# Companies that support women in cycling



## formica (Jul 4, 2004)

I'm really happy with Giant/Liv. The Liv bikes are trying some new things in the design department that seem to really work, and the Ambassador program is making lots of women-specific clinics and events happen. Example, the Solidarity Ride to show support for Afghan women, local women's rides, maintenance and fit clinics in partnership with their dealers.


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## stacers (Oct 29, 2012)

I'm a big fan of Pivot. They don't make women's specific bikes, but they have a great philosophy about making awesome bikes for smaller people, and they have a ton of great women working for them. They sponsor a few of my favorite female riders, and are also generous enough to sponsor the women's team that I ride with.

Women & Pivot Cycles | Pivot Cycles | Performance Redefined



> There's been a huge increase in products designed specifically for women over the past few years, and as cyclists who can remember when gender specific saddles didn't exist, the many women at Pivot Cycles (Pivot's staff is over 25% women!) are more than grateful for all of the options. However, in the boom, a lot of the focus has been on branding rather than the ride itself. *Have you ever wondered how butterflies and soft focus pictures will help you shred harder? Us neither. So while the rest of the world tries to package the sport like a pair of yoga pants, we at Pivot have quietly mastered the art of making bikes that really work for small riders.*
> 
> Beginning with over 17 years at the renowned boutique manufacturer, Titus, and then forming Pivot in 2007, Chris Cocalis has personally drawn and engineered over 1000 custom mountain bike frames for women of all shapes and sizes, and the production models, the original Titus Racer X 2X-Small and extra-small design still hold the trophy for the most sought after women's full suspension options in mountain biking - it is this legacy that brought many of us to work at Pivot. The success of these bikes helped to fuel the revolution in production off-road bikes for women and this experience informs all of the choices the Pivot team makes when designing bikes for women:
> 
> ...


Also love me some Shredly. Love shorts that I can wear anywhere (they fit and they're cute!) but that also take a beating!


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## stacers (Oct 29, 2012)

Some evidence from Interbike that there are plenty of companies out there who think women can shred:

A Good Year for Women - 2016 Women's Bikes and Gear at Interbike - Mountain Biking Pictures - Vital MTB

(PS. make sure to click through all of the 38 pages using the next button - looks like a lot of great women's gear coming out!)


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## petey15 (Sep 1, 2006)

Whoa! The colors! I'm drooling. I always joke I have more style and like more color when I'm riding than I do outside of biking. It's like my alter ego.


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## mtbxplorer (Dec 25, 2009)

formica said:


> I'm really happy with Giant/Liv. The Liv bikes are trying some new things in the design department that seem to really work, and the Ambassador program is making lots of women-specific clinics and events happen. Example, the Solidarity Ride to show support for Afghan women, local women's rides, maintenance and fit clinics in partnership with their dealers.


Cool. I think they could have done better in the model-naming department than "Lust" though.


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## XJaredX (Apr 17, 2006)

Specialized has an awesome women's ambassador program, too. My friend just won a scholarship to go to SBCU (Specialized Bicycle Components University) to take some classes on how she can bring more women into the scene.


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## formica (Jul 4, 2004)

XJaredX said:


> Specialized has an awesome women's ambassador program, too. My friend just won a scholarship to go to SBCU (Specialized Bicycle Components University) to take some classes on how she can bring more women into the scene.


Do you suppose they've recovered from the 2012 Demo 8 marketing fail?


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## petey15 (Sep 1, 2006)

^ Oh wow. Whoopsie.


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## girlonbike (Apr 24, 2008)

XJaredX said:


> Specialized has an awesome women's ambassador program, too. My friend just won a scholarship to go to SBCU (Specialized Bicycle Components University) to take some classes on how she can bring more women into the scene.


Oh! Please please please, ask your friend to ask them about that ad campaign! :devil: I would really love to hear what they have to say about that.


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## girlonbike (Apr 24, 2008)

mtbxplorer said:


> Cool. I think they could have done better in the model-naming department than "Lust" though.


to be honest, I lust after a lot of bikes...


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## girlonbike (Apr 24, 2008)

And...rather than move my other comment from the interbike thread, in case the ladies and gents wanna support a woman framebuilder out of Portland, Ore. Sweetpea Bicycles. I don't think she makes mtbs but I see plenty of touring and cross bikes out of her shop. So many framebuilders out of Portland and only a few make mtbs. What's up with that?! Norcal is full of custom mtb builders. They are all friends and it feels a little incestuous...

Sweetpea Bicycles | This is the bike that will love you back.

What's really interesting to me is that I live in hipsterville and recently, I've noticed more guys riding old french mixtes.  That's some serious dedication as finding and replacing cotterless cranks and often using a different standard of threads for bbs, headsets and pedals, etc would be a complete pain.


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## formica (Jul 4, 2004)

Petey, that one is one the "top five marketing fails in cycling" that came out around the same time as sock gate


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## chuky (Apr 3, 2005)

Because it is extremely difficult to build a steel MTB that can take advantage of most of the current component standards. One of the wonderful things about direct mount front derailleurs (besides the infinitely improved shifting) is that frame engineers can ditch the round seat tube and offer significantly improved stiffness and in the case of full suspension bikes and either carbon or hydroformed aluminum frames, a stronger and lighter mounting point for linkages, better routing for internal dropper posts, and more - all because they have the freedom to shape the frame material for strength, stiffness and lighter weight. A steel frame with round seat post can't do these things without adding a LOT of weight. 

Additionally, it's challenging to make a steel frame that accommodates contemporary fork travel lengths and that is safe and light. For every 10mm more travel you add to a fork, you add a TON more stress/leverage on the head tube/downtube junction. Add in the additional challenge of accommodating low standover for very small riders and you create even more stress because of the extreme angles everything has to accommodate. Hand builders don't have to meet the safety standards that manufacturers of production bikes have to meet, but that doesn't mean that they want to build unsafe, heavy bikes, so most of them don't do it. 

I love old school steel, but unless you want a very simple singlespeed, you are missing out on so many great great features available on contemporary production mountain bikes.


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## girlonbike (Apr 24, 2008)

chuky said:


> I love old school steel, but unless you want a very simple singlespeed, you are missing out on so many great great features available on contemporary production mountain bikes.


Not everyone is after the same goals and needs for biking.


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## chuky (Apr 3, 2005)

girlonbike said:


> Not everyone is after the same goals and needs for biking.





girlonbike said:


> So many framebuilders out of Portland and only a few make mtbs. What's up with that?!


Hey, you asked a question and I think I provided a pretty thorough and even handed answer, but I am happy to elaborate - no one is trying to make you give up your pretty custom job .

Custom bikes and old school steel are fun and have great ride quality. However, as a rider, I also like the rather large benefits of contemporary spacing and the fact that the newer suspension is easier to set up for lighter weight riders. I also enjoy knowing my bike meets US and European (CEN) safety standards. I have been privy to production steel bike testing results. There is a reason most US companies don't import their steel XC offerings into the European union, and the reason is that the majority don't meet the more stringent safety requirements - light + steel doesn't usually equal strong. It takes a very good engineer to get a steel bike through these tests - if the frames don't pass, in every size, they are not allowed to be imported, per European Union rules.

However, these rules do not apply to one off custom frames, ie. production bikes are tested, custom bikes are not. When it comes to hand-built custom bikes, it is extremely unlikely that your frame can meet the safety requirements, especially if your fork is 120mm + in travel or if it is a rigid fork with suspension adjusted geometry for 120mm +, which is your choice to be ok with or not. Those are choices that we make, and that is what drives the current custom market decline, in part.

One of the other reasons that custom builders don't make as many mountain bikes as they used to is because they can't always build to contemporary component standards. Another is that there is less need for custom, because there are so many great production options out there. That doesn't mean that everyone has to have those standards on their bikes, but it does mean that if you choose to get a custom bike built for size reasons, you might really miss out on other, just as important, features if you do.

Another big factor is that you can get a much less expensive bike that is lighter and offers higher end components if you go production. For a small rider, power to weight ratio is a big issue. As there are so many size choices now, this lessens the demand for custom.

Finally, it used to be that if you were small, you had to go custom hardtail to get a nice light race bike. There were a ton of custom racing bikes out there in the women's field, in particular. This is a less common now, as there are now a plethora of hardtail and full suspension race bikes available in tiny sizes - this is particularly important when you consider FS has been shown in testing, over and over, to be faster on most tracks. Custom builders just can't compete when it comes to full suspension - carbon and hydroformed aluminum are just better suited as materials to be engineered to meet the demands of a full suspension MTB while remaining ultra light and also safe.


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## GGR Girl Wendy (Mar 19, 2014)

Here is the list of companies that are exhibiting and donating product for the GGR Rocktober event with almost 300 women riders signed up. All of these companies support the women's cycling community!


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## girlonbike (Apr 24, 2008)

GGR Girl Wendy said:


> Here is the list of companies that are exhibiting and donating product for the GGR Rocktober event with almost 300 women riders signed up. All of these companies support the women's cycling community!


Written in invisible ink.



chuky said:


> Hey, you asked a question and I think I provided a pretty thorough and even handed answer, but I am happy to elaborate - no one is trying to make you give up your pretty custom job .


just to keep you talking chuky!


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## formica (Jul 4, 2004)

List of companies that have signed the OIWC pledge:
OIWC CEO Pledge Community - Outdoor Industries Women's Coalition


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## petey15 (Sep 1, 2006)

^Nice!


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## Fuzzle (Mar 31, 2015)

chuky said:


> However, these rules do not apply to one off custom frames, ie. production bikes are tested, custom bikes are not. When it comes to hand-built custom bikes, it is extremely unlikely that your frame can meet the safety requirements, especially if your fork is 120mm + in travel or if it is a rigid fork with suspension adjusted geometry for 120mm +, which is your choice to be ok with or not. Those are choices that we make, and that is what drives the current custom market decline, in part.


I have 2 custom frames. My son rides my old Custom McMahon TI built in the 90's. I bought my custom built road frame off a pro which is carbon so that concerns me now. I really don't worry to much about TI.

My husband noticed a stress fracture in my old Bianchi Mega Pro XL. Those were hand built in Italy. That was scary! My sons going to hang up on the wall in his bedroom .


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## Fuzzle (Mar 31, 2015)

girlonbike,

I can relate to your love of old school custom steel bikes. I always wanted a Landshark by a frame builder in Los Angeles back in the 80's. Today he resides in Oregon building custom Carbon.


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## Rae6503 (Jun 30, 2009)

Have you guys seen the Batty Cat socks by DeFeet?

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


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## formica (Jul 4, 2004)

Yep! Awesome.


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## mtbxplorer (Dec 25, 2009)

Rapha, Canyon and SRAM sponsor major new women's road team | Bicycle Retailer and Industry News


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## mtbxplorer (Dec 25, 2009)

From https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/the-long-fight-for-womens-parity-in-action-sports:
_
Most bike manufacturers, such as Trek and Specialized, have only one or two women on their mountain bike teams. Only three teams in the U.S. are exclusively female: NoTubes, Juliana, and the Luna Chix Pro Team. NoTubes covers some of its athletes' expenses and race entry fees, but it does not pay team members a salary. Juliana, the women-specific mountain-bike branch of Santa Cruz Bicycles, supports a three-member enduro team. The Luna Chix team, which Clif Bar owners Gary Erickson and his wife Kit Crawford launched 15 years ago, pays its six members a salary._


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## AMN_10 (Jan 27, 2014)

mtbxplorer said:


> From https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/the-long-fight-for-womens-parity-in-action-sports:
> _
> Most bike manufacturers, such as Trek and Specialized, have only one or two women on their mountain bike teams. Only three teams in the U.S. are exclusively female: NoTubes, Juliana, and the Luna Chix Pro Team. NoTubes covers some of its athletes' expenses and race entry fees, but it does not pay team members a salary. Juliana, the women-specific mountain-bike branch of Santa Cruz Bicycles, supports a three-member enduro team. The Luna Chix team, which Clif Bar owners Gary Erickson and his wife Kit Crawford launched 15 years ago, pays its six members a salary._


Specialized has quite a few female mountain bikers - Lea Davison, Annika Langvad, Kate Courtney, and Hannah Barnes. They all race either XC, Marathon, or Enduro.


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## mtbxplorer (Dec 25, 2009)

^^ OK, correct, more than 1 or 2. Four of eighteen. I Am Specialized Riders


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## namdoogttam (Jul 1, 2014)

Sidi ad:









Those are some pretty hot shoes for a cruise on an clunky old steel tandem...something tells me she's not interested in cycling.

These marketers need to knuckle-drag their way out of their caves and join modern society.


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## shredchic (Jun 18, 2007)

Here in Santa Cruz, Jessica of the nearby Bell Helmets HQ has been putting on these awesome "Girls Rock" rides (apart from the cringe-worthy name - ahem), they have been super fun. There is always a local sponsor, sometimes a winery, sometimes a bike manufacturer like Ibis, Juliana, a local bike shop, etc. It is very social and splits up into groups varying by technical & fitness levels.

How Local Riders Inspired Bell's New Women's Helmets | Bicycling

Girls Rock - Santa Cruz Womens Mountain Biking

You can sign up your own local women's ride here:
https://www.bellhelmets.com/joy-ride-program


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## Deep Thought (Sep 3, 2012)

Trek has picked up a few more females, and it looks like we'll get to see them shredding alongside the boys in the next Anthill film. Looking forward to seeing Rachel Atherton and Casey Brown in this film. Those two can rip.






If you don't know who Casey Brown is, you should. Hands down my favorite rider. So rad.

[video]http://mpora.com/videos/AAdxgo1fhocg#fS4TDPTxYLVF82sq.97[/video]


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## OldManBike (Apr 16, 2011)

formica said:


> List of companies that have signed the OIWC pledge:
> OIWC CEO Pledge Community - Outdoor Industries Women's Coalition


Sad, and a little surprising to me, to see zero smaller bike makers on this list, only Specialized and Giant (well, and Fuji). Where are Santa Cruz, Ibis, Transition, Evil, Pivot, Kona, and the rest? I read the pledge and I didn't see anything that looked remotely like a back-breaking expense even for smaller companies -- pretty modest steps.

(And even among the behemoths Trek and Cannondale are conspicuously absent.)

Great work by OIWC getting the companies they've gotten so far. But obviously the industry's still got a long, long way to go.


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## Deep Thought (Sep 3, 2012)

OldManBike said:


> Sad, and a little surprising to me, to see zero smaller bike makers on this list, only Specialized and Giant (well, and Fuji). Where are Santa Cruz, Ibis, Transition, Evil, Pivot, Kona, and the rest? I read the pledge and I didn't see anything that looked remotely like a back-breaking expense even for smaller companies -- pretty modest steps.
> 
> (And even among the behemoths Trek and Cannondale are conspicuously absent.)
> 
> Great work by OIWC getting the companies they've gotten so far. But obviously the industry's still got a long, long way to go.


There's the somewhat vague and unaccountable "pledge," and there's the list of corporate sponsors who give the organization money to further their agenda. Surely that membership is a de facto pledge, no?


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## OldManBike (Apr 16, 2011)

As best I can tell, the companies listed on the main page are the companies whose CEOs took the pledge. My only point was that it didn't seem to me that the pledge required companies to take elaborate, expensive steps that only the big companies could afford, so I don't see any good reason why no smaller bike companies have gotten on board yet.


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## IbisGirl (Jul 10, 2006)

*Supporting women in cycling*



OldManBike said:


> As best I can tell, the companies listed on the main page are the companies whose CEOs took the pledge. My only point was that it didn't seem to me that the pledge required companies to take elaborate, expensive steps that only the big companies could afford, so I don't see any good reason why no smaller bike companies have gotten on board yet.


Most small companies have limited budget and a long laundry list of charities and advocacy groups that keep them busy and "giving". Most of our income gets put immediately back into our company's R&D or staff or tooling. There are many, many organizations that are laying great foundation work toward promoting women in the outdoor and bicycling fields, but our company tends to focus on trail advocacy and sponsoring racers directly, or indirectly through a shop. Being a part of a group list of pledges inherently means we are a member of that organization. Just because we are not on it, doesn't mean we don't believe in it or aren't trying in our own way to make that happen.

We have a ratio of about 50%-60% women vs men on our sponsorship list every year. Here are the list of the women. . Present & Past
Current female sponsored athletes (US and International): 
Anita Gehrig
Caro Gehrig
Team manager Mary Moncorgé (who raced for us previously and then moved to a management position)
Anne Caro Chausson
Caroline Dezendorf
Sue Haywood 
Valentina Macheda 
Vero Miranda
Tara Walmsley

Past sponsored athletes:
Caroline Villafane
Heidi Rentz
crankbrothers team with Chloe Woodruff
Barb Howe
Judy Freeman

In the US, we support trail advocacy groups and highschool mtb organizations (like NICA), through donating our bikes as raffle prizes. It's not easy to do everything we want when we only have a staff of 20 people.

Also, as a 5'-1"frame designer, I have a personal stake in making sure bikes can fit a variety of people, from large to small, light to heavy. For a small company and limited models, we provide a good range of sizing to fit most people. We don't have women's specific frames, but that didn't stop us from volunteering to help Bell launch their new Joy Ride Ambassador program and having all the women get set up on our bikes with their tuning and suspension dialed in for their body and ride style. We take care in how we work with our customers because we know everyone has choices in what they want to ride and how they want to ride.

Now, we realize that a company initiative and a documented pledge could help us focus or maybe earn recognition for our efforts, however, we feel like we live that pledge in our daily lives and hope that the product we make and the athletes we want to represent us shine through.

Hope that helps clarify what some of us smaller brands are trying to accomplish with the resources and time we have.


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## Pivot Cycles (Mar 22, 2016)

*Pivot & Women*



OldManBike said:


> it didn't seem to me that the pledge required companies to take elaborate, expensive steps.


The OIWC does require that you be a corporate member in order to be posted on the pledge page and there is a money component to this program. That said, I am a huge fan of the OIWC and am personally a member as are other women at Pivot. If you do work in the outdoor industry, I encourage you to join and take advantage of the incredible mentorship and networking opportunities.

IbisGirl (Roxy, I assume that is you?), is correct - when it comes to spending philanthropic and sponsorship dollars, we at small companies have to make hard choices. Is it better to be a corporate member of the OIWC or should we help send another woman to the Olympics? Should we contribute to a favorite charity or should we put more dollars into NICA and developing young women riders? None of these choices are easy, and we try to contribute where we will do the most good and are always re-evaluating our choices.

Pivot has a long history of supporting women through product, sponsorship and staffing. It is a big part of why I work here. When it comes to the OIWC pledge, Pivot is already doing every single thing listed as a requirement, without any prodding from outside sources.

• Pivot's staff is over 25% women, in jobs from upper management all the way to customer service. This is about 5x the typical ratio at other bike companies. We all ride and we come from many different walks of life to create a very diverse voice in the company. We actively recruit on the OIWC website as well as on all standard job-search sites.

• Pivot is an incredibly family friendly company, which benefits employees of both genders. As I write this, I am working with my infant son by my side, something Pivot has been very supportive of.

• Pivot has one of the longest histories of making awesome women's bikes in the industry. Pivot's founder, Chris Cocalis, was also the founder of Titus. At Titus, he drew and engineered over 1000 custom mountain bikes for women. The production XS and XXS Titus Racer X was a game changing full suspension bike for a group of women who had previously had no reasonable options in that category. At Pivot, we continue this tradition of making cutting edge small bikes for women - bikes that work perfectly for you as an individual, rather than as a demographic. *To get the complete scoop on our women's bike philosophy, visit this page.*

• Sponsorship-wise, we support an incredible group:

Emilie Siegenthaler - 7 time Swiss National DH Champion and new contender in the Whip-off contests at Crankworx
Chloe Woodruff - US National XC and Short Track Champ, USA Olympic long team selection. Chloe is 5'1" and rides our size XS bikes.
Rose Grant - 2x US National Marathon Champion, USA Olympic long team selection and mom to an active toddler
Daniela Campuzano - Mexico Olympic Team selection
Timari Prius Allen - 24 hour specialist
Carolyn Romaine - Enduro Racer
Danielle Beecroft - DH Racer, Junior Worlds Podium
Katrin Karkof - German 4x Champion
Marlee Dixon - Endurance MTB
Karen Potter - Endurance MTB
Jen Hanks - Endurance MTB and breast cancer survivor. 
...and many more athletes at the grassroots level.​
• We are a founding sponsor of NICA in our home state of Arizona. The future of women's cycling is at NICA races - there are so many enthusiastic young athletes at these events and this is our number one priority when it comes to philanthropic efforts.

It is wonderful to see how many people are looking beyond pink bikes to see if a company is truly woman-friendly prior to making a purchase. It is a great way for those of us in the industry to demonstrate the value of programs that encourage diversity to our peers. Making product and sponsorship choices that support women gets easier every year as more and more of you let your voices be heard. Thank all of you for taking the time.

Warm Regards,
Carla 
Pivot Marketing Manager


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