Pedelec gender agenda

[jimmyengland1000]

I was wondering....a friend of a friend mentioned that he had recently become, to use his words not mine "a pedelec nerd" because he spends hours on this forum reading all about electric bikes. When I mentioned that I did the same but wouldn't describe myself (or others) as "nerds", he mentioned something about all contributors and members being male. Apparently, in the world he inhabits, part of being a nerd is that the activity concerned usually involves only males.

So, after that little preamble, my question is.... is he correct? Is it only males who like electric bikes enough to spend time on this forum?

 

[flecc]

Absolutely not, we have many female members who've been active in the forum, some from the earliest days. We've only just had another Jeanette join us yesterday the 6th, another being Jeanette Morgan who regularly posts.

There are many others so I won't attempt to list them all, but a scan through the members list will reveal most, though some of the pseudonyms won't necessarily reveal the gender.
.

 

[jimmyengland1000]

Excellent. Does that mean I can continue to enjoy this forum without any latent feelings of "nerdness"?

 

[carpetbagger]

My wife thinks i am a nerd/anorak..firstly for having an electric bike(except when going up a hill on her 'normal' bike and i had to shove my hand in the middle of her back to get her up !). secondly because i go onto this site,i have since explained why and she is a little more understanding.
I intend to convert her to epower as soon as possible

 

[jimmyengland1000]

Yes, I had a bit of that indulgent "boys will be boys" stuff for a while, until I put a crossbar seat on my bike and started taking one of the boys to school on it in 1 minute 14 seconds. Using the car for the 'school run'...starting it up, driving there, doing a laborious U-turn with all the other mums doing the same thing, driving back, parking outside the house etc all takes about 10 minutes.

Have you thought about not giving her a shove up the hill when she's on her normal bike? You see, at the moment, she can still think you're an anorak but benefit from your alleged 'nerdness. Not really very fair I'd say, so why not go on strike and insist that she pedal laboriously up the hill? Perhaps even arrange a nice ride along a new route...which has lots of hills?

 

[carpetbagger]

Good idea but if she has even the slightest idea that a hill is involved she won't go at all ! I am sure that once i get her to ride my bike she will be hooked..I think its a case of being scared by new technology,still trying to get the hang of a digi box !!

 

[carpetbagger]

Come to think of it,she did mention that she saw a guy on an ebike and commented on how far he had got ,seeing him on the return jouney in the car.
I think she can now differentiate between different bikes so things are looking up.

 

[jimmyengland1000]

I've got as far as getting her to ride my bike, so I'm doing well. It's the idea of a twistgrip throttle that scared her, so a pedelec was ideal. If someone isn't used to a throttle and panics, the tendency can be to hold on for dear life with the throttle twisted fully (that's certainly what they do when learning on motorbikes) and then things can get difficult if they don't brake. I bet if you presented her with a pedelec, she'd use it.......... it may just be a ploy to get you to buy her one (and pay for it of course....)

 

[carpetbagger]

I don't mind paying as long as it gets used. I certainly think that ebike sales could increase if more females get the chance to try them out..Maybe if suppliers of ebikes had a ladies day where they could try them in a safe enviroment then it may help push sales,provide more development and reduce costs for all of us...So all you sales people out there ...do your bit !

 

[flecc]

Done some research. We have 33 female members by name or who I know to be female, though there could be a few more under ambivalent names. That's just over 5% of the total membership, and 6% of the active membership. Altogether they've entered 402 posts, but many have a very low posting rate. At the top is Gaynor with 50 posts, closely followed by Maryinoxford, Fatmog and Fatgirl. Here's the complete list with numbers of posts:

Anna 0 // BeckyH 2 // Cocoabeans 21 // CurryCook 2 // Dawn 2 // Diana 1 //Fatgirl 40
Fatmog 48 // Gaynor 50 // Genna 0 // Helen 2 // Helenmew 3 // Jeanette 0
Jeanette Morgan 43 // Jennykins 15 // Jess 0 // JillWorth 1 // Joanieb 9 // Lesley 2
Lucy 0 // Mabsey 19 // Mandy 0 // Mary Jane 2 // Mary0755 0 // Maryam 0 //
Maryinoxford 48 // Marymcc 1 // Mastanlem 16 // Mazb 35 // Paulinet 2 // Sarah 5
Susie 2 // Tintaglia 31

Most popular name is Mary with 5 examples.

Most popular names amongst male members appear to be Peter (not all shown as such) with 8 examples and Steve with 7 examples, though occasionally Steve can be used by a female of course.
.

 

[jimmyengland1000]

Mmmm.... that's still only a disturbing 5% of total membership. So, it's essentially a 95% male environment then. According to the pocket, battery powered Nerdometer I always carry, that's showing a 19 out of 20 rating. Slightly worrying although, as Flecc says, there may be other females out there masquerading under male-sounding user names.

Re encouraging women to buy e-bikes, I thought perhaps the invention of a bicycling side-saddle a la Queen Victoria style might help. Of course, the pedalling aspect of things would be slightly complicated but worth it in order to retain a feminine decorum perhaps.

 

[fcurran]

I don't think the users on this website reflect useage of electric bikes in any shape or form. As been stated earlier, members generally tend to be quite "nerdy" without wanting to cause offence to anyone! Most users on here have a top of the range bike generally supplied by 50 Cycles as they want the lightest, fastest and best looking machines that are available on the market. Another thing, without wanting to talk out of line, those members chose the top end bike for the reasons just mentioned, but also because money tends not to be such an issue. For the mass market E bikers will opt for a Powabyke, PowaCycle, Sakura, Urban or Izip. At Powabyke I would say females make up close to half of our bikes sales and Im sure this would be a similar story for the other manufacturers just mentioned. Our most popular bike is definately the Shopper style bike with the low step through which tends to appeal more to females.

I hope I've not upset anyone!

Regards

Frank
Powabyke Ltd

 

[carpetbagger]

Hey Frank,,,,i must be a nerd with a Powabyke !!! A rare breed !....do i get a prize ??....
ps no offence taken

 

[jimmyengland1000]

Actually, I quite like the idea of being a discerning, top of the range riding, quite well off nerd!

Lightest, fastest and best looking... were you talking about the bikes or forum members, Frank?

 

[fcurran]

Either, neither, both!! I'll leave it to you to decide what I meant!

 

[nin26]

Have to say that Frank has a point here ..... it's probably just a forum thing and not an e-bike thing. I'm female (ha! you missed me off the list - that'd be 34 at least then), and I belong to several forums. I'm used to being in the minority - especially on the motorcycle boards.



Oh, and I'm a nerd ...... Oh yes indeedy ..... <hangsheadinshamesmiley>

 

[flecc]

Absolutely right Frank, I've remarked several times in here that we are in no way representative of e-bike users in general. It's the same in computing of course, where about two thirds of a million people are members of computer forums in the UK while at least 30 million are using them.

If our ratio is similar, that points to around 25 to 30 thousand e-bikes being around, which fits in with some previous estimates on that.
.

 

[MaryinScotland]

People on here are those who have access to, and are comfortable using, the internet. And quite often they have found this site because they are seeking information - technical info or customer satisfaction - about different electric bikes. I don't know if computer use or research tend to be more male-specific, but it's possible.

Mary in Oxford
Computer professional
E-biker
Motorcycle owner
Kayaker
Accustomed to being in majority-male groups

But also...
Ice skater
Cat owner
Theatre goer
... so the XX chromosomes do have an effect.

 

[flecc]

I'm female (ha! you missed me off the list - that'd be 34 at least then

As I said nin26, there will be more under gender nonspecific names, though not very many. The total is probably about 40 to 45.

The largest social group of all in here is male pensioners.
.

 

[flecc]

People on here are those who have access to, and are comfortable using, the internet. And quite often they have found this site because they are seeking information - technical info or customer satisfaction - about different electric bikes. I don't know if computer use or research tend to be more male-specific, but it's possible.

Mary in Oxford
Computer professional
E-biker
Motorcycle owner
Kayaker
Accustomed to being in majority-male groups

But also...
Ice skater
Cat owner
Theatre goer
... so the XX chromosomes do have an effect.

And I've also noticed from your postings Mary that you are much more technically aware than is the norm for female members.

Adding that to your list, I'll pigeonhole you as a polymath.
.