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I've been ringing round trying to find a Pitch pro (medium) for the missus to demo.
Getting slightly annoyed by the patronising people on the other end of the phone who switch modes as soon as they hear it is for a woman. They suddenly seem to know exactly what kind of riding she does and are sure that she would like a safire elite better.
Do they have a point? apparently the elite has 140mm talas forks, but the back end is still only 120mm
This is for her to ride bigger stuff... she rides hard but suffers in the alps on her juliana, so I was starting to look at larger bikes for her.
Anyone got any experience of a Safire (I hate the spelling!!)? or is it just a shorter top tube and a pretty paintjob on an FSR?
Dave
no-one know anything?
Saw one ridden in anger by a bloke with a full facer down Spooky Wood - he got about three feet of air of the second rocky tabletop if that means anything to you.
Not sure why he was riding a "ladies bike" but it seemed tough enough.
Other than that don't have any experience of one
I think my friend has this, a Safire anyway. I have briefly ridden it round a car park. It felt lovely, but very much like an XC bike (compared to my IH Mark 3 w/ 140 revs).
I she already has a Juliana and wants a big bike for the Alps then probably not the way to go. I think Dartmoor cycles have a Kona Minxy reduced or there are some Norco Fluid LTs floating about (Or a CRC IH 6.4). Maybe these are too bouncy though?
How tall is she? Does she need a ladies bike due to her height and short reach? If not, I wouldn't bother.
Looking at an Orange Blood for my wife for FR duties. She's 5'7 and she's trying a 15" with a 35mm stem on it, which the LBS think should fit her fine.
Couple of reviews if you can be bothered:
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/safire-fsr-expert-08-29428
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/safire-expert-08-30488
Seem positive.
The Safire is fairly similar to the Stumpjumper, I believe, but with the world's tiniest, shortest top tube. I felt really precarious when I demoed one, ended up getting a Stumpjumper Elite instead.
Some people are bizarrely insistent on women riding women specific bikes - on the demo day, I had one of the Specialized chaps telling me I should get the Safire and change the length of the stem and get layback seatpost rather than trying the Stumpjumper. :/
she's about 5'7" or 5'8"... not quite sure... rides a 17.5" juliana and gets on well with it (it has a fairly short top tube, but not excessively short).
She is going to keep the Juliana (because she loves it, and it is probably not worth much). The aim is to get something bigger for the alps/scotland/etc.. but still want it to climb well, as we don't stick to the lifts and she likes riding up (she beats me uphill, I beat her down).
Other options would be an orange 5 or similar, but don't want to spend mega bucks, budget probably around £1500. (could share wheels between bikes)
Dave
My wife has a Safire. Basically, its the ladies version of the Stumpjumper and as she has relatively short legs, it was the best fit for her.
Its a very capable XC/trail bike, my wife's is a 2008 Comp (120mm fork) and its still only 28lbs with 2.3in tyres + bash. She loves it. We're in BC and she got it for general trail riding but has regularly used it at Whistler bike park. No problems at all on the blue runs, which is her comfort zone.
Having said that, if your wife already has a full-suss XC bike, I would go for the Pitch or another 6+6 all-mountain bike for the Alps. Ideally, get a Pitch cheap and then upgrade the fork to a 160mm air fork when money allows. The Juliana & Safire would be too much of an overlap in capability for me.
The Safire is fairly similar to the Stumpjumper, I believe, but with the world's tiniest, shortest top tube. I felt really precarious when I demoed one, ended up getting a Stumpjumper Elite instead.
That's exactly how I felt. I bought my womens stumpjumper at the end of the season they stopped making them so the safires that were replacing them were already out so I'd tried those to compare. They had ridiculously short top tubes, much shorter than the womens specific stumpjumpers they were replacing.
Its worth adding that a medium pitch will prob be too big, im 5.6 and ride a small pitch (also had a med).
I love mine and use it for everything no problem.
unless she's very long in the upper body i'd try a small pitch if thats what you decide to get.