Advice for road bike purchase £1000 or under - women's spec

Joycie

Hi,

I know that there are always lots of posts on here for people looking for advice on buying bikes for under £1,000 (and I have looked at them) but I can't locate any for a women's specific bike for around about the £1,000 mark. I have classic female build - long legs, shorter body, shorter reach although I am going to be open minded and go for a bike fitting this weekend!

At the moment I'm looking at the Specialized Dolce Elite, the Trek 1.5WSD and am currently unsure about the Trek Pilot 2.1WSD as the geometry seems to be the same on both the mens and womens. I know Canondale do a ladies specific bike but I haven't got a lot of info on this yet. I have tried to go to various big cycle shops in the area (Evans, Edibburgh Bike Co-op) but not one of them has a women's road bike on display, let alone a 2010 model.

I've been advised to try and get a bike with Shimano 105 (as opposed to Tiagra) which is all kind of technical for me as I'm just starting out but there was something about a crisper gear change mentioned. The only bike that I've found that has this for less than £1000 is the Trek Pilot 2.1 WSD.

I'm signing up for the Cycle to Work scheme via Halfords (hence the £1,000) limit and am aware that they can get me quite a few different makes (bought a Specz mtb last year).

Any ideas over and above what I've looked at (or regarding what I've looked at) would be appreciated. :?

hopper1

Do you definately 'need' a WSD model?
I wouldn't rule out any bike, if it is fitted properly.
I think the WSD models are pricier and not always necessary...
Shimano 105 is better than Tiagra, but Tiagra is not that bad!
You'd be much better off with SRAM Rival, as a groupset, though...

Joycie

I'm going for a bike fitting to see if a gents/unisex bike could provide the best fit with some slight adjustments as I didn't want to rulle anything out at this stage.

I am looking at women's specific though as I was on a hired "gents" Cannondale recently on holiday and I was getting a lot of neck pain - apparently due to my upper body being overstretched despite the fact that the leg length was fine.

I'll probably update this post again after I've been for the fitting at the weekend!

hopper1

Joycie wrote:

I'm going for a bike fitting to see if a gents/unisex bike could provide the best fit with some slight adjustments as I didn't want to rulle anything out at this stage.

I am looking at women's specific though as I was on a hired "gents" Cannondale recently on holiday and I was getting a lot of neck pain - apparently due to my upper body being overstretched despite the fact that the leg length was fine.

I'll probably update this post again after I've been for the fitting at the weekend!

That could be addressed by adjusting the stem length, etc...
Good luck with your bike fit, it's definitely worth doing...