Hardtail for GF

Mike_1982
Mike_1982 Posts: 6
edited December 2010 in Women
Evening,

I'm looking to get a mountain bike for my Girlfriend looking for some suggestions? Budget is £600 max! must have Hydraulic brakes and be a hardtail.

Thanks,
Mike

Comments

  • kathg
    kathg Posts: 142
    Spend £1500 and get her to use the Cycle to Work scheme this means she'll get a fab bike and will only end up paying about £600. Well worth exploring...!
    I sincerely hope you're not the sort of bloke who has a £3000 full susser and will be expecting girlfriend to enjoy riding with you on a heavy beast of a Halfordsesque hardtail!!! I'm sure that's not you at all but I've seen it all too often out around the trails :cry:
    However, if you are after a genuine decent bike for the £600 then Specialized Rockhopper Disc at £587.22 and Voodoo Bantu came = 1st in recent MBR test
    Good luck!

    kathg
  • Mike_1982
    Mike_1982 Posts: 6
    kathg wrote:
    I sincerely hope you're not the sort of bloke who has a £3000 full susser and will be expecting girlfriend to enjoy riding with you on a heavy beast of a Halfordsesque hardtail!!!

    Haha, yeah that sounds like me! :oops:
    I'll have a look into those bikes, was thinking of a ghost miss bike, but was unsure if they are any good.

    Thanks,
    Mike :D
  • warpcow
    warpcow Posts: 1,448
    Someone's misunderstood C2W.

    There are plenty of good bikes for £600. The Specialized as mentioned, or various Halfords bikes. Right now there'll be some 2010 bikes from about £1000 reduced into your price range if you're lucky with sizes, etc. Try checking CRC's Cubes too, they had some good deals recently.
    Commie Meta SL
    Evil Sovereign
    Santa Cruz Heckler (gone)
    On One Inbred (gone)
    Ragley Mmmbop (gone)
  • Mike_1982
    Mike_1982 Posts: 6
    What the verdict on these http://www.boardmanbikes.com/fi/fi_mtb_comp.html

    Mike
  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    Excellent, award winning bikes.
    GT ZASKAR CARBON TEAM

    VOODOO CANZO

    Come and see me at https://www.facebook.com/biketyke/
  • .blitz
    .blitz Posts: 6,197
    supersonic wrote:
    ...award winning bikes.
    That would be The Largest Collection Of Old OEM Parts Hung On The Most Mundane Frames In The World award.

    IMO :wink:
  • ben110
    ben110 Posts: 54
    hay mate my girly rides a Carrera Kraken loves it but is very heavy, some of the boardman bikes look good? good spec for price http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165499
  • lg18
    lg18 Posts: 92
    Get her something as lightweight as possible - it makes all the difference to smaller (and less muscular) people.

    Here's something to think about - I have a lush 10.5kg carbon hard-tail.... but I weigh a puny 57kg. My big muscular bloke weighs 90kg, so, all things being equal, he "ought" to have a 16.5kg bike to make things fair! Not sure he'd be too happy about that though! So your girlfriend (assuming she's smaller and less strong than you) really really should have a lighter and better bike or how can you expect her to keep up with you and enjoy it?

    It constantly pisses me off that the "women's" versions of various bikes seem to mean lower spec and almost always crapper. It should be the other way round if anything.

    Rant over!

    Lucy
  • ride_whenever
    ride_whenever Posts: 13,279
    Can she ride the same bike as you? (ie is she a similar height/inside leg)

    If so then get a bike for you to ride and let her ride your nice bike!



    That's what I end up doing, so she's riding my carbon 456 and im stuck on either the steel 456 or the white inbred... However her enjoyment is totally worth it as i'm allowed out to play more!
    Neeermad
    Carbon 456
    456 lefty
    Pompino
    White Inbred
  • kathg
    kathg Posts: 142
    Hear, hear, Lucy and ride_whenever! As a further point, size and fit is everything.. its all very well suggesting makes and models but if they don't fit they'll be useless. Remember women specific bikes are not always the answer (see Lucy's rant above). It took me 3 months to find a bike that had good spec and fitted. It was an Orange 5 pro that did the job in the end though - total perfection!!!

    Good luck.

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