That Cross Bar is Going to Kill You

[George S.]

https://www.treehugger.com/bikes/should-mens-bikes-crossbars-be-banned.html

I don't like climbing over the top on men's bikes. That last time I was building a bike, I wanted a step through. The dealer told me Trek made a step through. Well, not exactly, they make a women's bike that is a step through. To me it's ridiculous. For an older rider with any kind of balance or joint issues, a step through is much safer. I guess with Trump if a guy rides a step-through, he can't join the army. I may have heard that wrong.

This article sort of blends the step through with the handlebar that is higher and curves back. Overall, it's an upright riding position. The theory with this riding position is that you aren't leading with your head, so your head isn't the first thing to hit something. i don't know if there are hard numbers. I know most of the things your head is going to hit are hard. I can't ride with a flat bar. It puts too much stress on my hands, wrists, thumbs.

Comfort is really important on an ebike. There is a lot more stress being transmitted to the ride at higher speeds. I don't know why there isn't more emphasis on the pain free bike. Having multiple grip points really helps. Being able to mount the bike without falling over and breaking your hip is important.

 

[Bob H]

Another situation where we don't need bureaucrats deciding anything. There are many step through bike frames in many different sizes out there, so people have a choice - let the consumer decide.

 

[opimax]

On my wife's ST1 compared to my St1 with cross bar i could tell a difference, less flex and virtually no front steering shake. To keep things equal note that mine was a was a 20" compared to her 17" . I believe it was even more noticeable as I carried 2 extra batteries in the panniers on the back. That being said I don't know if Stromer engineered them to be the same in feel as much as they could??? I would think if this a goal of a designer it could be done. I would prefer the lower mount if all else was equal.

I would also voice my opinion that the thread title having the word "kill" in it is a bit over the top (pun not intended) especially as it "will" instead of "may"

 

[TrevorB]

Part reason step through are safer is they ridden slower and typical owner would be less aggressive rider. Hybrid bikes have better handling but are also ridden faster and some case more aggressively.

 

[rich c]

The look of the bike is VERY important to me. Also I'm a 65 year old guy, and I'll be darned if I will ride a bike that looks like a girls bike. I know, it's a step through design. Sorry, still looks like a girls bike. I just lay the bike over more to get my leg over, or do a racer mount of standing on the pedal and throw my leg over as I start rolling out. That also suggests that the correct frame design with a step over dimension that works with you leg length is very important. There will be a day when I have more hip issues, then I'll join the tadpole recumbent trike brigade.

 

[harryS]

I voted in their poll to let the marketplace decide what kind of frames should be sold.

I have no issues riding a step thru, but I still feel a little outlandish riding my 20" folder on occasion, but I'll get used to it.

 

[Sonoboy]

You know that saying that goes "It's like riding a bike"? Well, I'll be 65 years old next month, been riding a bike for at least 55 of those years, and today, I flat busted my A$$ on my bike. Coming to a stop at the entrance to my cul-de-sac, I put my leg out to brace, and just fell over on my side. My helmet hit the pavement and did its job, and I was more embarrassed than anything. My bike wasn't even scratched. My Riese & Muller Delite has a sloped top tube, and sometimes I wish it were lower, but the other day I got up to 38 MPH going downhill (my personal max speed to date) and it felt absolutely rock solid. Not a hint of wobble, vibration, or shimmy. It's for those moments I put up with a high top tube bike.

 

[harryS]

We were stopped off exit of a bike path so I could adjust the seat height on my bike. A gal rode up next to us and just fell over. Kaboom.

I thought she had crashed into us, even though I had pulled our bikes out of traffic. She got up and said was stopping to see if we two seniors needed help, but she had forgotten her feet were cleated to her pedals. .

 

[Sonoboy]

Yeah, us older types can probably remember "Rowan and Martins Laugh-In" on NBC in the late 60's. They had a character that would ride into the scene on a trike, and just fall over, for no apparent reason. That's how I felt this morning.

 

[George S.]

The Mixte frame (Mix-Tee?) has the top bar somewhat lower. That is what the Trek has. It seems very strong, with the steel tubes at least. With the 52v battery I have, this bike goes mid 20's, but I use a 36v battery for the regen and range. There is going to be more wind resistance, sitting upright.

Trek made a nice low bar bike. They could have left the 'womens' rating off the bike, or the could make 'mens' bikes with a lower top tube. People looking for cheap bikes to convert mostly take what they can get. Bikes Direct seems to do everything in a M/W configuration, mostly colors and lower bars. If you want a lower top tube from them, expect to get in in a 'soft' color. But older people tend to fall and when they fall they get hurt more often, more seriously. You can Google 'Unisex' bikes and Amazon will give you low bar bikes, but almost all are women's bikes by title. The bikes with no top tube at all, no second support, look more like traditional girl's bike. Those are very hard to find. There is a very low step through that Pedego sells, the Boomerang. Pedego has been good about using the 'step through' terminology, but they sell to an older group. I don't see government action.

The problem with this article is that it mixed more upright riding with crossbar type bikes. You can make any bike upright with long handlebars and then bending the bars back. I put an 11 inch riser bar on a bike that had a flat bar. For me, it is a lot more fun. It's a standard hybrid, standard top tube.

Someone might explore how the energy is absorbed by the rider in various kinds of rapid deceleration collisions. Where does the head go? How can energy be absorbed with the least possible injury? How can you protect the face and the head?

 

[supermasj]

About the study, it has been proven that it's a flawed study. On top of that, even when you are more prone to get head injuries, you can wear a helmet. A hip injury for people > 60 is way more dangerous.
If the study would not have been flawed, there could have been some logic to ban these kind of bikes. We actually have real and free health care over here (Holland's system is regarded as one of the best in the world), so the government could act accordingly.

 

[mrgold35]

I wonder if this is a mis-leading "cause and effect" result? For example: More injuries are on top tube bike. Conclusion; top tube bikes are more dangerous. You would come to the same conclusion of: Most speeding tickets are written for sports cars. Conclusion: sports cars cause speeding tickets and we must ban sport cars.

It could be deeper relationship of the reason for more incidents with top tube bike and the riding style(s) of the rider. I ride +3400 miles a year on my ebike and drive 15,000-20,000 miles in my vehicles (I do most of the driving). My wife might put 150 miles year on her ebike and less than 8,000 miles per year driving. I have a higher chance of being in a top tube ebike accident or car accident compared to my wife. That doesn't make my top tube ebike (or car) any less safe, it only gives me more opportunities for an accident.

Most MTB (including my Radrover) kinda split the difference with a much lower top tube design that still looks gender neutral. My wife is 4'11" and she can step through the Radrover and straddle the bike with both feet flat on the ground (after I installed the ISM Touring Saddle). The only downside is I had to upgrade to the Suntour SP-12 NCX 400mm seatpost because the standard 350mm seatpost was too short for me at 6'3".

 

[raymann112]

In any event, in most of the world a study like this would be useless as there is no legal mechanism for regulating bikes to this detail. If if there were it wouldn't pass muster in a rational country as bikes users and uses are extremely varied and the array of regulations would turn most bikers into criminals. And personal safety is up to the individual, if the government wants to control people to save money for their health care system then something is wrong with the system cause people are going to do what they want to do regardless.

 

[scrambler]

Not bashing if it is true

The only way to improve on a bad situation is to have your eyes wide open about what the problems are, and let us face it, there are a few serious ones here in the dear US of A.

Denying them will not help