A step-through frame (also known as open frame,[1] drop frame,[2] or low-step frame) is a type of bicycle frame, often used for utility bicycles, with a low or absent top tube or cross-bar.[3][4]
Since mounting or dismounting a step-through does not require swinging one leg to hip-height, they are widely used as delivery bicycles, and for other purposes where the rider has to mount and dismount frequently.
Traditionally, bicycles with a step-through frame were known as "ladies'", "women's" or "girls' bicycles", as they allow skirts or dresses to hang fairly normally. Bicycles with a high top tube (cross-bar), known as a diamond frame, were known as "men's", "gents", or "boys' bicycles". Even in the 1800s, women often rode "men's" bicycles and vice-versa; from the 1890s onwards, women commonly wore bloomers to cycle. Since the late 20th century,[citation needed] descriptions that describe the frame style, rather than the presumed gender of the rider, are becoming increasingly common.
- ^ "Nimrod road tests the Jack Taylor touring bicycle". Cycling. March 16, 1960. Retrieved 2013-04-02.
their range of seventeen models includes a woman's open frame bicycle
- ^ Sewall, E. D. (13 May 1897). "The Women's Bicycle and its Predecessors". The Iron Age. 59. New York. OCLC 14153896.
- ^ "Top Tube". Sheldon Brown. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. 1989.
cross-bar, n. 1. a. A transverse bar; a bar placed or fixed across another bar or part of a structure. spec. The horizontal bar of a bicycle frame