Offer ending tonight - MTB for small lady, please help!

Atgni_38

Hope I can tap into your knowledge. I'd like to get a bike for my other half's birthday. She's 5'0 tall, slightly built and pretty new to cycling. I'd like to get a bike suitable for the school run as well as weekend rides on paths and gentle trails, but capable of rough stuff too.

The 20% off at Halfords seems to end today and I was looking at these two:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... reId=10001

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... reId=10001

I don't know a lot about bikes and I hate to buy twice, but I can only really go up to £250 at the moment. Any advice and suggested models appreciated!

Atgni_38

Even if just an opinion on the Halfords options. Can't really afford to miss out on 20%. Would really appreciate some advice...

poah

the carrera out of those two

compuwiz_uk

just picked the vengence up for my sister as she wanted a bike again so she could go out with her little one locally & round the nearby park seen as he is now mobile on his own bike etc

ideally wanted the vulcan for her ( basically would mean less adjustments that i would have to do due to the self adjusting brakes of the vulcan etc ) BUT no vulcans available in the size needed so had to be the vengence & sister is more than happy with it.

Atgni_38

Thanks @POAH and @compuwiz_uk

I decided not to rush it (i still have a couple of week until birthday) and the "deal ends today" still seems to be going :?

I think i may have become a bit addicted to internet bike hunting now! I found another one which sounds ok but I don't know much different makes or specs. Is this one any good and how does it compare to the carrera?

http://www.rutlandcycling.com/286560/pr ... -bike.aspx

I'm pretty new to forums so apologies if i'm asking dumb questions. Just want to get her the best i can for my limited budget and don't know enough about bikes to go for a second hand one. Any advice is much appreciated

cooldad

Terrible. V brakes and a pointless fork.

Atgni_38

Thanks @cooldad

Was that referring to the Marin one? Can you suggest anything I should look at for that money? The Carrera offer does seem to have finished so not looking so good now

The Rookie

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/rockrider-52 ... nformation

A very good buy at this price point, or for £100 more the 560 is currently on offer and amazing value.

Atgni_38

Thanks @The Rookie, I hadn't thought of Decathlon. I've had good and bad stiff from there in the past, are their bikes ok? Any others i should be considering?

compuwiz_uk

i got a mail order road bike from decathlon, it was cheap & cheerful & actually not as bad as i was expecting after a few initial niggles ( it is the bike i own with the most mileage on it at present )

i bought it to use for the work commute to save the other bikes ( unless i fancied going elsewhere off-road en-route to or from work etc ) as it was cheap so less concerned about leaving it outside but found i was using it more than the other bikes even when it was day off use so the other bikes would normally have been preferred.

as i say, cracking bike even given its cheap cost BUT the mail order service left alot to be desired - if you have to go mail order, make sure your able to do basic adjustment tasks or know someone who can as its not always a simple case of fit the pedals & bars & ride like they state on the website - if you have a store nearby then its probably best to have it built instore for collection so they have to correct all the niggles for you

Atgni_38

Thanks @compuwiz_uk - will take your advice re getting it built, whichever one i choose. I'm reasonably handy, but don't know how to go about settling up a bike properly. I normally 'have a go with youtube' but might be safer to let the pros do it. I mainly don't want to put het off with a bad bike that's hard work. She's small so it needs to be manageable. Any others you think are worth looking at?

compuwiz_uk

not really got any other suggestions really ( honestly, i dont like looking round at bikes as i often find i see something i personally like the look of & dont have & thus NOW want lol ) tis the reason i currently have 6 bikes at home awaiting use :P

it dont take much of a reason either lol

last 3 bikes bought because,

carbon fibre road bike & i did not have one in carbon fibre ( just the alloy one from decathlon )

loved the bright blue colour & full suspension ( bonus feature it meant i now had a bike to match the 20+ spare innertubes i had purchased earlier in the year as they were cheap & seemed a shame to leave em on the shelf @ 72p each lol )

thought the 4" width tyres looked insane & the entire bike looked bonkers because of em

Atgni_38

I can see it being addictive

I'll take a better look at Decathlon

strathy

If you want her to stay your other half for long then forget the mainstream manufacturers, if she is as petite as claimed, get onto Islabikes, best stuff for petite girlfriends or best mates.
Sorted a mate out last year through them. Shes 5ft tall and 6and a half stone, and shes so happy with it compared to the 2007 model Specialized 13 inch bike her ex got her, 9 years ago.
Its lighter and has shorter cranks as standard, so she actually enjoys riding it for 3 or 4 hours at a time, without ending up with painful knees for 2 or 3 days after a ride like the Specialized used to cause.

Atgni_38

Thanks @strathy
She's dinky, will have a look at Isla
Any others? I think we'll survive a mainstream bike but not if i go over budget

strathy

Checkout the Genesis bikes youth range too, road, CX and rigid mtb versions should be in the right size range for her.
There should b some good discounts available now on the 2016 models.
If she complains about them being "youth bikes" just tell her you were 5ft when you were 12 years old and wished you could get bikes that would have fitted you so well at that age and size LOL !!