Hybrid for wife

Myster101

Morning all, my wife is after a new bike to mix up her normal exercise routine (normally a runner). She already has a mountain bike but "it's not for her" and she doesn't want a road bike so I've suggested a hybrid. It will be used on roads and cycle tracks and needs to be small (16" frame) and light as possible. Budget wise anything up to £1000 but as usual the cheaper the better

Know it's not a mountain bike but thought you knowledgable people on here could point us in the right direction

The Rookie

Hybrid for wife? I may be up for the swap, any photo's?

It depends where in the Hybrid scale it wants to sit, road bike with flat bars or MTB on slicks, but for the former, the obvious choice is a Boardman, narrow fast rolling road tyres, decent disc brakes etc, for a little less you have the Fit500 at Decathlon which has Carbon forks and very decent kit for £500 however it does drop to rim brakes.

Myster101

Hmm to swap it would have to be an Evil Uprising, if you have one lying about I'll gladly send pics

Thanks for the advice Rookie, think we'll take a trip to our local Halfords and check out the Boardmans.

Angus Young

The Rookie wrote:

... however it does drop to rim brakes.

Nothing wrong with rim brakes on the road.

Myster101

Found this which seems decent for the price, gets good reviews as well. Not too bothered about the rim brakes although this has the fittings for discs so can upgrade if needed (will just buy some Shimano M615's).

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/h ... -2014#tab2

The Rookie

Angus Young wrote:

The Rookie wrote:

... however it does drop to rim brakes.

Nothing wrong with rim brakes on the road.

Not per se, no, depends on usage, for a commuter I prefer discs for the instant responce in traffic situations while road rim brakes are lighter and more aerodynamic (and cheaper to spec), so it's horses for courses and it was meant as an observation not a criticism (badly worded with hindsight using the word drop).

PoorInRichfield

I went down this road with my wife as well. She's not into biking that much, I've been trying hard to change that.

She had a Trek hybrid, about $800, with flat bars. However, not only was the bike very heavy and slow, she didn't like it that she couldn't change-up her hand positions which aggravated her wrists.

I sold that bike and bought her a used cyclocross/CX bike (A Trek Crocket... ~$1,500 purchase used for $800). It's lighter, faster, and has road handlebars so she can vary her hand position to her heart's content. Being a CX bike, it's decent on roads but can easily handle gravel and mild dirt trails.

Although she's still not really into biking, she much prefers the CX bike over the low-end hybrid. I'm starting to see many more used CX bikes these days than when I bought hers. Perhaps more people are starting to find that CX bikes are pretty good do-anything bikes.

passout

Under budget: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/vitu ... prod120682

Over budget (but nice with massive discount): http://www.merlincycles.com/bmc-masscha ... 74910.html

apreading

The Boardmans are great, as are the Decathlon ones, vitus get a good writeup but I have no experience with them.

I am sure that Boardman is OK but I would recommend getting her a bike with carbon, rather than alu forks as it will almost certainly be alot more comfortable and she will then be more likely to ride it.

One of the great things with the Boardmans is that they can take VERY wide tyres if you need to make it even more comfortable for her - 32mm or even 35mm should not be a problem.

I have the mens Boardman Hybrid Team and have ridden 15,000 miles on it and still love it. It is a more aggressive riding position than some other hybrids like the Spesh Sirrus for example, that are more 'sit up and beg'.

If buying a Boardman then well worth joining British Cycling as for £24ish per year you get 10% off at Halfords - so it actually saves you money. Oh, and they discount them by £50, 10% etc every other week so dont buy when they are full price if you can wait a few weeks.

kinioo

PoorInRichfield wrote:

I went down this road with my wife as well. She's not into biking that much, I've been trying hard to change that.

She had a Trek hybrid, about $800, with flat bars. However, not only was the bike very heavy and slow, she didn't like it that she couldn't change-up her hand positions which aggravated her wrists.

I sold that bike and bought her a used cyclocross/CX bike (A Trek Crocket... ~$1,500 purchase used for $800). It's lighter, faster, and has road handlebars so she can vary her hand position to her heart's content. Being a CX bike, it's decent on roads but can easily handle gravel and mild dirt trails.

Although she's still not really into biking, she much prefers the CX bike over the low-end hybrid. I'm starting to see many more used CX bikes these days than when I bought hers. Perhaps more people are starting to find that CX bikes are pretty good do-anything bikes.

I think you keep buying bikes in wrong colour !!!!

Myster101

Well, called into Keswick Mountain Bikes today and came away with a Cannondale Quick 6, just what she was after. Decent price as well as it was the 2014 model so had a bit off then managed to get the price down a bit more. Thanks for all the replies.

The Rookie

Decent robust spec, if a little heavy, how good a value it is depends on what you paid of course!

Myster101

Paid £375 in the end with a couple of free services thrown in. Do now have discount every time I buy something from them which I thought was a nice touch. She's very happy with it (read as she likes the colour :shock: ) so it's all good. Would have liked to have tried out the Boardman but my local Halfords didn't have any in.

Hypnoticjam

Man. When I read the title of this I thought that's a bit harsh. I mean I definitely would trade my wife for a good trail bike but not a hybrid.