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Bikes For The Ladies
Blog Date - 30 September 2012
I wonder if the motorcycle manufacturers are missing a growing part of the market. When I started riding female riders where very few and far between, today however looking around my bike club motorcycling is still primarily a male pastime but there's more than just a handful of lady riders. If the lady in question is over about 5 foot 5 then there's a whole range of bikes to choose from, but those who are smaller in stature are very limited.
Ladies, or even men, who aren't tall enough end up with 3 options. They can choose a cruiser type motorcycle as these tend to be very low, "adapt" a regular bike to suit or stick with a 125. If the person in question does not want to ride a Harley clone or a 125 then adaption may be their only option. This normally means dropping the forks through the triple clamps and altering usually the dog bones on the rear suspension. What you end up with is a bike that looks "squashed", short travel suspension and the risk of the tyres hitting the bike itself. It's a compromise, not a real solution.
I'm unaware of any major marque who market a bike that is built for the smaller person. Not only do you need to be of a fair height you may also need a fair amount of strength. Whilst there are some incredibly strong ladies out there the average lady does not have quite as much upper body strength. Riding itself requires little strength but getting the bike in and out of back yards, garages and back streets can be awkward. I've had plenty of "knee tremble" moments and even a few spills just shifting bikes into tight spaces.
Is there a solution? Surely there is. In these modern days where 1000cc sports bikes are smaller and lighter than 600cc bikes of just a few years back, you can't tell me it's impossible to stick a range of powerful, punchy and fun motors into smaller, lower chassis? To be honest I daresay bikes are as big as they are today to accommodate the typical sized European male. The motorcycle needs to be designed from the ground up with the small rider in mind, not adapted and messed up from a larger original.
I suppose the reason this has not happened...yet...is due to market forces. If a big manufacturer developed such a machine at great cost, would they sell enough units to warrant that investment? I think with the rise in popularity of motorcycling among females those investments may soon be worthwhile. There is another problem, that of attitude and perception. If a motorcycle is specifically built with women in mind then it becomes a "girly" bike. Smaller men would not touch it for fear of being mocked by their big butch mates, and ladies may reject it as being patronising or because of the "Just because I'm a girl it doesn't mean I can't ride a REAL bike" mindset. Woe betide any manufacturer that suggests any woman is less capable than her male counterpart.
The worst thing a manufacturer could do is paint it pink, call it the "Barbie 600 R" and put a small soft tuned motor in. What would sell such a machine would be to make it cool. Get one of the burgeoning female racers to put in a few fast laps of the TT and other race circuits, stick in a full spec motor and make it sexier than Jonny Depp on an R1. When the ladies realise they will have their boyfriends and male mates asking them to wait for them at the next junction, they'll buy.
We used to have access to such machines, well, sort of. The Japanese 400cc class was popular in Japan due to their licensing laws. We used to get loads of great funky bikes that were smaller as the typical Japanese male was not as tall as the European. They were fast, light, small and huge huge fun on our country lanes or busy town streets. They are still out there but for reasons I don't know they are not being imported as much as they were. OK...ok they're not as powerful as out 600s, 750s and 1000s, but on any UK road at sensible speeds they could keep up and out handle UK bikes no problem. And I've seen a couple of CBR 400's with CBR 600 motors squeezed in, if a guy can make it happen in a garage in the UK, the Japs can do it.
I look forward to the day when there are as many female bikers as male bikers. I look forward to seeing the innovations and developments that will make motorcycling even more accessible and even more fun for those bikers.
Reader's Comments
Nikki said :-
Well said Ren ! Lol Barbie 600R :-) why do manufacturers think ladies want to wear , ride pink ?? Yuk ! My first bike was a cruiser as I'm only 5"3 . But hated the riding position ! My second bike was a Kawasaki z750 , which was a dream to ride but had no confidence at junctions or car parks as I'd dropped it several times due to legs being too short and bike being very heavy :-( I was then introduced to the gsxr which is perfect . On my second one now . Light , feet touch flat to the floor , rides like a dream and looks sexy :-) of course , being a lady , had to add the heated grips which most blokes say look gay but hey ho , my hands are nic n toasty in Winter :-)
Lady biking gear is a nightmare !! I still think if I opened a lady's wear bike shop I'd make a killing ! Most shops have a very small selection and as always are mostly pink !!! And not very figure flattering :-(
Great post Ren :-) I'm sure our bike club has the most lady bikers :-) x
01/01/2000 00:00:00 UTC
john almond said :-
One bike springs to mind Ren, the gladius 600. I only know this because Diane was looking at one and sat on it.out was lower than the 125 you have when mounting it.
01/01/2000 00:00:00 UTC
john almond said :-
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_Gladius
The sales of this model are not going to well at the moment according to the young lad at millennium. he says a lot of male bikers are saying that it looks to girly (which i think maybe thats what Suzuki wanted).
I dont think they look girly at all, but thats my opinion.
01/01/2000 00:00:00 UTC
john almond said :-
whoops, unless you are fluent in cherman, dont bother with the link.
heres another.
http://www.motodesign.org/suzuki-gladius-650-2010/suzuki-gladius-650-2010_2/
01/01/2000 00:00:00 UTC
Vicki Wood said :-
Thank you Ren, really good write up.
01/01/2000 00:00:00 UTC
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