Elderly men should ride women's bikes: study

[The Straight Story]

Elderly men should ride women's bikes: study

The elderly, both men and women, should use women's bikes in order to cut the number of accidents when getting in and out of the saddle, according to the conclusions in a report by Swedish researchers.

Four out of ten of the people seriously injured or killed in single-vehicle accidents involving a bike is aged over 65-years-old, according to data compiled by the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI).

Hip injuries are one of the most common types of injuries incurred when and these often occur at low speeds or when the elderly are getting on or off their bikes.

Researchers at the institute have thus come to the conclusion that it would be preferable if men switched to the traditional low-crossbar design of ladies' bikes when they get older.

http://www.thelocal.se/47064/20130331/#.UViN1DegSSo

[kestrel91316]

1. My bike has a medium height crossbar, sort of between men's

and women's traditional. Most bikes I see these days are like that: unisex. And I lower the bike to the side to throw my right leg up over the back wheel anyway when mounting and dismounting, so even a man's bike would be fine.

Those high crossbars are hell on the crotch, though, if you have short legs and drop down over it.

[HiPointDem]

2. "if you have short legs and drop down over it" = heck yeah. the reason for the crossbar, i heard,

is because it's a stronger design, but surely there is another that's equally strong.

[duffyduff]

5. That's why an exact frame measurement is important. n/t

[mainer]

7. And try riding a boy bike in a miniskirt!

Impossible.

But on a girl bike, it's a breeze.

[mike_c]

3. or stretch....

I mean, most of those injuries are mount/dismount mishaps caused by loss of flexibility, i.e. swinging one's leg over the rear wheel. The advice about using a "woman's bike" is to permit step-through mounting and dismounting. Arguably, maintaining flexibility would be far better. Stretch before riding.

[winter is coming]

13. I've got to admit, I still swing my right leg over the bike while it's in motion.

Maybe too many older people still do the same out of habit, but don't have the balance/flexibility they once did.

[dipsydoodle]

4. Next up - side saddle

[mainer]

6. I loved my old girl Schwinn

I rode it all over my college campus. You could wear a miniskirt and still get on and off it.

I never understood why more people didn't ride girl bikes. Boy bikes had the "macho" look, I guess, and I've been told they're more stable frame-wise. But I rode that girl bike for years and its stability was never a problem. I finally had to sell it when I moved to the city. I think the "stabler frame" explanation is only relevant for competitive bikers.

For the rest of us, who just want to ride a bike for transportation over flat terrain, a girl's bike with a pedal brake is perfect.

[mainer]

8. Oh, and let's bring back pedal brakes!

I HATE hand brakes. Some of us don't have strong (or large enough) hands to grip those levers. Some of us ride with one hand and can't react quick enough. Braking with your feet allows you to keep your grip on the handle bars and direct the bike as you slow down.

[Brother Buzz]

16. I can stop quicker with just ONE front hand brake then you can with a coster brake.

Strength is no longer an issue with aluminum alloy rims and engineered compound brake pads, even in the rain; if you can lift a one-and- a-half quart saucepan, you can operate the brakes. Brake technology is light years beyond the old days of chrome steel rims and hard rubber pads.

Oh, selecting and fitting brake pulls to fit petite hands is very doable; most new cross-over bicycle have a built in adjustment screws that can position the lever closer to the bars. Note: with the levers closer to the bars, the tolerances are tighter and an adjustment must be made periodically (no tools needed to make this adjustment, just fingers).

[Warpy]

9. I wish I'd been able to talk my dad into a mixte frame

but he insisted on riding a series of cheap Huffy men's bikes from Wally World. In his prime, he did a good 30-50 miles a day. By the time of his death at 89, he was struggling to do 5, but that 5 miles a day was a point of honor to him.

A mixte frame might have made them a bit easier for him.

[Leslie Valley]

10. But by the time I chase one down and wrestle her bike away

I'm usually too tired to ride anyway.

[DollarBillHines]

14. Dang, that's funny.

I actually had a mental picture of that.

[talkingmime]

11. As Carlin said, "Why do the ones with the balls get the ones with the bar?"

[surrealAmerican]

15. Do a lot of elderly Swedish people ride bicycles?

I would think that much of the year the weather would not be amenable to that. If this is common, that is indeed a good thing.