, or have shorter arms. Either of these traits might make the geometry of the women’s model better for him.
What drew my attention to his query, and made me think more about it, was the phrasing of the question. First I thought about what he didn’t ask.
He didn’t ask whether the bike would fit him. He didn’t ask whether the bike was too fragile to carry his weight (as an aside, I wrote a post about bicycle weight limits which gets constant traffic — and many cyclists ask me about this topic).
I think he was wondering whether he would be judged harshly, either by cyclists or non-cyclists, for choosing to ride a women’s specific bicycle. Well, would he?
That’s a good question. Many cyclists do think outside the box. And, the mere act of choosing to ride a bike for transportation flies in the face of tradition. So, what would be wrong with a man choosing to ride a bike designed for women? Does a cyclist who is trying to make inroads in changing our car-centric culture have to abide by tradition?
Women buy and ride “men’s” frames all the time. In fact, men’s frames are often called “unisex” to send the message to women that they can ride these bikes too. Why, then, isn’t there a similar message sent to men about the feasibility of riding a “women’s” frame?
As most people in the bicycle industry, and most seasoned cyclists, know the only real difference between the men’s and women’s models is geometry and paint jobs. The stand-over height and top tube length are usually scaled down for women.
While this is a nice thing to do for women, particularly those who are shorter than average, it doesn’t convey the message that this change is for fit, not fashion. In other words, anyone who doesn’t find the men’s model a good fit can try the women’s model. It doesn’t matter what gender the rider is.
With marketing being what it is, the likelihood of a message being sent to men saying that they can ride women’s bikes is fairly slim. Women are being marketed to to encourage them to ride and to make it easier for them to find a bike that fits.
Still, this begs the larger question, namely, should cyclists embrace gender norms when it comes to buying and riding bicycles? My gut reaction is to say “no.”
A bicycle does not have a gender. It should be viewed solely by its geometry and components. If these suit the cyclist, then he or she should feel free to ride the bike.
Unfortunately, life is not so simple. A man’s use of a unisex bike is not diminished by a woman’s riding the same bike. But a man’s masculinity is called into question if he rides a bike designed for a woman.
If we are ever going to change the way people think about creating more livable streets and alternative forms of transportation, we’re going to have to dump these antiquated gender stereotypes. A man’s masculinity is no more diminished by riding a women’s specific bike than a woman’s femininity is diminished by riding a unisex (men’s) bike.
Drivers like to maintain the status quo. Drivers like rigid rules. Drivers only see roads as designed for cars. These are ingrained social norms. They dictate conformist thinking.
Cyclists, on the other hand, should dare to think the unthinkable. For it is only in this way that society’s thinking will ever change and that we will ever have a culture that is different from the one we have today.
