I bought the missus a B'Twin Triban 3 for £150, I stupidly bought her the larger of the two appropriate sizes. We are swapping it at the weekend for a smaller version, but she is adamant she hates road brakes/gears/bars.
She's 5ft 3 and wants the handlebars to be higher than the seat - she's got it in her head this will be more comfortable?! My first thought was a flat bar road bike Triban 500 for instance, if she likes that I was going to convert the Triban 3 into a flat bar (£30 max).
But if she doesn't like the flat bar idea I need to recommend a bike, and I have no idea in this segment. The bike will be used for popping into town and back and 10km cycles to cafes in further a field towns.
Ideally looking towards Evans/Halfords/Decathlon so she can sit on them in store - I appreciate they're mainly
BSOs at this price but what's the best of the pack?
CRC for Vitus.
£190 = http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/vitus-bikes-dee-260-city-bike-2015/rp-prod120677
Voodoo Marassa for £240 with either British Cycling 10% discount in-store or Topcashback online.
The end. 😉
Cheers guys, liking the look of the voodoo!
However she's only 5ft 3:
Height (Inch) Height (cm) Frame Size
5' 6" - 5' 11" 168 - 180 18"
5' 11" - 6' 3" 180 - 190 20"
The subway is usually well reviewed.
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/end-of-line-bikes/carrera-subway-1-womens-hybrid-bike-2015
Further discounts as above (and Quidco), plus 10% more (until 31st July) here:
The end of line Boardmans at Halfords have £100 free accessories of your choice included, not sure if anything would suit or be in stock.
Oh and Decathlon do an adjustable stem for £15 (I think Halfords do it cheaper) so always the option to try that first on the Triban to raise the bars?
She's 5ft 3 and wants the handlebars to be higher than the seat - she's got it in her head this will be more comfortable?!
What's she going to be using it for? pootling to work and general gentle tow path riding? I'd just let her have what she wants...
[url= http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/classic-bikes/pendleton-somerby-hybrid-bike-mint ]this sort of thing[/url] is what they're marketing at women wanting to start cycling and TBH if it's what she wants, just buy it...
@dougal365 - Yes the subway was up there on the list thanks! I've got an adjustable stem at hand and will be taking it to store too.
@cookeaa - Yeah pootling to town mainly, but she also wants to go a bit further afield with me to cafes in the next town (10 miles or so). So I was trying to get her something as light as possible to encourage her to cycle more.
The worst case scenario (for me) is this: https://www.mangobikes.com/shop/bikes/ladies-classic/ladies-classic-7-speed-classic-black/
But yeah, I may just have to accept defeat on this..
Yep, bought My Missus an MTB several years ago, she likes riding it well enough (when she does), it fits and is comfortable and is a sensible weight, but she only ever uses it a couple of times a year tops... OTOH I see the same woman on a daily basis, serenely rolling along one of those pendleton shopping bikes; handbag / shopping bags swinging from the end of the handlebars, looking like a total liability, fashion over function maybe, but she's using her bike daily. Hubbies don't always* know best...
*(seldom)...
Yeah, but I don't like accepting defeat..
Got a list now:
Halfords:
Pendleton Briary
Carrera Subway 2
13 Implicit Alpha (she'll dismiss this instantly)
Laura Trott HYB 1
Raleigh Loxley (classic)
Mango:
Classic Ladies
Decathlon:
Triban 500 flat
Original 500 hybrid
Hoprider
Elops 100 (classic)
Hopefully I can convince her to get a non classic 🙄
Tried decathlon (b'twins), evans (pinnacles), halfords (carrera, pendlton, 13), couple of indi's (ridgeback, raleigh, etc).
They seemed to be all very similar specs for the £150-400 bracket on these types of bikes, with the top end introducing disc brakes at the expense of weight!
Ended up getting the Pendlton Briary:
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[u][b]Big thank you @dougal365 [/b][/u]- used that code plus halfords 20% bikes this weekend which meant we got the bike for £144. I immediately swapped the Kenda tyres for some 32c Zaffiro Pro's I had laying around and so it comes in at 11.3kg.
Very nearly ended up with Boardman Hybrid comp ( http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/hybrid-bikes/boardman-hybrid-comp-womens-bike) which looked very nice (to me) but she didn't seem as confident on it. At least it's not a 16kg 3 speed classic bike - this will certainly encourage her to cycle further afield.