{"id":23562,"date":"2023-04-04T05:08:31","date_gmt":"2023-04-04T12:08:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/averagejoecyclist.com\/?p=23562"},"modified":"2023-04-04T07:38:43","modified_gmt":"2023-04-04T14:38:43","slug":"womens-bike-frames-dropped-crossbar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/averagejoecyclist.com\/womens-bike-frames-dropped-crossbar\/","title":{"rendered":"Why do Women’s Bike Frames Have a Dropped Crossbar?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most people assume that crossbars were dropped on women’s bikes to make it possible to ride with dresses. However, the primary reason was more scandalous than that! This post traces the design history of bikes with dropped crossbars, and reveals the surprising recent change in the gendered association of the dropped crossbar.<\/p>\n

I have previously written for Average Joe Cyclist about how the bicycle became a symbol for women\u2019s emancipation<\/a>. In that post, I said that the sport of cycling opened to women in about 1885, with the invention of the \u201csafety\u201d bicycle.<\/p>\n

The safety quickly triumphed over the penny-farthing, with its distinctive oversized front wheel, because it was more efficient, more practical, more affordable, and more stable. But as women began to ride bicycles, the standard design of the safety bike (not significantly different from a modern bicycle frame, at least structurally) presented one major hurdle.<\/p>\n

Related Post: How the Bicycle Became a Symbol or Women’s Emancipation<\/a><\/h3>\n

A Woman getting onto a Bike with a Crossbar Bordered on Scandal<\/h2>\n

In order to bestride and mount a bicycle, a lady would need to part her legs<\/em> over the horizontal crossbar of the frame. The notion that a lady\u2019s legs might be suggested to be separable<\/em> was risqu\u00e9 beyond imagining, and the impropriety of it all bordered on scandal.<\/p>\n

It seems excessive in retrospect, but, around the turn of the twentieth century, it was a serious enough issue that a practical solution was devised in the form of a slight redesign of the frame for ladies\u2019 bicycles.<\/p>\n

Dropping the Crossbar on Women\u2019s Bikes<\/h2>\n

A woman\u2019s bike was expected to have a dropped, or diagonal, cross-support, rather than the horizontal one of a man\u2019s bike, in order to mitigate the issue of the raised leg. This came with the secondary, if dubious, benefit of allowing a lady to ride more easily in a full dress.<\/p>\n

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