Here's what Transition has to say:"The Syren is our ladies only freeride bike built to be a do-it-all package. From bike parks like Whistler to freeride and singletrack trails, the Syren's versatility has all the guys begging us to make one for them. Designed with the input from over 30 girls, every detail concerning a women's needs for a aggressive freeride frame have been accounted for. The Syren features ultra low standover (easily fits girls down to 5'0"), a light flickable frame that is burly enough for freeriding and a shorter wheelbase that makes it easier for women to pull the front end up. "
3 comments:
Great for Transition for getting a women's downhill bike out there, its awesome that they are trying to encourage women in the sport!
However, In my experience, women's specific bikes work best for small people. So I'd like to know if any one over 5'8" and 130 pounds has ridden the Syren and what kinds of women riders tested the bike. Their website did not have any info on the women that they have test riding their bikes for them.
Personally, their description of the Syren made me not want to support Transition. Using women and girls interchangeably is offensive to educated women; you would never see a bike ad that said bikes were tested by boys.
Saying a "shorter wheelbase that makes it easier for women to pull the front end up", to me means that they think women are weak. I thought that the best way to get the front end up was to shift your weight not pull. Why not just say a shorter wheelbase makes the bike more maneuverable?
I like the idea of an aggressive lightweight bike, and I am sure that this bike is probably a great ride, but if they are going to market it to women, they need to focus on the idea that women are serious riders.
Transition's descriptions of other frames is great, focusing on the frame details and why they are designed that way and how the bike handles in certain conditions. They obviously can describe a bike for the appropriate riding, why can't they use that same sort of description for the Syren.
And I hope they chose the name after the town. Otherwise these guys have too much free time.
Hey everyone, it's Kevin from Transition. As you can tell we are all guys at Transition bikes so when we write the descriptions it is definitely from a male point of view. We did have several women read the description and none of them had a problem with it. I did end up changing it just to be safe though. In the end we are huge advocates of getting women involved in freeriding which typically has been extremely male dominated. Times are changing and we hope this bike will cause other manufactuers to create more aggressive mountain bike options for women.
On the shorter wheelbase comment, we only put that in there because out of all the women we interviewed this was a huge problem that they pointed out to us which is why we addressed it like this. We are in no way saying women are weak, but being able to pull the front end up easily was a concern that many women had.
Also if you are a bigger woman you do have the luxury of fitting on most other bikes, this bike is really designed for lighter smaller women who are frustrated with the current options available to them concerning freeride bikes.
Thanks for addressing my concerns. Way to go for supporting the ladies!!! You guys do rock!
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