Skirt Cafe is an on-line community dedicated to exploring, promoting and advocating skirts and kilts as a fashion choice for men, formerly known as men in skirts. We do this in the context of men's fashion freedom --- an expansion of choices beyond those commonly available for men to include kilts, skirts and other garments. We recognize a diversity of styles our members feel comfortable wearing, and do not exclude any potential choices. Continuing dialog on gender is encouraged in the context of fashion freedom for men. See here for more details.
The following from the Daily Telegraph was in my Google + feed, and is an idea to help women cyclists who want to wear a skirt whilst riding a bike for (mainly) short distances, not that I've seen many of those around . It features a penny and a rubber band as a means of holding the front and back of the skirt together between their legs. I thought that some people on this site might find the idea useful. I haven't tried it myself as yet, and I don't think any of my current skirts have sufficient spare material to enable front and back to come together, whilst still allowing my legs to move.
For years, decades, women wore skirts to cycle and quickly got used to showing their knees. Why should men worry?
I've cycled in heavy kilts and light sort sarongs and, although I used to feel rather self conscious, I can remember only one occasion when a gust of wind blew the front of my skirt up -- to reveal underpants; so what?
The whole point about skirt wearing is the comfort and freedom of movement. Attaching back and front would just defeat be like going back to baggy shorts.
Martin
As mentioned in the other thread that Richard linked to, I've had no need to do the penny and inner tube trick. Wear an A-line knee-length denim skirt, and you'll be fine. Any breeze that there is will tend to push the front of the skirt down against the saddle.
I'm originally from Holland and there we know a thing or two about bike's, 1.5 bikes per person over 4 year. With rather stiff denim fabric there is not much the wind can do. And with the lighter material the wind pressure from your speed will keep it down to your saddle. Only when it is storming you could be in a spot but will you ride your bike in a storm?
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All progress takes place outside the comfort zone - M J Bobak
Noticed, out my bedroom window, a lady wearing a skirt and cycling to school. This "put me over the top" and I too wore a skirt to work today. The challenge is, even with my electric bicycle I feel the need for a slightly longer skirt than the 24C weather would otherwise indicate. And such longer skirts seem to be heavier and warmer in my wardrobe.
But I finally found the right garment and donned my skirt and went to work. All good - no issues.
On a road bike you can wear a skirt/kilt as your legs are more or less in a vertical position. On a recumbent bike your legs are out forward. So the open end of the skirt is facing forward catching all the wind. The wind blows the skirt back and becomes unmanageable especially if a full skirt or a knee length kilt. I tried it once on my recumbent with a Utilikilt. I had a lot of leg showing in very short period of time.
Beachlion,
In your picture I see you are mounted on a sort of off-road mountain bike. Not long ago I spent a few days in Amsterdam pursuing my personal poison...competitive rowing. On the Amstel, Nereus run a two-day event early each year. Walking extensively through that city I didn't see even one such bike. The sensible Nederlanders ride proper old-fashioned bikes with mudguards and bells &c., a rarity here in Ireland.
In recent years however a French firm has set up an extensive credit card operated daily bike hire operation called, curiously enough, 'Dublinbikes', all of which are identical sensible heavy-duty sit-up-and-beg machines, unisex in design, so wearing a skirt on one of those would be OK, I'm sure.
Kirbstone wrote:In recent years however a French firm has set up an extensive credit card operated daily bike hire operation called, curiously enough, 'Dublinbikes', all of which are identical sensible heavy-duty sit-up-and-beg machines, unisex in design, so wearing a skirt on one of those would be OK, I'm sure.
Sounds like an idea the bike share idea that has been spreading around the US. I think it is commonly known as citybike though that is a trade name (in the form of Citibike, after the well known NY bank which sponsors it in New York City). They exist here in San Francisco and around the greater Bay Area as well as a number of other cities larger and smaller around the country. If I remember the newspaper stories I've read correctly, there is a Canadian company that distributes the sturdy, step-through bikes along with the mechanical and software bits to make the whole short term rental system work.
I've read the signs at one of the depots and it seems like it is geared toward very short (about a half hour or so) trips from here to there. Being a tourist oriented city now, we also have a number of regular bike rental stands in parks and other places where tourists may find them. I think they're designed for half day or full day rentals.
Stuart Gallion
No reason to hide my full name
Back in my skirts in San Francisco
Riding a bike in a skirt is easy. First I have to pull the pant strap through the D-ring, then trough the belt loop and attach the quick snap to it, then jump on my bicycle and hit the road while my crotch is covered and the rest floating arround my legs. If I have reached my destination I just have to undo all these things in order to wear a regular Macabi again. It doesn't matter, what kinda bicycle it is, cuz you ain't limited to Mountainbikes and Lady bikes anymore.
skirted_in_SF wrote:
Sounds like an idea the bike share idea that has been spreading around the US. I think it is commonly known as citybike though that is a trade name (in the form of Citibike, after the well known NY bank which sponsors it in New York City). They exist here in San Francisco and around the greater Bay Area as well as a number of other cities larger and smaller around the country. If I remember the newspaper stories I've read correctly, there is a Canadian company that distributes the sturdy, step-through bikes along with the mechanical and software bits to make the whole short term rental system work.
Yup. The Bixi Bike system, in many Canadian cities, as well as New York (under Citi Bike), London (Barclay Bike Hire), and quite a few other places around the world (the company is/was technically part of the Montreal parking authority, but may have been sold by now).
With my poor balance when I try to ride a bike, needless to say, I've not used a Bixi, skirted or otherwise! *laughs*
I wish they's quit calling those bike things "sharing". If you are paying for something, then you are renting (hiring) it. It isn't sharing; it is a business transaction. Same with things like Uber/Lyft - it isn't "ride sharing" any more than hailing a taxicab is ride sharing. The term "Sharing Economy" was just something invented by some marketing person to make people feel all warm and fuzzy about businesses they otherwise wouldn't (and shouldn't).
::stepping down from soap box::
No shirt, no shoes, no pants, no gods. No worries!
MrNaturalAZ wrote: Same with things like Uber/Lyft - it isn't "ride sharing" any more than hailing a taxicab is ride sharing.
I agree. They try to make it sound like what happened in college in the 70s - the person with a car would post a notice looking for people going the same town on breaks and arrange for one or more people to share costs. But that isn't what is happening. The Uber driver who ran over a mother and daughter in a crosswalk killing the daughter on New Year's Eve here was 50 miles from home. Hardly ride sharing.
Stuart Gallion
No reason to hide my full name
Back in my skirts in San Francisco
. It features a penny and a rubber band as a means of holding the front and back of the skirt together between their legs. I thought that some people on this site might find the idea useful. I haven't tried it myself as yet, and I don't think any of my current skirts have sufficient spare material to enable front and back to come together, whilst still allowing my legs to move. 
It doesn't matter, what kinda bicycle it is, cuz you ain't limited to Mountainbikes and Lady bikes anymore.
You can share a meal with someone and everybody pays half the price. 
