Bicycle Travel > General Discussion

Step thru frames

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pzyduck:
Anyone ever tour on a step thru framed bike? AKA a women's bike. I have a friend who wants to do a tour and isn't sure if her bike will work or not.

dombrosk:
I wish this style of frame was more available.  Yes, I do tour on a 'women's bike' AKA mixte AKA step-through-frame, and I really prefer it.  But to get my bike I ended up having a custom frame built for me. 

Here's a photo:

In addition to being able to step-through the frame the generous stand-over height is a real plus. 

As you can tell from the photo, I'm far from an ultra-light tourist.  I've never had any concerns with stability with the frame, and I've gotten pretty close to single-track mountain bike terrain with it, fully loaded.

As Americans begin to ride more for basic transportation and the baby-boomers (hi gang!) continue to age, I think this style of bike will become more popular.  When I'm in countries where people use their bikes on a daily basis, I see very few 'racing' style bikes and a lot more step through frames.  Actually on one tour a German man came up to me and after discovering that I was American asked me, "Das ist ein Amerikaniches Fahrad?!?"  That's an American bicycle?  I pointed to the 'hand-made' decal on the front tube and he understood.

If your friend's bike can mount racks, is comfortable for a day in the saddle, and has (or gets) the proper gearing, there's no reason to fear the step thru frame.
Happy Touring!

DaveB:
I guess it depends on what you mean by a "step through" frame. 

The traditional American Woman's frame with two parallel downtubes and no effective top tube is very flexible and unsuited to carrying heavy loads.  Whatever strength it has comes from heavy wall tubing so it will be very heavy and very few if any came with good components or suitable gearing.

The Mixte design shown above is stiffer and better suited to touring and some relatively high quality bikes were made in that configuration.  It is far preferable to the American Woman's frame. 

 If your friend isn't too heavy herself and her load isn't excessive she can probably use her bike what ever design it is but a mixte woud be by far the better choice if she can't use a standard diamond frame ("Mens") bike. 

adventurepdx:

--- Quote from: DaveB on November 18, 2012, 07:16:33 am ---The traditional American Woman's frame with two parallel downtubes and no effective top tube is very flexible and unsuited to carrying heavy loads.  Whatever strength it has comes from heavy wall tubing so it will be very heavy and very few if any came with good components or suitable gearing.
--- End quote ---

The "parallel top/down tube frame" for women's bikes are not exclusive to US bikes, as there were many British bikes that had the same design, and European countries had some variation on the theme.

Speaking of "Step-Thru Frame Touring", back in June I ran into a German woman touring the Pacific Coast with her very Euro step-thru frame bike.



If I were to look for a step-thru style frame, I'd definitely go for a mixte frame.

pzyduck:
Here is her bike. I already told her to get better wheels, but I am wondering if the frame will hold up. She wants to go from Northern California south to L.A. then west to Houston. If she keeps her load light, this should work shouldn't it? I know it's not ideal, but she is a college girl and doesn't have a lot of money.

Thanks.

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