If you want to think about how arbitrary categories can be, think about this: one little top tube is all that separates men’s bikes from women’s in the United States. (The “top tube” is the metal tubing that runs from the head tube to the seat tube. Google has informed me that, technically, it is referred to as…“the tope tube”.) When I arrived here in Zaragoza, however, I noticed that there were guys riding around with what I considered women’s bikes. I consulted the high command of the Roommate Council. Indeed, they said, it would be acceptable to ride a bike with no top tube. But was there anything I needed to watch out for, some tell-tale sign that my bike “a woman’s bike”?
Yes. A basket.
My roommates aren’t often terribly serious, so we joked around a few more minutes about how unmanly I am in general (I am called mariquita -- “ladybug” -- a lot in my house, which is kind of like being called a pansy boy, and have taken the mantle up with pride.) Then, as a kind of summary statement, David got a little quiet. “No, seriously, the only thing you can’t do is have a basket.”
He looked at Fernando. “I think he’s going to come home with a basket on the bike.”
I didn’t get a basket, but I did get a bike that would be a “lady’s bike” in the U.S.
