Buying new women's bike for under £700
portland_bill
Posts: 287
Hi all,
I've had a look through the board and I realise this is a bit of a repeat question, but nobody seems to ask for what it is that I want.
Basically, my wife is looking to buy a hardtail through the Cycle2work scheme, and she doesn't really want to spend any more than £500, but I've had a look for her and most of the bikes around that price are basically just made up with rubbish, so I've half convinced her to spend another couple of hundred quid on getting something a little better, and the savings should still bring it down to less than £500.
She wants to come and do some moderate singletrack with me, possibly a few visits up to Glentress, Whinlatter, those kinds of places, so although she doesn't need a full on DH machine, she's not the most skilled/experienced rider, so I'd like to get her something with some half decent componentry so it will be a little more forgiving with her. I'm mainly concerned about the cheap forks on most of the ladies bikes that I've looked at.
All Suntour bargain stuff. It's funny when you look on the other side and realise just how sexist the market is because I can look at similarly priced men's stuff and the componentry is way ahead of what they're sticking on the ladies bikes.
So in light of this, do I then just look at small men's bikes? She does have short legs so I'm worried that even a small men's isn't going to give her the confidence she needs, but was wondering if anyone knows of any ladies bikes around the £600-700 mark that aren't built out of leftovers.
Cheers!
Kris
I've had a look through the board and I realise this is a bit of a repeat question, but nobody seems to ask for what it is that I want.
Basically, my wife is looking to buy a hardtail through the Cycle2work scheme, and she doesn't really want to spend any more than £500, but I've had a look for her and most of the bikes around that price are basically just made up with rubbish, so I've half convinced her to spend another couple of hundred quid on getting something a little better, and the savings should still bring it down to less than £500.
She wants to come and do some moderate singletrack with me, possibly a few visits up to Glentress, Whinlatter, those kinds of places, so although she doesn't need a full on DH machine, she's not the most skilled/experienced rider, so I'd like to get her something with some half decent componentry so it will be a little more forgiving with her. I'm mainly concerned about the cheap forks on most of the ladies bikes that I've looked at.
All Suntour bargain stuff. It's funny when you look on the other side and realise just how sexist the market is because I can look at similarly priced men's stuff and the componentry is way ahead of what they're sticking on the ladies bikes.
So in light of this, do I then just look at small men's bikes? She does have short legs so I'm worried that even a small men's isn't going to give her the confidence she needs, but was wondering if anyone knows of any ladies bikes around the £600-700 mark that aren't built out of leftovers.
Cheers!
Kris
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Comments
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Have a look at the Juliette range by Merida,0
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From experience it is best to take the wife to a large bike shop and see which she likes the ride and look of. My wife chose a trek mynx as it didn't have big wheels, looked good, plenty of standover room and rode well. Had to up the budget slightly to get it but she loves riding the bike on the trails so worth the extra.0
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I would say get her to try out as many different bikes as she can, ideally somewhere like Glentress where she can actually use it out on the (World class) trails - that's how I got started by renting-out the same bike I eventually ended-up buying (admittedly it was a two-thousand pound Scott Genius MC10, but steer her away from the carbon full-sussers and you should be OK!). Or find a bike shop that will lend her a bike for the weekend and take it to your nearest trail-centre.
In fact, check out the weather forecast and pick a good weekend and you could always "Glamp" somewhere like this: http://www.glentressforestlodges.co.uk/ I've stayed in these before (albeit in a different part of Scotland) and they are absolutely brilliant.
Good luck with your bike hunt!0
