a "men's" bicycle typically has the top tube of the frame parallel to the ground, while a "women's" bicycle usually had a top tube that is slanted lower at the seat end, so a lady doesn't hit herself in the balls if she slides forward off the seat
@sluttymayo this always baffled me when i was a kid.
@sluttymayo I was following along until the last dozen or so words...
@charette oh, don't act like you've never been riding along a little loosey goosey in the saddle and had to slam the brakes all of a sudden and had the bike drop out from under you

@sluttymayo That's why I ride without a seat on the seat post.

Keeps me on my toes. :)

@sluttymayo itโ€™s why I always wear a long skirt when Iโ€™m on my bicycle - to hide my big balls
@sluttymayo I've laughed about the backwardsness of that since I realized it as a kid.
@sluttymayo I have wondered about this since I was 6 and realized that my friend Marcus's bike was different than mine.
@courtcan @sluttymayo I learned to ride on the boy next door's bike but I wore mostly trousers at age 5 anyway. (The boy was called Harold and the bike was bright red.)

@irina @courtcan @sluttymayo

I rode a touring bike with a 'mens' frame for a while. (I always wear trousers) One day, an old chap saw me unlocking it outside a shop and asked if it was mine. When I said yes he asked "but how do you... Get on it?" I swung my leg over the saddle, said "like this" and rode off. I think he genuinely thought women weren't capable of doing so.

@sluttymayo do any countries other than the US consider mixte frames "women's bikes"?
@mancube @sluttymayo
Germany, traditionally.

@mancube That's not even a thing in the US anymore, and as far as I can tell hanging around Tulsa area bicycle dealerships when I need repairs I can't tackle myself, that seems to have been the case for at least a decade now.

@sluttymayo

@sluttymayo
Women's bikes are built that way because it keeps the bicycle from upskirting the lady astride it. Men's bicycles are built with an extra crosspiece because it was assumed that they needed more strength for riding more masculine roads than fragile ladies, who would naturally ride more sedately. I wish I were joking about this.
@intransitivelie mogging the 19th century cycling moralists with my drawstring skirt that goes zschoooop and suddenly is fluffy pants, doing wheelies on my silk inner tubed "safety" bicycle in the parking lot of victorian dollar general, zooming right past penny-farthingcels without ringing my bell, etc etc

@intransitivelie In reality now, most people ride step-through frames because it's just less of a pain, especially if you have anything on the luggage rack...

@sluttymayo

@intransitivelie @sluttymayo The classic "double diamond" shape for bicycles does genuinely have a material advantage, in that the frame uses less steel/aluminum for the same strength.

That said, the difference is small and in the context of today's e-bikes, it's entirely overshadowed by the battery weight. Hence, the practical downside is reduced, and now everybody can ride without having to throw a leg over.

I'm a fan of more people on two wheels, whatever shapes they may choose.

@sluttymayo Brilliant design strategy.
@sluttymayo yes that never made sense to me. felt like exactly backwards
@sluttymayo Yup. And even for a "woman", landing on that friggin' bar sucks!

@sluttymayo

I think that's supposed to make it easier to mount the bicycle when wearing a dress.

@argv_minus_one @sluttymayo It is! I know an Orthodox priest who has a "women's" bike for that reason, so he can mount in his vestments.

@irina

Now I wonder why the โ€œmen'sโ€ design exists at all. Is it more structurally sound or something?

@sluttymayo

@argv_minus_one @irina @sluttymayo The "men's" design is part of the reason I stopped riding bicycle. At my height of 188 cm, a sufficiently large bicycle has that bar at a fuckass high level and it's very laborious to lug my leg over the bar every time I have to mount or dismount.

@argv_minus_one @irina @sluttymayo yes it is. Stronger and stiff for less material.

Some of my bikes are "female" framed, others are "male" framed. When having 25 kg of shopping in the panniers at the back, mounting in front (female) is much more stable.

Long story short: each framed type has a specific use type. Enough reason to have multiple bikes of different types.

@sluttymayo hey @ifixcoinops where's The Thread
@noodlejetski @sluttymayo ah yes, the importance of squashing the bollocks https://retro.social/@ifixcoinops/112176059882736410
Dan Fixes Coin-Ops (@[email protected])

1980's ๐Ÿ *holding ice against crotch* Dad, how come girl's bikes don't have the bollock-mashing bar ๐Ÿบ no need for it lad, they've got nae bollocks ๐Ÿ ๐Ÿบ not much point putting a bollock masher if there's nae bollocks to mash is there ๐Ÿบ be a bloody waste of money 2020's ๐Ÿ€ *holding ice against crotch* Dad, why ๐Ÿ You know, I asked my dad this when I was your age, and his answer doesn't really fit in this decade. You probably know a couple of girls with bollocks. Maybe a boy with no bollocks. Either way, girls with bollocks get to ride the bikes without the bollock-mashing bar, and boys with no bollocks can ride the bollock masher, in a lot of ways it's a more enlightened time ๐Ÿ€ Dad what ๐Ÿ I mean these days girls can ride the bollock mashing bikes too ๐Ÿ So can non-binary folk, bollocks or no ๐Ÿ€ dad ๐Ÿ Anyway times change is what I'm saying ๐Ÿ The important thing is squashing the bollocks ๐Ÿ€ ๐Ÿ Flat

Retro Social
@noodlejetski @ifixcoinops my client is being weird and giving me guff about seeing the thread from jorts, but i got at it in the browser and it's a mashing good thread
@sluttymayo @ifixcoinops most mashing thing since the potatoes

@sluttymayo my bike selection has been very ladylike since the first and only time that happened to me.

I also can't imagine how older dudes keep doing those manly acrobatic ballet/yoga moves to get on the mens bikes either.

@sluttymayo The other thing to consider: If you actually are the kind of person who wears a lot of dresses and skirts (like I am), the bar does actually an okay job at holding them up, making it less likely to end up in your chainโ€ฆ

So it really is backwards in more ways than just the ball-mashingโ€ฆ