Women bike advise

yamimar

Hi, I'm planning to buy a bike to go cycling with my kids and husband during the weekends, holidays and probably the odd day by myself. Please be easy on me as I haven't used a bike for a while and I don't know much about the different specs (I just have been learning about them recently though) so I'd be very grateful if I could get advice as to which bike will be good value for money and for my needs. I have shortlisted the following ones from Halfords and from Evans:

1. Carrera Subway 1 Women's Hybrid Bike 2015 @ 279.99
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... ogId=10151


2. Carrera Crossfire 1 Women's Hybrid Bike 2015 @ £249.99
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/c ... -bike-2015

3. Carrera Axle Limited Edition Womens Hybrid Bike @169.00
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/h ... ybrid-bike

4. Dawes Discovery Trail 2015 Women's Hybrid Bike @ £175.00
http://m.evanscycles.com/products/dawes ... e-ec114545

5. Dawes Discovery Sport 1 2015 Women's Hybrid Bike @ £239.00
http://m.evanscycles.com/products/dawes ... e-ec114536

Thanks a lot.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

If you are looking at a bike that can be used on the roads and some off-road, I would add these to your shortlist...

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/calibre-two ... ke-p275612
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/c ... ybrid-bike

They are not women geometry specific, but a smaller size frame might fit you and give you a noticeably better spec bike for the money.

arlowood

If your budget is around the £300 mark then I'd suggest Decathlon as another shopping option. If you have a store near you then this might be a possibility

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-500-f ... 22664.html

Have always produced good budget road bikes that are well reviewed by forum members.

yamimar

Thank you!

Is the suspension that important? I know it will add weight to the bike so I'm not sure about it.

kajjal

Unless you plan to go down rough trails suspension is of little use, you can just let the tyres down a little or buy wider tyres if needed. . Most cheaper bikes have very poor suspension which is not much use.

Anonymous

I would avoid Carrera and especially Dawes.
Norco, Trek or maybe Fuji hybrids seem more suitable for your requirements if you go down the Evans Cycles route.

This might be good if its your size:
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/nor ... e-ec075278

Or there is the unisex version if you are taller.

TonyJams

The biggest factor here is going to be comfort. In my experience the biggest reason for partners trying the sport and then stopping is because it just hurts in some annoying places while everyone else is on a well fitting bike and up the road enjoying themselves!

You can look at the combined UK retailers special offers on Womens bikes here but unless you know in advance what size bike for your exact measurements then better to use it as an indicator of what's out there and take that information to somewhere like Decathlon or (a good) Halfords. On the whole avoid the spotty saturday boy (speaking as an ex spotty saturday boy!) and go midweek when you can grab the bike head of department and let you ride round the store leisurely on as many bikes as you want. Decathlon in particular is great for this.

For your first bike listen to you gut reaction - if it looks fun, feels good, and sparks joy - then that's the bike for you...

Have fun!

yamimar

Thank you all for your suggestions!
My budget is ideally no more than £300. I'm not tall (I wish I was :-)) . Quite the opposite, I'm only 5'.

Arlowood, the Decathlon one is for users taller than me so that will not be good but thanks for suggesting it.

I've short listed the following ones from the recommendations here and will appreciate any comments as to why or why not.

1. Voodoo Marasa at £349.99. Has 10% discount so
that would be fine to consider.
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/c ... -_-TopLink

2. Norco VFR 3 Forma 2015 Womens Hybrid Bike @ £273. I would like to know the weight though as it doesn't say on the Evans cycles website.
http://m.evanscycles.com/products/norco ... e-ec075278

3. Pinnacle Neon One 2015 Women's Hybrid Bike which someone mentioned to me at work as seems very light.
http://m.evanscycles.com/products/pinna ... e-ec054676

TonyJams I definitely agree about comfort, thanks for the link you shared.