Buy the other half a bike

Boy Lard

I'm am just starting to get back out on my bike for very gentle pootles along the canal and a little bit of single track, following broken ankle in January. In this diminished capacity my wife has decided that she would actually like to join me and build up to 'proper' off road stuff as I get stronger. I've been asking her for ages to try getting out on the bike, but I think she was always worried about ruining my ride by being slow/not confident enough, despite how often I tried to convince her this would not bother me.

Anyway, now she's really excited about getting a bike. She's been out on a few rides using my bike and I borrowed my mates. She's seems pretty 'bitten by the bug'.

The main question is:

Should I spend more on my wife's bike than on mine?

I think this serves a few different purposes. It proves to her that I am serious about her riding. I would not want her riding a bike that I wouldn't be happy riding myself. It buys me lots of brownie points. If she gives up after a few months I can nick all the bits that I actually want on my bike (I probably won't mention the last one to her).

The biggest worry I have is putting her off of riding by pushing things too hard. So far I seem to have got it right because she really wants a bike now. I've tried to explain that in order to enjoy the fun downward pointing bits, you unfortunately have to go up a hill first.

bluechair84

No. Buy her a rubbish bike. That way you can tell her that it needs upgrading with a brand new set of disc (or what ever else), so you purchase some nice XTR ICE tech discs, fit them to yours and move over your old parts to upgrade hers. Everyone's a winner!
Especially you.

ewizzy1977

RE: buying her a bike worth more than yours.....


Don't be silly, you buy her a bike and tell her its worth more than yours (a bike with shiney bits helps)

On a more serious note, get her the best you can afford, less weight will make it better for her going up hills etc, and she will be more inclined to keep riding too

spongtastic

get her a previous model year bike from Pauls or similar, then it should be a better 'brand' than she expects, without costing too much. I did this with the wife's first bike.

Bought her a giant whatever it was for £250, sold it for pretty much the same after it had sat in the shed for 2 years. :roll:

Boy Lard

I'm actually looking at the Trek 6300 WSD. I have the Trek 6000, and despite the fact that I now know that this is the wrong bike for me, I think it would be very suited to her. Last years model I can get for £650, this years model is now £950ish!

I have changed everything on my bike apart from the frame and the wheels. What I really want to do now is get a nice steel frame, probably a Ragley Piglet, and swap everything over from my bike....but I digress.

Wife needs bike first.

bluechair84

can you not buy yourself a new bike and adapt the one you have? Thinner grips, lower rise bars, maybe shorter cranks and WSD saddle? Just as an alternative option.

I bought an ex, an ex-demo GT Avalanche 1.0 disc for £250 (£550 new at that time), was fully serviced, came with new chain and pads. Sold it a year and a half later having been thoroughly abused for £280.

Thewaylander

Don't do it you will never get away from her...

She will plague your steps for every moment of your free time nagging, whinging it's too steep it will be male hell, Leave her at home cooking dinner surely is the best option!!!


Trek sounds a sensible plan big brand, but also looks at the specialized at this kinda of money they tend to be utter bargains.

Gazlar

I'd say stick to the rules of bike buying, what level is she riding at, how often and how serious is she.

Mrs G started earlier this year and all she wants to ride at the mo is blue routes as a maximum level, s I dropped on a Mongoose Tyaz Elite brand new for 250 notes, reasonable level of kit and a suntour lock out fork and she loves it.

Good to see you getting her involved though, it helps me justify upgrades as the other half can see the punishment a bike goes through

getdownmonkeyman

Don't do what I did. Buy a second hand Giant, which she takes out and trashes a bit. Then decides a nice shiny new one (Scott Aspect) is what is required, which, asfter a couple of rides is no accruing a fair amount of dust in the garage and £500 down the drain.

Every couple needs their seperate hobbies (and bank accounts)......

allen.coulson

Buy her a lawnmower - one without a motor - that is good for exercise.

Stevo_666

She won't know how much its worth, so it's whatever you say it's worth But if she gets really good you'll probably get pestered for something better before too long - so don't go too cheap

miss notax

I don't usually venture into the CC but this is a topic that I can comment on.....

Yes, buy a decent bike but don't tell her how much it costs - if it's too much she get annoyed about all that money going on a bike (lets face it, bikes can cost A LOT) and if it's not enough she'll get stroppy about her not being worth it. See how it works

But PLEASE don't do what most blokes do and take her to the places that you enjoy riding first.... One of my first MTBing rides (with no riding experience I might add) was flipping Cwmcarn - Notax didn't tell me there were easier blue and green trails, I just thought they were all like that :roll: A friend of ours took his partner to Coed y Brenin for her first ride..... :shock: :shock:

Have fun

Fully-sprung

Why not get her a good second hand bike? I got my bike for £50 and it was brand new, it had just been in this guys shed. Even after I upgraded the brakes, put new mud guards on, got a new derailleur and new dustcaps it still cost less than £180.

Boy Lard

I really wish I could buy a decent second hand bike, but I don't seem to have the required search and forage skills to make it work. Ebay, Gum Tree, Pink Bike all seem frought with danger. Also, I'm not sure on the sizing. I just feel more comfortable going to a shop, trying a bike and knowing that it is going to be fit for purpose.

All the 2010 models have gone from my lbs now, which makes things pricier still.

Ah well, I need to get this sorted before she loses interest.

bg13

The up side is it will be easier and quicker to get her to the ditch, head the wrong way, sell her bike, upgrade yours.

Simples.

Gazlar

Boy Lard wrote:

I really wish I could buy a decent second hand bike, but I don't seem to have the required search and forage skills to make it work. Ebay, Gum Tree, Pink Bike all seem frought with danger. Also, I'm not sure on the sizing. I just feel more comfortable going to a shop, trying a bike and knowing that it is going to be fit for purpose.

All the 2010 models have gone from my lbs now, which makes things pricier still.

Ah well, I need to get this sorted before she loses interest.

personal question, how much is your instinct telling you to spend, and what size fram do you think she would need (or how tall is she?) I'm sure crudders will post up a few links to bargains both new and second hand on here

Boy Lard

I was thinking £600, but the 'new' bike I was looking at for her was £950, that however comes with the added bonus of interest free credit and paying over 12/24/36 months.

She tried the Trek 6300 WSD and the size which fit her best was the 16". I have the 6000, but that is sized at 15.5" (I'm a short arse, but she is smaller than me at 5' 3" ish).

All we really need is a competent xc/trail hardtail to get her started, but I don't want her being put off by a bike which doesn't feel nice to ride.

Thewaylander

thuogh about the focus/Boardman and ghost bikes there bargains for the equipment you get at hte moment? and does your place have cycle to work?

Boy Lard

Yeah, I'm really liking the look of the Boardman, and the spec is great for £700.

Unfortunately I work for a small family business and there is no CTW available. My wife is currently not working, and probably won't be again until our youngest starts pre-school.

foxc_uk

miss notax wrote:

But PLEASE don't do what most blokes do and take her to the places that you enjoy riding first.... One of my first MTBing rides (with no riding experience I might add) was flipping Cwmcarn - Notax didn't tell me there were easier blue and green trails, I just thought they were all like that :roll: A friend of ours took his partner to Coed y Brenin for her first ride..... :shock: :shock:

Have fun

My first proper biking session was a weekend at Coed Y Brenin - 3 red trails in 3 days. I'd done Sherwood Pines a couple of times, but that was it.
It all depends on how brave she is, sometimes pushing beyond a persons limits really works.
Admittedly the then bloke lent me his brand new stumpy fsr for the trip.... I bought it off him 5 months later.

miss notax

foxc_uk wrote:

miss notax wrote:

But PLEASE don't do what most blokes do and take her to the places that you enjoy riding first.... One of my first MTBing rides (with no riding experience I might add) was flipping Cwmcarn - Notax didn't tell me there were easier blue and green trails, I just thought they were all like that :roll: A friend of ours took his partner to Coed y Brenin for her first ride..... :shock: :shock:

Have fun

My first proper biking session was a weekend at Coed Y Brenin - 3 red trails in 3 days. I'd done Sherwood Pines a couple of times, but that was it.
It all depends on how brave she is, sometimes pushing beyond a persons limits really works.
Admittedly the then bloke lent me his brand new stumpy fsr for the trip.... I bought it off him 5 months later.

Hmmmm...... I have found that when a bloke says he has no mountain biking experience he's still spent his youth messing around on bikes / BMX's etc. When a girl says she has no mountain biking experience it usually means she hasn't ridden a bike for 20 years or so

There are obviously exceptions to that!!

Boy Lard

We've been out on a couple of rides already. I borrowed a mates bike and she rode mine. Fitness is the main issue initially, but I would certainly not take her to a trail center until I was absolutely sure that she was comfortable with the level of difficulty. My biggest fear is putting her off, so I'll be erring on the side of caution and taking things nice and steady.

I honestly have never seen her as giddy as she was when she was trying out bikes, just to get an idea of size, down at the lbs.

foxc_uk

miss notax wrote:

foxc_uk wrote:

miss notax wrote:

But PLEASE don't do what most blokes do and take her to the places that you enjoy riding first.... One of my first MTBing rides (with no riding experience I might add) was flipping Cwmcarn - Notax didn't tell me there were easier blue and green trails, I just thought they were all like that :roll: A friend of ours took his partner to Coed y Brenin for her first ride..... :shock: :shock:

Have fun

My first proper biking session was a weekend at Coed Y Brenin - 3 red trails in 3 days. I'd done Sherwood Pines a couple of times, but that was it.
It all depends on how brave she is, sometimes pushing beyond a persons limits really works.
Admittedly the then bloke lent me his brand new stumpy fsr for the trip.... I bought it off him 5 months later.

Hmmmm...... I have found that when a bloke says he has no mountain biking experience he's still spent his youth messing around on bikes / BMX's etc. When a girl says she has no mountain biking experience it usually means she hasn't ridden a bike for 20 years or so

There are obviously exceptions to that!!

yep I'm one of them, I literally hadn't been on a bike since I was 13. Scary as hell, but I am an exception because I scare myself on horses and snowboards on a regular basis..

Gazlar

Depending on how suited she'd be to a gentlemans bike theres these, http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.p ... 1b4s2p2784
which is kind of inbetween the two budgets you said, but I'd definately agree with the value of the boardmans, or indeed the voodoo's at that kind of price point