Marlin 5 ( womens ) + any online bike stores

daveUK

Wife has a fairly heavy btwin Been looking around and did post regarding wife looking at a boardman fi. Second hand but
She now decided with £350 to around £450 she would like to buy new and been looking at the 2021 trek marlin 5 . M frame 29" wheels hydraulic brakes etc .
Found one place local where we are going today to see the last one they have in stock .(£440)

https://www.trekbikes.com/gb/en_GB/bikes/mountain-bikes/cross-country-mountain-bikes/marlin/marlin-5-womens/p/23133/?colorCode=grey_teal?fromdetail=true

She currently has a Older btwin rockrider 340 womens hard tail . Forks gave 80 travel . Grip shift and is feels heavy

She did try a cheaper specialized in cycles uk but she hated how the gears were. Unsure of the name but mine are thumb and finger shift . The specialized were just thumb and she hated it plus felt flimsy . Yer we know you get what you pay for .

Also looked at the liv disc but the spec seemed better on the trek

Been looking online as she liked some mens / unisex bikes but hard to say what she would like as not alot instock anywhere local ish . Were going to Lewes today to see the trek marlin 5

She likes my merida tfs 100 trail at 19 frame but because of the angle on it she can just get on it . Loves the gears etc hence why been looking around at all bikes online but hard to gauge if would be suibtable .

We found tredz etc but can anyone recomend other places on line for future reference ?


Thanks

Dave

reaperactual

On the subject of shifting (trigger shifters or pods) Shimano has thumb downshift and finger upshift where as Sram shifters have both up and down shift you operate with just thumbs. These are the most likely shifter/drivetrain brands you will see on bikes but there are others.

Some mid to high level Shimano trigger shifters have two way release which means the upshift (harder gears) can be used in both directions with thumb or finger.

The Trek Marlin has Shimano Altus shifters so will have the preferred thumb and finger trigger shifters.

A feminine colour scheme and a more sloping/swooping top tube design are the main differences between womens and mens specific MTB's which provides better 'stand over' height measurements.

daveUK

Thanks for clearing that up with the gears

She just didnt like the ones on the lower spec specialized and wanted the thumb and finger ones like mine . To be fair the specialized ones on the lower end bike did feel flimsy but that may not be the case . Will see if she likes the trek first and if not back to bike hunting lol

daveUK

Some images of current bikes. The merida is super light compared to her tank lol

steve_sordy

If she prefers the fit of a man's bike then get one. Don't restrict her to trying just bikes meant for women. Most are just "shrink it and pink it" versions anyway.

JBA

What steve_sordy says: don’t restrict yourself to women-specific bikes. They are often identical frames to men’s bikes but fitted with shorter stems, narrower bars, a different saddle and painted in ‘feminine’ colours.
For your budget have a look at the Calibre range of bikes from Go Outdoors. They are very well spec’ed for the money. Your biggest problem at the moment though is availability of bikes.