What ladies bike circa £1500?

mouseman_63

Hi all, my wife has been using my old Orange C16R hard tail for a little off roading and a lot of on road work. We want to do more off road together and my old bike is too long for her. So, can anyone recommend a new bike she should try?
She is 5’3” with a 29” inside leg. We will be doing about half our riding on road/lanes/track, but longer distance as we intend to do a Coast to Coast, and about half off road. The off road will be a mix of fire roads and single track, more MBR than Dragon’s Back if you know Coed y Brenin. We are looking up to £1500, but this is flexible. I have looked at a few reviews but the problem with ladies bike reviews is they do not categorise very clearly, we are not after a lighting fast cross country or a throw it down any mountain, more a stay in the saddle all day and have fun. Also do we go hard tail or full Sus? I ride a full sus Marin everywhere, but what do ladies think?

helsbels

with a 29inch inside leg I wouldn't rule out blokes (or is that unisex!) bikes

sorry to add to the choices but I'm 5ft 6 with 29 (and a bit) inch inside leg but find womens frames (where they have changed the geometry and shortened the top tube) too cramped.

'fun' would suggest a FS but if you want speed/road/non technical then HT - the only answer is one of each!

mouseman_63

Thanks for the reply, I had wondered about a unisex as she finds the height on my old Orange OK, older bikes were a bit more versatile, and the Orange has a much lower stand over height. It is more the reach (length) that is a problem; I think there is too much weight on her shoulders for all day rides.

As for “one of each” I agree, because that is what I intend to do, Marin for fun, rebuilt Orange for road & trail, but we do not have that much cash! Oh for an ideal world.

FluffyBlueMonkey

I'm 5' 3" with a 29" inside leg and I dropped the women specific frames as I kept getting painful knees. After soending hours in various shops riding around on bikes I've since bought a men's Trek 6000 (2009) Hardtail and a Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Comp (2010) for riding the Welsh trails. Both of these fit me really well! The Stumpy is about £1600 so you might be able to get a deal.

Good luck

stomith

Stumpy was £1800, but they offer 10% off if you can avoid the Cyclescheme OR the Interest Free option. 10% on this kind of money is very attractive, which bought it down to £1620.

I figure that now we're big people - we should be able make the investment(s) last.

Her Trek is a 15.5" (Small) whereas the Stumpy is 17" or 18" ( a medium). I think my point is to not turn anything away on face value alone. Consider everything, Try everything, measure everything.

On a side note: I found that the kids seem to fit womens specific quite nicely, so they inherit the bikes that FBM discards.

.blitz

As above. I would only add that with a few exceptions (e.g. Whyte) £1500 hardtails tend to be maximum XCJ.

mrs.blitz is 5'9" and has a GF Hoo Koo E Koo. It's a bit too small for me but I have ridden it a few times and it is light and chuckable without being overly nervous. In contrast she has ridden my Rize (once) and describes it as a 'tank'.

lpretro1

8) I am 5ft 3 ins and 29 inside leg just like your good lady. I ride a Marin East Peak 2006 small size (15.5ins) with a 10cm stem. It is a perfect fit. It is full suspension and I use it for all day xcs, rough stuff and at trail centres without problems.

MichelleK

Have a look at the Lapierre pro race 500.RRP £1949 but you should get it a bit cheaper. Comes with a carbon frame making the bike really light for quick hill climbs and easy lifting over gates. Great bikes as long as you don't have a collision with a car like I did resulting in a snapped frame. Despite this I loved riding my pro race 500 and have now ordered the pro race 700 to replace it. MichelleK