just bikes: step over for ladies

Occasionally, among the bike blogs and comments and forums and articles I read regularly, someone will imply that step-throughs are basically mandatory for wearing a skirt. It does make mounting easier and narrow skirts needn't be hiked up quite so far (though a certain segment of the population may consider that a positive, no?), but there's nothing stopping a true diamond frame from being a lady's bike.

Mine is a compact diamond frame, purchased because I didn't like the alternative presented by the bike shop at the time (one of those extra-low step-throughs where there's only one thick, curved piece instead of top and bottom tubes) and didn't know that anything else existed. Now I wish that I'd done more research and bought something a tad easier to mount, but in the end: it's an annoyance, not a deal-breaker, and it's not going to stop me.

Exhibit A:


Isn't that lovely? (No, this is not mine. Spotted outside the YWCA.) The flowers on the basket and the Nutcase helmet and that retro green of the bike even coordinate well together. The sad thing is that you'll rarely see this colour on step-through bikes because so many manufacturers don't consider it a "women's" colour. (Bah, humbug: like "mint" is? My brain associates 'mint' with little-old-ladies and/or hospital scrubs, not classy urban fashion.)

I have to regularly remind myself to obsess less about having the 'right' bike and focus more on just doing it. In nice clothes. For the right reasons. Whenever possible.