Sir Chris Hoy has worked with Evans Cycles to create HOY bikes. The frames are unisex – but because HOY and Evans don’t believe that women should have to pay extra for narrower handlebars and women’s specific saddles, these are swapped free of charge in-store to suit rider needs. We spoke to Sir Chris Hoy.
“There’s nothing to back up that there’s a specific difference in gender in terms of body dimensions, and therefore no need to have a different frame or a different type of bike.”
Buy a frame and fit it to the rider
Hoy explains: “Personally I’ve always been under the belief that you buy the bike that is right for your needs. Then you set it up to the rider [adjusting the stem, saddle and handlebars] – no matter what gender. That goes for anyone: male, female, short, tall, experienced, racer, casual rider.
“I think it’s a massive sweeping statement to say women don’t have such good core strength, so need a shorter top tube. I could point to numerous male cyclists that have very good core strength, and numerous female cyclists that have very good core strength.”
Pro women don’t ride female specific
Sir Chris has worked with plenty of female athletes – and none rode women’s bikes. He says: “In the British Cycling Team, [Scottish track cyclist] Ross Edgar and Vicky Pendleton look very different, standing around wearing a pair of jeans, or even cycling kit. And yet their bikes were set up exactly the same – to the extent they could swap bikes at a race meeting. They couldn’t look more different, but their dimensions were such that the bikes fitted them perfectly.
“On the British Team the bikes that were given to male riders and female riders – road bikes, track bikes, mountain bikes – whatever the purpose or the event, it was the same frame and bike that was given. There were differences between saddles, crank length, bar width, stem length, stem height, but the frames were the same between male and female riders.”
Bikes for humans
I just think it’s a bit patronising to female cyclists when they pink and shrink it, make it more feminine in a conventional sense
“We [as the HOY brand] just want to target everybody, we don’t want to provide a bike for females just to tick a box. I just think it’s a bit patronising to female cyclists when they pink and shrink it, make it more feminine in a conventional sense, to draw the eye. If women are told “oh yeah, female cyclists have different dimensions and this one will be better” – when you’re new to a sport you take on the advice from people who know more than you, and you get drawn in by marketing. I’m not having a go, other brands are welcome to do that – but for us it’s about setting someone up on the right bike for them.”
