While many women enjoy participating in the making of these ads, something that they are fully entitled to, it is the responsibility of the magazine and the company that produces the product to decide if the ad is something which furthers the constant struggle for women’s equity, or works to push it back to a past generation. I believe, though, being male I have little room to make this assumption, that many women feel that the 30’s and 40’s were not a time where women felt especially free or equal to men.

Jeff from Crown stated that he also had an ad which showed a man doing a wheelie. Does he have ads showing women doing wheelies? Or are they all confined to auto garages in clothing that, although beautiful and not entirely impractical, would not generally be their first choice for a bike ride?

It is in some ways admirable that Knog accepts and promotes lesbian openness, but would they do the same with gay male models? (And, to be clear, producing such an ad in response to the criticism of the current ad does not clear the table).

To the argument that simply trading male models for female models would somehow create advertising equity, It doesn’t work that way. That logic ignores current power dynamics and thousands of years of history. Putting men in accessory-like positions does not automatically lower them to the same status as women put into the same position. They are still men, and in our current society, this alone makes them more powerful.

To Melinda, as art or a form of expression, your photo is wonderful. it is well made and, as you say, was enjoyable for you to produce. I hope that you continue to feel free to express yourself in any manner you see fit.

Finally, I second the previous comment that these ads insult me as a male. They stem from an ideology that men (and women) are constantly attracted to sex, and are therefore attracted to things associated with sex. I am less inclined to purchase either of these products after having seen this edition. I am also less enthralled with UrbanVelo for having included them in their publication.

All this being said, it must be understood that, as a male, I speak only for myself. Not for my gender or my sex nor my nationality or race, or even for other cyclists.

I grew up in So Cal in the HotRod culture and absolutely love the preservation of the 50’s (and pinup girls) which is totally wholesome considering what is out there in the world today I bet those who oppose this would probably love to see Melinda replaced with “Steve-O” in a leopard spotted g-string. You knobs need to get a life!

Jeff@Crown I hope you don’t let this one instance steer you off of your chosen course. The ad displayed what cruiser bikes are all about. Putting a smile on your face and having fun. The uptight folks are not likely to buy a cruiser anyway, they are much too serious to ride a bike like that. Besides they might catch their sweat pants in the chain ring

I would just like to say that I didn’t at all think this ad would raise this much of a stink. After working in the bike business and making millions of dollars for other people I took my life savings and put it into this company. Of course I dont want people hating the brand due to one ad. I want everyone to like the company and be moved to actually buy something with the Crown name on it. This is only one ad of the many that will show you Crown Cycle Co. so you may not want to base your whole opinion of the brand by just this one.

I design the bikes, do the graphics and shoot most of the photos. I sent this ad in instead of the one of a guy riding a wheelie at the beach without thinking about it much. It honestly took me about 15 min to put this ad together. The photo is actually the center of our catalog so I thought it would be a good tie in.

If this ad offends you, sorry about that. The stimuli that trigger our personal “offense mechanism” is as different as we all are in genetic make up. A lot of things offend me like war and hate and starving children, but not a woman’s clothed backside. The bike business is 75% a male audience and 99% of them don’t mind looking at a good-looking woman on a bike. I am just working within the law of averages. Sorry if you don’t fit into them.

Oh and by the way, the model Melinda owns that shop that we shot that picture in with her boyfriend Bobby Walden. They are yet another group of people who are sick of making other people money and are out their doing it their own way. Check them out at http://www.waldenspeedshop.com

Cycling is a sport that is accessible to both sexes. When I ride with women, I ride with them as equals. I’ve been dropped by female cyclists plenty of times. Cycling is about men and women sharing and learning from each other.

Some sports/lifestyles only include women on the sidelines or on the trophy podium, the women not worthy enough for participation themselves. That type of thinking is what I view as degrading.

An unavoidable side effect of cycling is a tight body. I don’t think it’s shameful to appreciate or admire the sculpted perfection we all share, whether we be male or female. It is something to be celebrated.

Had the picture come with her opinion of what it was like to ride the bike I would have had no reservations about checking “I love it!” (for example, “the particular one I’m posing with in this picture is actually my OWN Crown Cycles bike and I can say first hand that they ride like a dream”).

UV is just getting started, and it has the opportunity to head in many directions. So far things have been more or less classy, respectful, and interesting. I hope they stay that way. The one exception so far that made me do a double take was the title of the article on page 50 of issue #4 (goldsprints).

If UV starts looking like a hot rod magazine or the back half of City Paper I’d be a bit disappointed (granted I’m an avid City Paper reader in spite of the ads).