Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
What's the deal with girls' bikes?
Dear Matthew Alice:
Why are there men's and women's bikes? If the center bar was originally placed to accommodate "ladies wear," then what gives? I saw a newer design this week, and it was not gender specific.
-- P. Granger, San Diego
For the first hundred years or so of bicycling, women were smart enough to avoid the bone-braking, dangerous (wooden!) vehicles. They let men work out the kinks in the machinery. But in the late 1800s, when mechanical and design enhancements made cycling a saner sport, women took to it immediately. "Chief of all the dangers attending this new development of feminine freedom is the intoxication with comes with unfettered freedom," one sourpuss wrote in 1896. Acrobats, performers, and other shady women rode bikes for shock value and attention. Serious women riders and racers wore knickerbockers ("bifurcated nether garments"). But in the late 1890s, when the diamond-shaped tubular bike frame came into wide use, the modesty problem for the average woman recreational rider was solved by the drop-frame bike; the top bar was removed to accommodate ankle-length dresses. This required that the frame be made heavier for strength, and chain guards and rear-wheel dress protectors were added. To further guarantee they'd be adequately covered, women often weighed down their cycling-skirt hems with buckshot. I guess if you buy your kids Ken and Barbie bikes today, one will have a bar, one won't. These days there's no need for two styles, of course, except to keep your kid from being teased on the playground. Designers of serious machines go for strength, lightness, and efficient energy transmission, all unisex qualities.
Here's something you might be interested in.
What's the deal with girls' bikes?
What's the deal with girls' bikes?
Dear Matthew Alice:
Why are there men's and women's bikes? If the center bar was originally placed to accommodate "ladies wear," then what gives? I saw a newer design this week, and it was not gender specific.
-- P. Granger, San Diego
For the first hundred years or so of bicycling, women were smart enough to avoid the bone-braking, dangerous (wooden!) vehicles. They let men work out the kinks in the machinery. But in the late 1800s, when mechanical and design enhancements made cycling a saner sport, women took to it immediately. "Chief of all the dangers attending this new development of feminine freedom is the intoxication with comes with unfettered freedom," one sourpuss wrote in 1896. Acrobats, performers, and other shady women rode bikes for shock value and attention. Serious women riders and racers wore knickerbockers ("bifurcated nether garments"). But in the late 1890s, when the diamond-shaped tubular bike frame came into wide use, the modesty problem for the average woman recreational rider was solved by the drop-frame bike; the top bar was removed to accommodate ankle-length dresses. This required that the frame be made heavier for strength, and chain guards and rear-wheel dress protectors were added. To further guarantee they'd be adequately covered, women often weighed down their cycling-skirt hems with buckshot. I guess if you buy your kids Ken and Barbie bikes today, one will have a bar, one won't. These days there's no need for two styles, of course, except to keep your kid from being teased on the playground. Designers of serious machines go for strength, lightness, and efficient energy transmission, all unisex qualities.
Comments