First road bike, Woman specific

clanton

My sister is looking at getting her first road bike. She already does a lot of mountain biking, rides a GT hardtail and a Commencal Meta.

She wants to use it for commuting and sportives mainly and is looking to get a bike she won't "grow out of" too soon. She will be using the cycle to work scheme and is looking for a bike in the £1000 range. The bike must be ordered through Halfords but they have told ehr they can order most bikes in.

So suggestions welcome please! She has tried a number of bikes already - Bianchi, Trek, Cannondale Synapse.

I have suggested the Boardman's Woman's specifc as it looks like great value for moeny. Is it too racy a geometry for her purposes?
http://www.boardmanbikes.com/fi/fi_road_team_carbon.html

Berk Bonebonce

Bikes are much of a muchness. The 'Which bike shall I buy' threads on this forum are plain dumb and are usually the work of newcomers to cycling. Your typical Halfords range offers good value for money.

'Womens specific' bikes are often necessary in the case of smaller female riders, but not larger ones.

If your sisiter is on the small side, one thing to look out for is toeclip overlap. Some just learn to live with it, others find it a safety hazard.

MichaelW

A UK commuter bike really needs some practical touches. OK you can ziptie and velcro on some half-length mudguards and bolt a rack to the seatpost but life is much easier if you buy a bike that is designed to accept accessories.
Look for sufficient tyre clearance for winter tyres, threaded eyelets for mudguards and rack.
You dont have to use wide tyres, mudguards and rack but the capability turns a play bike into a work bike.