Girl's Bike?

[keweli]

My sister has a mountain bike but the handle bar is in a V shape.

Are there such classifications?

thanks

[Joe_W]

"Girl bike" is a classification that is basically wrong. What used to be called women's bikes are bikes without horizontal top tube so that you could ride it with a long skirt and ascend more gracefully (without lifting you leg too high).

Ok, the following is influenced by the standpoint of a female racer (pro tour team), whose interview I read last year, plus the semi-knowledge I acquired during the last years.

A bike has to fit, men and women are not that different when it comes to fitting bikes. What is sold as women's bikes is available in smaller sizes and with different paint jobs. They also have a more comfortable position / geometry and (with road bikes) STI levers with less reach for smaller hands. So, yes, the geometry is different but only because most women would rather sit more comfortable on a bike. (Some) men have a certain machismo going, they like to be fitted on the bike as if they were great racers (yeah, me too), even if it makes them uncomfortable on longer rides (I actually like the position, my back is strong enough to support me for some hours).

A mountain bike without a (more or less) straight handlebar is not a mountain bike, I'd say rather a hybrid bike (nothing wrong with that). The handlebar shape of a mountain bike makes handling the bike during technically difficult passages easier.

[keweli]

Interesting things you mentioned there.

What do you think of it?

[Jordan300]

Looks like a fine bike. keep it running good and it should suit her well. I'm sure she is not doing any intense riding on it.

[DaveM]

That is what would be called a "girl's bike" because the top tube meets the seat tube below where the stays join. The "v shaped" or riser bars just mean it is a bike aimed for casual riding rather than agressive off road riding and might come on any bike.

There is a push to get away from the "women's bike" designation for any bike with a low top tube. It is more current to call these a "step through frame". This push is coming from the companies that make transportation style bikes where a low top tube is intended to just be easier for anyone and is aimed at both sexes.

I would disagree slightly with Joe_W about women's bike's geometry. At least for higher end racing bikes where fit is fairly important. There are many bikes made specific to women because women tend to have longer legs and shorter torsos. They are often smaller overall as well, but the key difference is related to relative proportions. But for most casual style bikes, the difference is just the step through frame (and "girly" colors)

[Joe_W]

I'd have said it is a kid's bike.... but yeah: the step through frames are still considered to be more "women's bikes", though I'll have to check what kids ride these days (as soon as the snow melts). I think I saw also many little boys on bikes like that (well, maybe except for the colour), though the helmet may make judging the rider's gender difficult ;-)

OK, I admit: I don't know. I'd probably give a little boy a step through frame on his fist bike, though. I think my first bikes had step through frames, too.

@ DaveM:
*g and I would say that if the frame fits, it does not matter if it was made for women or men, the argumentation is what I read in an interview with a female pro cyclist. She is riding a men's frame since it does fit and the women's frames tend to have a more relaxed geometry (if she would be fitted on the frames by their team's brand, fit is always rider dependent, as also Dave's comment implied), she was quite unhappy (or rather baffled) about this. Smaller frame sizes are, as mentioned above, mostly only available as women's bikes. Some companies (too few) even spec their smaller road bikes with 650 wheels (rather than 700) to really have a scaled down version with the "correct" angles and length ratios and same bike handling as the "larger" version. It was in a special issue on the needs for female racers. (equally important discussions were: saddle, STI levers, cycling shorts)
(Oh, and I'm not sure that women tend to have longer legs than men... that was the base for my argumentation, so the disagreement really starts - and ends - there, we both want to say: a bike has to fit...).