By Roxanne Robles and Tom Fucoloro

Editor’s Note: Roxanne Robles conducted an online survey between September and December of 2019 asking people who identify as women, trans, femme or gender nonconforming to rate how comfortable they feel at 42 Seattle bike shops. Though Seattle Bike Blog did not work on the survey itself, the two of us have worked together on how to present the data. I stand by Roxy’s work. You can read more of her thoughts on the survey on her blog.

Bike shops are vital infrastructure. They are the places you go to keep your bike working, and the experts who work in shops offer hard-earned knowledge that only the most dedicated do-it-yourself hobbyists can hope to match. Beyond just fixing bikes, though, shops can be the heart of a bike community, a place to meet up to have fun or learn.

Because shops are an important part of cycling, it is important they are inclusive and accommodating places to visit. Cycling is marked by a prevalence of not only cisgender men, but able-bodied, white, and wealthy people. Walking into a bike shop can be stressful if you do not fit within these intersections. It is a really common experience for many people outside these demographic categories to be ignored, talked down to, or talked over when they are trying to procure a professional service.

The Seattle Pedalers Looking for Action to Inform (“SPLAIN”) survey was developed to take the temperature of Seattle bike shop culture, to have a better understanding of where people feel comfortable, and to offer a space for them to relay their stories and experiences. People usually start their cycling journeys in a bike shop, looking for a bike — if this experience is stressful, traumatic, or uncomfortable it might turn them off to cycling completely.

We want to be very clear about what these ratings say (and don’t say). The survey was developed with Google Forms and distributed via email, Slack, Twitter, Cascade Bicycle Club’s social media, the Seattle Bike Blog Bike News Roundup and word of mouth. The survey had one page for each bike shop and asked respondents to rate their experience in each shop they had visited from 1 (“I don’t feel comfortable here”) to 5 (“I feel comfortable here”), with a space at the end of the survey for feedback and anecdotes. Respondents were asked to give feedback only for those shops they have visited. There were 90 responses in total. To calculate scores, the responses were weighted and the total was divided by the number of responses for each shop.

Because the survey was distributed organically and respondents self-selected, this cannot be viewed as a scientifically accurate poll representing all women, trans, femme and gender nonconforming people in Seattle. Rather, it is a qualitative snapshot of 90 people’s reported experiences. And people could have wildly differing experiences at the same shop. For example, Alki Bike and Board received a below average 2.78, but the only comment anyone left in the optional text box was, “Alki Bike & Board is the BEST!!!!!” Some shops received fewer votes than others, so their scores might be significantly impacted by just one or two ratings. The total number of votes received is noted within the bar for each shop on the chart.

(more…)