Ladies MTB Buying advice - Light, hardtail - good quality

bdigital
bdigital Posts: 193
edited June 2010 in MTB buying advice
Hello,

I am starting to look at getting a mtb for my partner.

So far i have the following requirements:

- Budget £400-£500
- Hardtail
-16" frame (approx)
- Not heavy
- good quality
- for very light xc, no downhill, nothing crazy
- 9 speed

She will be using the bike for mostly what i would call 'pleasant' riding, so nothing too demanding. Her current bike is not worth mentioning, but she finds its very heavy, and not enough gears to help her up the steep parts!

Does anyone have some good starting points for me to investigate? I have seen that the Scott bikes are quite popular and my partner has already said that they are 'pretty' - which is a good start!

Comments

  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    Depends on your budget, but the Carrera Fury is just so good for the money.
  • bdigital
    bdigital Posts: 193
    Good point - missed out the budget.

    £400 - £500

    i have a Fury and your right - its a great buy. Although mine is a 20" and when i convinced her to give it a try she just screamed 'get me of!' because it was too big and scary lol.

    Plus she wouldnt want the same bike as me and vice versa!

    any other suggestions?
  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    Got any Decathlons nearby? The Rockrider 8.1 is awesome for the money.
  • xtremedash
    xtremedash Posts: 182
    I have some Specialized Myka Hardtails in my hire fleet and they're excellent. A really good fit to the female shape. We've got 13" and 15" the latter suits up to about 5'8" the 13" up to about 5'4".

    Pick the spec to suit your budget, crucially they're a good geometry and a sensible setup. Bottom of the range are about £300 and are quite basic, but work. The Myka HT Comp is about £450 and is slightly better specced with cable discs and better forks.

    Ideally you need her to go and sit on some to find out which bikes are comfortable for her.

    Another good bike is the Giant Yukon Women, my other half has one of these and she really likes it.
    If you're not living life on the edge, you're taking up too much room!
  • bdigital
    bdigital Posts: 193
    Decatholon is a fair distance from me unfortunatly. Although i could convince her a trip to Bluewater is necessary :)

    thanks for the suggestion of the spesh - we have a dealer neraby so il give them a looksee.
  • Kelvo
    Kelvo Posts: 21
    Recently bought my wife a 16" Carrera Kraken, Halfords had it in one of their 'sales' for £375. She is only 5 foot so it had to be a womens spec bike.

    - Budget £400-£500 - YES
    - Hardtail - YES
    -16" frame (approx) - YES
    - Not heavy - About 13Kg (Using bathroom scales)
    - good quality - In my eyes YES
    - for very light xc, no downhill, nothing crazy - YES
    - 9 speed - YES

    Only downside maybe is the colour, black (Metalic) with white pearl forks.
  • omegas
    omegas Posts: 970
    The wife has a Specialized Myca Comp , she started with a Halfords special and as she took to mountain bike riding it was time to upgrade to a better bike.

    Since purchasing the Myca and as her riding has advanced the bike has been upgraded a number of times . Forks changed to Rockshox Tora air, brakes to Shimano SLX , wheels to Shimano MT15, bars and stem to Easton 50 and Panaracer fire xc pro tyres. She now has a bike that can take just about any red or black run and knows how to push it to its limits.

    The story behind this is you can spend a lot of money now or buy a bike that can be upgraded as she gets into more riding if its xc or riding trail centres.
  • Pudseyp
    Pudseyp Posts: 3,514
    The Myka's are nice and so are the Marin Bear Valley (in pink) which is around £500 ish they also do the Juniper Trail which is around £800 all these have Womans Fit Geomerty...
    Tomac Synper 140 Giant XTC Alliance 1
    If the world was flat, I wouldn't be riding !