Over the past 15 years, the choice of bicycles and commuter clothing for women has grown in leaps and bounds. The “shrink it and pink it” approach, once employed by almost all major bike brands, has mercifully been abandoned, and the fact there is even debate about the usefulness of female-specific bike design suggests the market has become much more sophisticated.
But an increase in choice has not seen more women taking to the roads. In 2015, men still made three times as many trips by bicycle as women, and a report released by the cycling app Strava found that 40% of women surveyed had experienced some kind of barrier to taking up cycling, with a majority citing a fear of the roads; others made reference to “issues related to body image”.
These barriers arguably become more acute when it comes to riding to work, because unlike other forms of cycling – the weekend club run, a family holiday spin – becoming a successful commuter means figuring out what kind of cycling suits your daily routine, and this can be difficult to get right.
To feel safe and confident on the road means answering some key questions about how you want to ride, and being honest about how a bike fits in.
Yes, the distance you need to ride and the cost of a new bicycle will influence your choice, but there are a few other things to consider too. Do you want to use your ride to work for exercise? And if so, do you want to wear Lycra? Can you change and shower at work? If not, can you face working with “helmet hair” and crumpled clothes? And how much do you want your bicycle to be an extension of your personal style?
Armed with a little knowledge about the options, the commute to work can easily become a joy, transforming it from a stressful rush to an exhilarating bookend to an otherwise sedentary day.
From speedy racing bikes, classic “sit-up-and-beg” shoppers or all-weather commuters, to cross bikes with disc brakes, here are some of the best options available this season.
Canyon Commuter 8.0 (pictured top)
£1,589; 11.5kg
It may appear a little alien, but don’t let the Canyon Commuter’s unorthodox look put you off. This is a bicycle on which every detail has been fine-tuned for the city – a machine unashamed to sacrifice beauty for utility.
It’s an ambitious proposal from Canyon, a German company known for high-spec bikes offered at a relatively accessible price. Here, it’s as if the designers have identified the most annoying features of the average commute – oil stains, mountains of additional kit, and mechanicals – and produced a bike that attempts to eliminate them all.
It features a carbon belt drive, which is less likely to stretch and wear down than a metal chain, is impervious to oil and muck, and which is also quiet and fluid to use.
But the built-in lights will inspire the most curiosity from fellow commuters. They are powered by a dynamo on the front wheel and integrated seamlessly into the headset and rear mudguard. In addition, and rarely for a bike with hub gears, the Canyon comes with Shimano Alfine 11-speed hub gears, a welcome range, particularly over a longer distance.
It’s not cheap, it doesn’t race up a hill, and you are unlikely to feel comfortable leaving it locked up outside a pub. But this commuter bike is a sound investment.
Bobbin Birdie
£460 (3-speed) OR £620 (8-speed); 14kg
For those of you who want to glide through the city like Audrey Hepburn in your best coat and shoes, sitting up tall and watching the world go by, this is the bicycle for you.
With mudguards, a rear rack and a chain guard to stop oil staining your clothes, the Birdie is a practical bike designed to keep you looking pristine. Originally released with old-school 3-speed Sturmey-Archer hub gears, the new 2016 version now includes an 8-speed Shimano Nexus hub, a more forgiving range if you are planning to cycle up a hill or two.
That said, don’t let the elegant design trick you into thinking this is a diminutive bike. The Birdie is an imposing presence on the road, and demands space to manoeuvre. In heavy traffic even the most confident of cyclists may feel encumbered by the wide moustache handlebars and heavy steel frame. But not everyone is looking for speed and agility, and this offering from Bobbin, a London-based company set up in 2007 with a mission to produce good-looking Dutch-style bikes at an affordable price, is a great option if you are looking for a reliable and sturdy machine.
Raleigh RXW Pro 2016
RRP £1500, currently on sale for £975; 9.38kg
Raleigh is the first UK bike brand to release a dedicated cyclocross bike range for women, a welcome move given that cross bikes are becoming increasingly popular models for commuters.
Originally designed for winter racing both on- and off-road, cross bikes are versatile machines that work particularly well in poor weather, in large part due to their use of disc brakes – a system that comes into its own in the wet.
The Raleigh RXW is set up as a typical CX racer, with a light aluminium alloy frame and carbon fork, and slightly more aggressive female-specific geometry to suit those who want to go fast. But it can also be adapted for a more traditional commuter setup, with waiting screw-threads for a rear luggage rack, bottle cages and mudguards.
Riding it on a particularly wet week in September, it felt pleasantly balanced: it was smooth and comfortable along open stretches of road, fast up south London’s hills, and steady in heavy traffic, in large part thanks to the SRAM hydraulic disc brakes, which are gloriously smooth and quick.
So comfortable was the RX that I was keen to keep riding it at the weekend. So if you are looking for a bike that can reliably get you to work but can also provide some fun and escapism on days off, this is a good option.
Yes, it’s pink. But the shade is redolent of garish 1980s Raleigh racers or a Bowie album cover, so I let it slide.
Quella Evo
£674; 10.5kg
This model from Quella, a company started by two friends in an old Cambridge chicken shed, sounds ideal for the city: a sturdy Columbus Cromor steel frame, integrated mudguard and rack mounts, cantilever brakes, and the ability to fit thicker 35c tyres for tackling anything that isn’t as smooth as well-maintained asphalt.
It is marketed as a bike that “has it all”, and the website suggests that it can be stripped back to “a lightweight fixie for urban riding” or transformed into “a tourer for longer journeys”. And for a bike that’s trying to offer something for everyone, it’s surprisingly stylish – mine was a glossy tangerine colour – and sits somewhere between a single-speed and a more sophisticated city tourer.
But Quella seems to have overlooked one key thing: comfort. The model I tried featured an SRAM Automatix two-speed, which changes gears automatically via a centrifugal clutch that shifts according to your speed. In theory it sounds brilliant, but even on the slightest of inclines I was struggling to turn the pedals, and the stiff Promax Canti brakes meant with each traffic light I came to a slightly nervous and juddering halt.
The Evo doesn’t quite translate into an easy ride on the road. If you’re looking for a simple, single-speed setup, Quella’s other bikes are well worth a look.
Genesis Delta 20 W
£849.99, 9.8kg
As you may have seen from the crowds of commuters assembling at traffic lights each morning, the lure of the road racing bike is hard to resist. Sleek, efficient, and mostly lightweight, a road bike is a great option for anyone hoping to use the same machine at the weekends for fitness, or who want to work up a bit of a sweat on the journey in to work – rush-hour traffic permitting.
As the women’s bike market has grown, so too has the debate over female-specific geometry, which is designed for riders who may prefer more compact frames, narrower handlebars and shorter cranks. On the Delta, these adjustments have been made with the “lady racer” in mind, and though it felt comfortable, it wasn’t revolutionary. A well-fitting genderless bike will do just as good a job.
The most pleasurable thing about the Delta is the feel it gives when ridden: with a carbon fork and an alloy aluminium frame, it is stiff and responsive but doesn’t judder over every pothole. It is fitted with Shimano Tiagra gears (20-speed), it has more than enough versatility to tackle sharp climbs at the weekend and the slower, more technical ride to work, and feels like a slick option for women looking for a bit more from their commuting machine.Finished with delicate map contour designs and flashes of teal blue that reminded me of the old Bianchis, this is a racer for those who want to make the most of their precious minutes riding a bike.
