.. as I sold ‘her’ MK1 SolarisMax as she wasn’t riding it and it was a bit small for me. The MK2 replacement is brilliant for me but a bit big/long for her (she’s 5ft9 long in leg, short in arm, I’m 5ft11 and organised the other way round). Even fitting diddy 650mm bars hasn’t helped much.

She really liked the MK1 on chubbies. I’ve been looking at replacements from Trek (Roscoe), Giant, Marin (Women Specific and other) and Cube.

She’s probably a Medium for preference (rather be top of M than bottom of L). We’re not going to be riding anything very gnarly. Singletrack in the FoD, blue trails, etc. So I was thinking 120mm of travel, decent gear range, not overbuilt, etc.

I thought I’d find something second hand. Hah not found anything so also considering new. So budget is max £1,000 and it needs to be in-stock or close as we want to ride lots while the weather is nice. Also be good to take maybe 29 semi slicks so she can take it back to Uni when she finally goes back.

Any recommendations?

PX frame, swap bits- Sell the Cotic frame, spend the change on booze and fags.

The MK2 replacement is brilliant for me but a bit big/long for her (she’s 5ft9 long in leg, short in arm, I’m 5ft11 and organised the other way round).

A frame one size smaller would seem to be the obvious thing. The “Small”, “Medium”, etc. doesn’t mean anything, you need to look at the actual dimensions and buy whatever is the right size. I have one small sized frame, two mediums, and a large. The difference in reach between them is 20 mm.

No way that Cotic frame is getting sold. I love that bike! She really wasn’t bothered last couple of summers but now she’s been back since March and the weather has been so good, she’s keen to do more riding. I’m keen to encourage her.

Not by SELLING a bike tho. I feel quite ill now 😉

@hols2 – she could probably get on with a Small SolarisMax frame. But the medium one is really ‘my’ bike so not going to swap it for something else. We nearly bought a bike for when she went to Uni in the first year but decided against it. Where she’s due to live next year, there’s a cycle path right into the campus so I want to get her something she can take with her.

You’re gonna struggle to find any top value hardtails in stock at this point.

Maybe the Voodoo Bizango Carbon or whatever the current Boardman 29er HT is?

get a ‘disposable’ shopper then, to avoid nice bike getting nicked / damaged.

All through childhood our lad eschewed mountain bikes, happy with hybrid type Islabike and similar. Now that he’s here for the spring & summer, and weather is good, and can’t run due to dodgy feet/knees, he’s started borrowing his sister’s “peak gears” MTB (3×9) for local spins.

Even s/h bikes seem very rare at the moment. Can you forward time travel when lockdown is ended and all the shiny chubby Voodoos and the like are up on Gumtree, pick one up and reverse back to now?

Yes realised missed the boat on this one. Will pop into our local (giant dealer) LBS and see what he has. I don’t even have loads of spares to build up a 2nd hand frame which would be my normal approach.

Vitus Sentier in either 27 or 29 flavour depending on preference. The 27.5 comes with sort of plus tyres in some models (can’t remember if 2.6 or 2.8) – but I run mine with 2.5 / 2.3 and it’s not too low as far as I’ve noticed.

Might be tricky to find one in stock – you might have to keep checking CRC / Wiggle to see the £999 one land in stock.

There aren’t hugely long reach wise so a medium would probably do nicely – I’m 5’9 / 32’ leg / short arms and it’s lovely and playful. You could size up for more gnar at 5’9 but I like it as it is. Mine was a frame I built up so it has a 60mm stem and 140mm travel Pikes as that’s what I could find / had lying around.

Thanks @joebristol – not considered that brand. Will keep an eye out.

Giant Fathom look pretty decent. 29 and 27.5 flavours available.

@captainflasheart – thanks. That’s the Giant model I was considering. I liked them as they were a ‘chubby’ and came with a dropper. I’ve just msg’d the bike shop to see if they’ve got any in stock for us to look at. 10% discount there as well so would come in ‘under budget’.

Nice!

Dropper is Giant’s own, which is a great budget option.

It does have a couple of strange standards.  dub and boost 141 but my priorities are immediacy not upgrade-ability!

Dub isn’t a strange standard FYI