Currently encouraging the girlfriend to start cycling a bit more (Excuse to cycle to more pubs :lol:)

She has an old hybrid that is ridiculously heavy and lets be honest rather s**t.

My cunning plan is to buy her a new one, but trying to find something that isn’t just a parts bin extravaganza or stupidly expensive is a challenge.

Budget is £300-£500 and in an ideal world disc brakes would be a bonus.

On the short list so far are:
Pinnacle Lithium 3
Specialzed Vita
Boardman Hybryd Comp

Boardman seems to top the spec at the moment and with BC discount and other discount cards i can get it for about £400.

Have i missed any others?

If the size is right this Liv Thrive is a bargain for £350 – no discs though.

Cheers. Sadly she’ll need a medium frame

Just been through the same thing here.

We looked at the above and the Norco Forma XF3 and the Liv Rove 2, these were both good but the Norco seemed to have weird sizing and geometry. The S was the size suggested by the figures/shop but my Girlfriend felt cramped on it so if you look at that one definitely worth a few test rides.

In the end we just happened to go into Halfords for something else and ended up going for the Boardman MX Sport which is a great little bike and she loves it.

I’ve spent a depressingly large amount of time building hybrids, and from a quality standpoint Specialized always seem to come out on top. Little things like the tyres, seatpost, grips are just a bit better than on most.

I’m thinking the Boardman will be the way to go, but they seem to have no stock of the medium left so i assume a new model will be coming out soon.

I have a Boardman Hybrid Team that I bought during last years TDF when Halfords were doing 20% off when a Brit won a stage. At £540 with 0% over a year it was hard to beat. I have now done 1200 miles on it and am very happy punter.
The X7 frame, which is common to the range, has smooth welds and most people assume it is carbon. The Team also has a carbon fork and 20 speed Tiagra which shifts faultlessly. The womens version is only available in the Comp spec.
If they do the same 20% off deal this year for a Brit stage win you may want to wait a week or so before buying.

Voodoo Marasa?….. £400 less whatever discount you can get at Halfords.

Matt24k, cheers for that. Didn’t know they did that offer last year. Did you get BC discout off that as well?

I had a Boardman Sport Hybrid, which I sold last year.
Ticket price was £500, and I thought it was a great bike for the money – the frame was gorgeous (smooth welds)
Wish I’d never sold it really.
If I was in the market for another Hybrid I’d probably do the same again..

I got my Missus a secondhand Vita for £110!
Needed new brake pads and grips and it was good to go.

She got in to cycling so much she even did the London Ride 100 with me.

Making sure it fits is the biggest thing

Thats a bloody bargain.
We’ve been and tried a few out for sizing and fit/feel, but she was hungover so i could have sat her on a goat and she would have been happy.

Its probably the wrong time of year to be picking up bargains on ebay

You could buy a Voodoo Wazoo for £360 with BC discount, it has hydraulic brakes, might encourage her to cycle more (with a swap of the Mission Command tyres for a set of Jumbo Jims), but it might be heavier than the current bike.

Meatloaf told us a long time ago, two out of three ain’t bad. 😉