starter bike for my girlfriend

Random Vince

at some point i'm going to try and get my girlfriend into proper biking (road and proper mountain biking) for road she's going to need a road bike to have any hope of maintaining a touring pace and any distance,

i'm just envisioning relaxed rides to a country pub kind of thing

what do you think the bike should be equipped with for her?

i ask since my bike is all but singlespeed and the mountain bike is singlespeed i seem to have something against comfort!

Down the Road

Look at bikes such as the Trek 1.2WSD or Specialized Dolce series.

This is your best starting point.

Random Vince

i'm anticipating buying cheaply and fixing it up, we're both students so she'll not want to think i'm spending much on her, she's still in the feeling guilty when i pay for dinner stage

i was more asking should i be looking for twin chain ring up front, tripple or single etc

alfablue

Well if her bike fitness is at beginner level I would suggest a triple unless you live in a very flat area, then teach her to use appropriately low gears and to spin, she will find it more enjoyable than grinding on an overgeared bike. If she is completely new to cycling she may prefer a flat barred bike, though ultimately drops are better, for me, anyway, and if you think she will get into it quickly then maybe try and get a bike that will suit her for the longer term.

popette

alfablue wrote:

Well if her bike fitness is at beginner level I would suggest a triple unless you live in a very flat area, then teach her to use appropriately low gears and to spin, she will find it more enjoyable than grinding on an overgeared bike. If she is completely new to cycling she may prefer a flat barred bike, though ultimately drops are better, for me, anyway, and if you think she will get into it quickly then maybe try and get a bike that will suit her for the longer term.

I originally went for a flat barred hybrid but found I got so into it that within a couple of weeks I wanted to upgrade to a proper road bike. Fortunately, there was a serious, serious problem with the hybrid and the shop were only too happy to exchange it for me so I didn't have to pay out again for another bike. HTH

alfablue

popette wrote:

alfablue wrote:

Well if her bike fitness is at beginner level I would suggest a triple unless you live in a very flat area, then teach her to use appropriately low gears and to spin, she will find it more enjoyable than grinding on an overgeared bike. If she is completely new to cycling she may prefer a flat barred bike, though ultimately drops are better, for me, anyway, and if you think she will get into it quickly then maybe try and get a bike that will suit her for the longer term.

I originally went for a flat barred hybrid but found I got so into it that within a couple of weeks I wanted to upgrade to a proper road bike. Fortunately, there was a serious, serious problem with the hybrid and the shop were only too happy to exchange it for me so I didn't have to pay out again for another bike. HTH

Yes, wise words of experience there, Popette. Glad you had a happy outcome.

Random Vince

at the moment i've got a friends road bike (he's yet to take ownership, i got given it, offered it to him and started fixing it up) which is about the right size for her, thinking we might go on a ride to a country pub

just trying to figure how to explain its a better plan than her cheap full sus mountain bike to ride.

she'll be able to keep up with me, my front hub is worn out and causing a fair bit of friction :P

cooper.michael1

alfablue wrote:

popette wrote:

alfablue wrote:

Well if her bike fitness is at beginner level I would suggest a triple unless you live in a very flat area, then teach her to use appropriately low gears and to spin, she will find it more enjoyable than grinding on an overgeared bike. If she is completely new to cycling she may prefer a flat barred bike, though ultimately drops are better, for me, anyway, and if you think she will get into it quickly then maybe try and get a bike that will suit her for the longer term.

I originally went for a flat barred hybrid but found I got so into it that within a couple of weeks I wanted to upgrade to a proper road bike. Fortunately, there was a serious, serious problem with the hybrid and the shop were only too happy to exchange it for me so I didn't have to pay out again for another bike. HTH

Yes, wise words of experience there, Popette. Glad you had a happy outcome.

However this is not always the case. I have bike of both drop bar and flat bar variety. Flat bars give you a more relaxed position and better control of the brakes, combined with bar ends they also offer a number of hand positions. Therefore for 90% of my cycling (commuting, touring, nipping to tesco or a mates house) flat bars are my preference.

The drop bar bike is good in summer, when you are just going out for a blast of a ride. They alow you to get more aero and are more comfortable at a constant cruise pace. However around here (yorkshire) with our hills, narrow country lanes and 20% gradient decents on wet slippery roads i find drops a nightmare.

To keep your head up you have to ride on the hoods, and with winter gloves on from this position i find you can only get maybe 70% of the braking power because your ability to pull the lever from this position is not so great.

Drops are great for racing, however as fars as i am concerned that is all. Drops on tourers is a mainly British/American thing. Ride around the continent and meet people who tour around europe and they mainly use flat bars.

With a flat (non riser) bar and bar ends i feel you get the best of both world, fairly aero, good control, and confidence inspiring position for urban/bridleway riding.

As you are on a budget would and you like both road and MTB riding, would a simple rigid (non suspension) MTB not be a good choice? You could get a copule of sets of wheels, one with say some 1.3 inch road slicks and one with some 2.0inch MTB tyres.

I think a first adult bike should be something with motivates and inspires people to want to ride, not something super fast, with 23mm tyres that looks like you need to wear lycra and will scare them which is what i think puts many people off.

Rich Hcp

Yep, or a Hybrid...

I fitted slicks to my MTB when I started to ride the roads more.

Then I really liked the roads and now have a road bike too.

But you need to be sure before you invest

Richrd2205

Gearing wise, I think that a compact chainset with a wide(ish) cassette would probably be your best bet. A few of my female friends have started cycling & all have found the gears a little confusing to start with. The compact is simpler to work out than a triple & you won't lose much of either end with a wide cassette, so I'd recommend it on those grounds. IIRC, you used to have a location as Coventry, if I'm right & this is the case, there's no point at all getting a triple for pub runs etc. The bottom gear I had on the bike I owned when I stayed down there was 39/23 & I'm not sure I used it more than once or twice. So, if this is the case, a 9 speed cassette & a single up-front might suffice.
I'd also recommend flat handlebars as a starting point. Having not long ago bought my GF her first bike, the avoidance of drops was where I started.
Tyre-wise the Kenda K-wests that came on the aforementioned bike seem quite sound. (A review of that bike, including them being nice about the tyres is here: http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/categ ... -w-07-9903 ). Reasonably fast rolling 28mm tyres are a good compromise between comfort & performance, which is want you want if the bike is to be fun to ride.
Hope you have fun building the project & riding together!

Random Vince

yeh, coventry is fairly flat except the times i have to go to kennelworth, my bike is effectively two speed! so i no longer bother changing gear.


she's got a mountain bike (and i have to hold my tongue due to it being a supermarket full sus - but its a start) so was thinking could get away with a touring style bike.

think i might just suggest we could get further using the road bikes i've got, let her try it and if she doesnt like it we'll turn back and just use the mountain bikes

Richrd2205

Random Vince wrote:

yeh, coventry is fairly flat except the times i have to go to kennelworth, my bike is effectively two speed! so i no longer bother changing gear.

Yes, I used to think that that run into Kenilworth was steep, since then I've moved up to Glasgow & discovered proper hills

she's got a mountain bike (and i have to hold my tongue due to it being a supermarket full sus - but its a start) so was thinking could get away with a touring style bike.

think i might just suggest we could get further using the road bikes i've got, let her try it and if she doesnt like it we'll turn back and just use the mountain bikes

I think that she'll be shocked (in a nice way) at the difference between the full-sus supermarket MTB & a proper bike. If she doesn't instantly fall in love with how quick she can go without bobbing up & down, something's very, very wrong. My GF loved how "fast" the bike I bought her was & she'd last ridden something useless & heavy (she wasn't too appreciative when I started explaining that it was an efficient rather than fast bike tho...)
It sounds like you have a good plan there! Just avoid down-tube shifters & all will be fine...

Random Vince

Richrd2205 wrote:

Random Vince wrote:

yeh, coventry is fairly flat except the times i have to go to kennelworth, my bike is effectively two speed! so i no longer bother changing gear.

Yes, I used to think that that run into Kenilworth was steep, since then I've moved up to Glasgow & discovered proper hills

she's got a mountain bike (and i have to hold my tongue due to it being a supermarket full sus - but its a start) so was thinking could get away with a touring style bike.

think i might just suggest we could get further using the road bikes i've got, let her try it and if she doesnt like it we'll turn back and just use the mountain bikes

I think that she'll be shocked (in a nice way) at the difference between the full-sus supermarket MTB & a proper bike. If she doesn't instantly fall in love with how quick she can go without bobbing up & down, something's very, very wrong. My GF loved how "fast" the bike I bought her was & she'd last ridden something useless & heavy (she wasn't too appreciative when I started explaining that it was an efficient rather than fast bike tho...)
It sounds like you have a good plan there! Just avoid down-tube shifters & all will be fine...

the spare bike as it seems to have become, has downtube shifters... they're fairly easy ones tho, even i can cope with them

oh well, i'm sure she'll cope better on that than on Hallie (my road bike)

i'm used to what hills are growing up in the wakefield / barnsley area. not sure if i'll manage to get my bike up the hills there, we'll find out sometime tho.

Mettan

A flat-bar Road bike might be a possibility - how about something along the lines of the:

Genesis Day 2007
Claude Butler Levante 2007

Both are "lightweight" fast Road hybrids with 25c tyres - obviously you'd want to study the specs in detail though.

Rich Hcp

Good chices there.

I think you should let her try one of your bikes to see if she likes it and then get dowen the LBS if she does

Random Vince

down the LBS?

i'll be looking in local free papers and skips and fixing it up myself!

cant afford to buy new, not even last years.