There were several mixte and ladies bikes at Cirque this year, with a really pretty Claud Butler frame hanging on the side wall. I purchased a Jack Taylor ladies town bike a couple years back on e-bay for local UK pickup and was able to find someone to pack and ship it here. It sounded like there were many ladies bikes in the UK, but that they were undervalued. Ours, set up as a five speed town bike w/ drop bars was only $200 after contacting the owner, the bike having not sold after twice being listed, although shipping cost more than the complete bike. I immediately heard from my brother in law who'd been looking at the very same bike for his wife, but didn't bid because of local pickup only. And I started to hear from others asking if I knew where to find ladies bikes after them seeing ours.
Barb's Taylor has a really nice ride and is pretty light even with fenders and generator light, a bit noodley in the frame stiffness, but a great balanced ride. There's no toe clip overlap, even with the fenders and it worked great w/ drop bars. However the reach was a bit much for Barb and she likes the north road bars I retrofitted to her hybrid. So North roads it was, while I kept it friction shifting w/ stem shifters. I had to go with a longer throw for the stem, because bringing the grips back made the bike handle a little noodley when grips were even with the stem's quill. The bike's more stable when the bars are gripped farther forward. I'm probably being anal by keeping the bike friction shifting, and Barb hasn't ridden it enough to get used to what everyone had to deal with back in the day. I've since switched it to porteur bars so that I could use bar ends on it and she wouldn't have to let go of the bars to shift. Now it's even a longer throw stem, as far out as it'll go forward. Technomics are what you need to look somewhat vintage if you don't use a modern gooseneck.
The Taylor's not original anymore, only the seatpost, fenders, pump, calipers and generator are original to the bike now. Tim Fricker took some nice photos of it at Cirque available here: http://www.flickr.com/
So as far as bike fit goes, it may just be the same issues as with any women's proper fit to bikes that may not have been designed for the shorter torso/longer legs that women tend to have. Then again this bike was custom made for someone else.
Happy trails,
Dan Artley in Parkton, Maryland USA
Archive-URL: http://search.bikelist.org/
I have often wondered why we don't see a more active market for these bikes. Some are very beautiful and it seems to me to make a lot more sense for anyone with a mild physical impairment to ride one of these than to ride a recumbent, which are as a rule stone ugly to my eye. Seems they'd be easier to fit than most bikes, too, but I may be wrong there and I don't have any real experience with either. Do they ride well?
Tom Sanders
Lansing Mi, USA