Buying a bike for my mrs

dazzerus

She is a novice and will probably only ever get onto bridleways and slightly rough tracks.
Looking to spend around £200, only real need would be aluminium frame, bonuses would be disc breaks and front suspension.
Looked at a few on the web today
Giant Rock W (£200) @ Fulfords cycles
Apollo XC.26s (£179) @ Halfords
Apollo XC.26se (£209) @ Halfords
Claud-butler/mercury-2008-womens-mountain-bike (£180) @ Evans
Raleigh Freeride AT10 (£197) @ Cliff Pratt Cycles

Any feedback on these bikes or suggestions about which to buy will be greatly appreciated.

alfablue

I would advise you against anything Apollo, or indeed any front suspension / disc braked mtb for £200. They will be horrid, heavy, uncomfortable, unreliable heaps of ****.

£200 would get an acceptable hybrid though, like the Carrera Subway.

MTB's that are likely to not put one off cycling for ever start at about £350.

I understand the desire not to spend too much in case the Mrs doesn't take to it, but this is more likely to be the case if you buy too cheap. If she does take to it you would soon be upgrading to a better bike, so it would be money wasted. If you spend twice as much at least you could recoup maybe 50% (or maybe more) selling it on, so the potential waste of money is similar, but you have more chance of success.

alfablue

Just to add, last year my g/f wanted to start cycling on a road bike, she thought £200 would do, only having seen chain store and supermarket "bike shaped objects". She didn't know what decent bikes cost. I upsold her to £500 - entry level for decent road bikes. She soon appreciated how much better it was than the bike she had years ago, but she also wanted upgrades pretty soon as our cycling adventures developed. We have racked up many miles now, including tours in Wales, Dartmoor and Tuscany. Last week she bought an mtb, never having ridden off road before. - spent £900, saying she didn't want a cheap one as she would only want to upgrade it! (and the bike in question was red). We went out last weekend and she took to it like a duck to water and can't wait to do more this weekend. I am so impressed with how she has developed with her cycling in just one year, with decent equipment, I think she could easily have found it all too difficult with a heavy rubbish bike. I think I have a convert

That said, a £450 mtb would probably have been good enough, but not much cheaper.

papasmurf.

yeah possibly get a hybrid and then put some decent tryes on it..if she enjoys it then you can satrt looking at spending more on a proper mtb..if she doesn't at least you can stick slicks on it and havea town bike.. I think the best thing is something that is lightish and comfortable to pedal..a g/f thats always 100m behind and struggling is less likely to enjoy goin out for a ride with you.

alfablue

papasmurf. wrote:

l..a g/f thats always 100m behind and struggling is less likely to enjoy goin out for a ride with you.

Very true, demoralising for her, tedious for you, no one enjoys it.

supersonic

Have a read of this:

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12620617

alfablue

Another thing - she doesn't necessarily need a women's specific bike. Consider mens ones, try them out, see what fits best.

boneyjoe

For a novice rider, I'd say comfort and weight are probably the most nb factors, so definitely try out several bikes before you buy. Weight is very tricky on a budget, but definitely nb. My friend has a light carbon HT, and his wife's cheap bike weighs about 5kgs more - definitely not a good combination for family harmony on the trails! In fact, he often ends up having to ride her bike on the steeper sections - not ideal!

Another factor is tyres, try for something with very low rolling resistance - ie small or even no nobbles in the middle of the tyre - to make progress easier for a beginner. As experience builds up, you can add something better.

I'd say go for front suspension, so hands and arms aren't left stinging and numb on longer rides or rougher terain, but you can really hold off the disc brakes until she's really into it and wants that first serious upgrade.

Btw, my wife's first bike was a heavy, rigid MTB hybrid, with v-brakes. Took it everywhere, incl Welsh trail centres(!), until she upgraded to a "proper" MTB a couple of years later. Its not so much the bike as attitude and enthusiasm (of both partners!) that counts. Best of luck!

Surf-Matt

Mrs Matt has a "blokes" Rockhopper Disk and loves it -just put proper pedals on it and straight bars (she hates risers). I think women specific bikes are too over girlified and down specced. Does a girl MTBer REALLY want swirly flowers and pink detailing on her bike?! Not the ones I know!

SpinningJenny

Surf-Matt wrote:

I think women specific bikes are too over girlified and down specced. Does a girl MTBer REALLY want swirly flowers and pink detailing on her bike?! Not the ones I know!

I totally, totally, totally agree.

I was really doubtful that a men's bike would work for me and was 'looking forward' to ending up with a girlified MTB, due to my short stature (5'3") last weekend.

What I ended up with was a fantastic, stunning, tough, brilliantly-specced small men's MTB (see below), with not a flower in sight (thank god!) and no pink (even more thanks for that!). I tried a women's specific and whilst it was fine, it felt flimsy, the bars were too narrow and lo and behold, I felt cramped on it.

I thought my hybrid was good for what it was, until I saw the light

Surf-Matt

Jenny - well you have the same frame (but clearly better spec) than Mrs Matt so they must be okay. I think unless you are particularly tiny, long legged or short armed, blokes bikes work fine. Also noticed that pretty much no one does top end girlie bikes either. The girls I know with serious machines (S Works jobbies) have blokes bikes. But obviously wear womens clothes on them!

Mrs Matt (handily a similar size to me) raced on my bike (Stumpjumper hardtail) recently and found it ideal. So she uses her "heavy" RH for daily rides, then jumps on my lightweight SJ for racing - perfect. Also means I am allowed to spend more on it!

SpinningJenny

SurfMatt - yep, I was bloody lucky with that bike. Nice discount on the 2008 model

btw, I like your style re 'i can spend more on it' angle. Nice!

dombo6

Specialized Hardrock is a fantastic first mtb or one of these Pinnacles:

http://www.evanscycles.com/categories/c ... &x=32&y=11

I got my daughter a Pinnacle Aura and she loves it. Forget hybrids, they're neither one thing or t'other. Ditto any Apollo, they'll put her off cycling for life.

Surf-Matt

SpinningJenny wrote:

SurfMatt - yep, I was bloody lucky with that bike. Nice discount on the 2008 model

btw, I like your style re 'i can spend more on it' angle. Nice!

I do overstep the mark sometimes though... :oops: :oops:
Like with the new Thomson Elite seatpost and Spesh Phenom SL saddle that weren't really needed. I got in a bit of trouble - oops... :oops:

SpinningJenny

i would call it, testing the boundaries

and it's a hobby... therefore 'need' doesn't really come into it

yes, i am a stirrer

jam1e

Not really relevent to the OP but I reckon the sooner the bike manufacturers sack off the idea of "ladies" bikes all together the happier everyone will be....

...so before the ladies go mad here's my plan

Sack off ladies and mens specific models, model names and decals/colour schemes and instead do a "standard" and "compact" model of their popular models. The compact would have more female friendly geometry, components (thinner grips, narrower bars etc) but would otherwise look pretty much the same. (maybe a tiny subtle "compact" on the model decal)

Everyones happy - ladies get a ladies bike which isn't covered in flowery tat, blokes (esp smaller blokes) get an alternative fit which is pretty much indistinguishable from the "mens" version.

Obviously people would need to know not to look for a "ladies" model as such but anyone buying an entry level mtb or higher is likely to do some basic research anyway.

supersonic

I think some WSD are useful as it saves having to swap out some parts. But as with any bike, you have to try it as we all differ, as does bike geo.

If a model or brand doesn't fit, move on.

Surf-Matt

Of course but it doesn't change the fact that womens specific bikes are completely "girlied" up - most girls don't seem to like that.

supersonic

Oh I agree, a lot of it is for marketings sake, even though some of the ideas are sound in principle.

GHill

SC Juliana is a "proper" women's bike IMO.

OP: Giant Rock looks the best from your list.

SpinningJenny

dazzerus - i would also agree with alfablue and so on, about making sure your OH gets a decent bike. you never know, she may progress on to a bit more than bridleways and rough paths and will immediately feel the need to upgrade to something better at that point.

there are great bikes out there for £300 - £400. it will probably be worth spending the extra now.

gareth84

i think woman's specific bikes are a great idea, i brought my gf one. Actually its not very girly at all (its brown!) but it fits much much better. If you look at a lot of wsd 2009 models they seem to have got over the idea that all girls want barbie pink bikes (mine did however! oh dear)

kazzie

dazzerus wrote:

Apollo XC.26s (£179) @ Halfords
Apollo XC.26se (£209) @ Halfords

Any feedback on these bikes or suggestions about which to buy will be greatly appreciated.

Don't bother with either of these...the brakes are shockingly bad on both.