what do you think about bike shops only for women? I mean shops with bikes and great variety of clothes and shoes only for girls.

Bike shops where I live (Denmark) would go out of business if they didn’t cater to women as more than half their customers are women.

When I visit the US and Canada I mostly find very different shops. They are filled with guys and there is a cloud of testosterone in the air. The staff and other customer are often condescending.

I know there are exceptions, but the difference between the average shop in København and most American towns is dramatic.

It has been said that women are an indicator species for biking. When you have a lot of bikers, you have about half of them being women. When there are few bikers, they are mostly men.

Women should go out of their way and trade at shops that make an attempt to understand us. Vote with your business.

I am bike mechanic at Chicago’s Rapid Transit Cycle Shop, I also coordinate events and classes for the shop. Maria from PoCampo is one of our valued customers and we are happy to carry her bags, we are even arranging a bike winter fashion show to advertise all our local made wares. Currently we support local female artists such as PoCampo, Floyd Boberg, Elise Robison and many more.

I am a man, and we have mostly male mechanics, we do usually have one female mechanic during the busy part of the year as well. Of course some of our balance comes from our female owner, our female general manager, two female buyers and female sales staff. We really strive to be a neighborhood bike shop and cater to everyone equally. I am not interested in harboring a macho front, bikes are for all.

I have started working on events specifically for women, our classes so far have been a very even mix. I am really interested in your research and I am dedicated to making our shop a place where anyone would feel welcome and at home. Please consider us a resource and if there is anything I, or any other Rapid Transit staff member can do for you, we are happy to help.

Keep Rolling,
-Robby S

In Chicago I’ve had a totally opposite and wonderful experience with people from Working Bikes, Blue City, West Town, and Rapid Transit. The most obvious thing in all those cases are that they have savvy women on staff (and as an owner for Blue City I know). I have to say though that the whole cycling culture here feels a lot more inclusive and positive than it did at home (but as has been mentioned, maybe that had more to do with my own insecurities and concerns than the actual environment).

As an elite racer and as a woman who has worked in shops I think that over the past several years service to women who want to ride has gotten better and better, especially as the industry has slowly come to the understanding that yes, women do want to, and will spend money on bikes and bike things. Having worked in two shops I can say from experience that the treatment that women get in shops is totally dependent on the shop owner and their business philosophy. If the owner recognizes women as valuable customers than he/she will train their staff (hopefully) accordingly.

The first shop I worked at was terrible at selling things to women, partly because even if I was excited to talk to the woman, the whole air in the shop was one of contempt, and of course she would usually end up leaving. The second shop was much better, and they actually stocked women’s products and supported women in general.

However, another note is that it’s not always easy to be a woman working in a bike shop. We’re talking about women being intimidated by bike shop employees, how about the other way around. I’ve lost count of how many men AND women coming into bike shops simply would not listen to a thing I had to say about bikes because they already assumed that I knew nothing. Oftentimes these people would leave with a bike, after I gave up and let one of my male co-workers go and sell them something.

Women in all facets of the industry, be they customers, employees or industry workers need to be treated with respect, and if we don’t know something that doesn’t mean that we are stupid, or unwilling to learn.

I also think that the supposed air of intimidation in bike shops hurts the customer/shop employee relationship even before they come in the door. I had so many customers that spent the first five minutes of our conversation eyeing me like I was some sort of bird of prey, as though I didn’t care one bit about what they bought as long as they dumped half their wallet at me. Negative. And thankfully many of these people came around and actually admitted to this after they realized that I didn’t want their money, I wanted them to leave with a bike they would be happy with for a long time.

But I digress. I think that in general the woman/bike shop relationship has made strides, but it has a long way to go.