Took my gf for her first mountain bike ride yesterday, which she said she loved (not bad for a grey muddy afternoon in the chilterns :-)) but was wondering if I should be looking at full suss rather than hardtail to afford he more comfort in the bottom dept. or will padded shorts & decent ladies saddle do the trick for a novice girlie rider?
I am a dyed in the wool HT rider but will sort her out a full suss if it will save her botty from getting battered 😳

what sort of beudget do you have?

Below a £1000 I’d personally go for an HT to reduce weight.

I think a novice is likely to get more tired dragging 3 or 4lb of extra weight up every hill rather thangetting a bit of benefit from some bounce.

You could get her a test ride on each and let her choose?

Personally I find its the saddle that makes the difference – not the bike. I have a HT and FS and the only time i feel a difference in ‘comfort’ is when you want to sit down up a technical climb.

One thing that does make a big difference to me though is the weight of the bike. I don’t have so much power, so the weight has a bigger effect. I would suggest spend your money on the lighter HT with a really good saddle (and forks), this will depend on her trying a few – I use Selle Italia Diva’s.

EDIT: WW got there before me…

For a beginner, a hardtail always. But a nice one so that means light but steel would do, light wheels and decent forks are essential.

I find a minimalist saddle more comfy, coupled with minimalist liner.

A session with that bloke jedi would complete the project. 🙂

Hart tail and whatever saddle she likes – my misses prefers an older wtb over all the lady ones we tried.

Also, if she’s anything like mine (who has only been out to the woods about 6 times) if she gets a go on a full suss she will, as on Saturday afternoon, learn to jump tables and jump.step downs better than the group of lads in full facers that were giving it the big one.

Proud. But apprehensive she will be better than me if I let her use my Dune again!

Depends on your budget. A really nice 120mm full suss will make everything easier.

Lightweight HT, saddle that fits, padded shorts, and a skills session are what she needs

A full sus on a budget will be heavy, and not all that good. Better off saving 4lb of weight and buying a nice uncomplicated HT that will be easier for her to get used to. Saddle shape is WAY more important to botty comfort than having 4″ of squish or more on the back end of the bike, so find one that fits her bum (not just the biggest heavily padded thing you can find) and get her some decent padded shorts.

Oh and skills session for a newbie is money very well spent. Stops people developing bad habits before they’ve progressed enough to form them, and can boost confidence massively for a new rider.

Thanks for the replies, was already thinking lightweight hardtail with decent saddle etc but didn’t want to make a big mistake & will be mostly building it up from parts I already have so no real option to try before you buy when only in the market for frame & forks 🙂

I used to train kids on the old cycle awareness & have taken my boys to be enlightened by jedi, so have a few pointers up my sleeve to see her started (we are talking mid 40’s so not expecting to be sailing through the air anytime soon)

A Soul would be a good option, with Fox 120mm forks. Just like I used to have and still bloomin’ miss it. 🙁

Also Rock Lobster is nice but top tube is pretty short.

Try a Shokpost or Thudbuster.

Does it have to be brand new? I opted for the full suss route for Mrs B, and got a Specialized Saffire. Its very light indeedy and was bought pre-loved for less than the cost of a decent hardtail.

She loves it, and we’ve had a good few weekends riding in this year. She’s ridden Gisburn, Llandegla and Mabie on it. And I think having the extra bounce both ends have helped her confidence. Her ridings coming along nicely

My wife found the FS better not just for comfort but also it compensated for some of the skills that she lacked. Saddle (Charge Ladle), padded shorts and grips made a lot of difference for her too.
She previoulsy had a lightweight HT with some very nice and light parts but still prefered the HT. Why don’t you let her test a few different bikes before building one up for her.

Mine has a FS (Camber Elite) as her first MTB – says she much prefers it to the HTs she borrowed before as it gives her the confidence to try stuff she wouldn’t have otherwise, and it means she rides it more as a result, which is kind of the aim…

mrs rocket was a novice in 2008 and being on the tall side she was able to try HT and FS from my vast stable of bikes.

The HTs were the clear favourites the criticism of the FS bikes was that they all felt like they were ‘dragging something around at the back’

Got her a decent HT (Fisher Big Sur) and after a bit of experimenting with saddles/stems/bars we are all sorted. Has revisited the FS bikes from time-to-time since then but she has no desire to change. I think the efficiency and directness of a HT makes it a good choice.

hardtail, softish tyres*, comfy saddle**, stand up more***.

*if she’s a noobie, she won’t be going fast enough to pinch-puncture, if/when she does, you can make it a ‘i’m so proud’ moment.

**(comfy almost certainly doesn’t mean big and squidgy) Try a few, specialized saddles seem quite good, and come in different widths, go to a speccy dealer and try a couple – you can even get ‘measured’…

***makes a massive difference, she shouldn’t be sitting down for the bumpy bits anyway.

Does it have to be brand new?

Almost certainly not, but would be happier buying HT second hand than FS (as I have almost no experience with them to know if knackered or not).

And there was me expecting a definitive answer from the STW crew 🙄 I guess the best bet is to get the saddle & shorts sorted first & then see what bikes she can try out before deciding

It’s the girlies’ opinions that matter! What height is she? Does it have to be women-specific? What’s the budget?

Full suss all the way. You can get a nice 2nd hand frame for under £500, then fit your components. Having a bike that just deals with what-ever is thrown at it will inspire confidence. If you are starting out as a kiddy I can see the benefit of staring on a hard tail and learning some skillz but coming to biking in later life it’s better to have a bike that will help you out.

It’s as easy to tell a knackered full suss as a knackered hard tail (except for the shock, maybe)

CG – it’s alright I’m listening, pretty much sure light HT with med fork travel (120mm) will be the right choice, she’s 5’8″ but only have my PA & a 4x bike that are small enough for her to try & she is a 100% novice, probably be erring on cheaper s/h Genesis offering than Cotic etc though

I’ll be selling the following in the next day or so, would help build a lighter weight short travel FS bike;

Giant NRS Medium
Fox F100
Pair hope XC/mavic 717 wheels

hardtail, softish tyres*, comfy saddle**, stand up more***.

*if she’s a noobie, she won’t be going fast enough to pinch-puncture, if/when she does, you can make it a ‘i’m so proud’ moment.

**(comfy almost certainly doesn’t mean big and squidgy) Try a few, specialized saddles seem quite good, and come in different widths, go to a speccy dealer and try a couple – you can even get ‘measured’…

***makes a massive difference, she shouldn’t be sitting down for the bumpy bits anyway.

This x 3

Charge saddles are great too – love my Spoon.

Just wanted to add to the voices saying how important weight of the bike is. I found it really difficult to manoeuvre a heavy bike around. Women just don’t have the upper body strength of men. It’s fine on smoother stuff, but on technical terrain it becomes a real problem. In my case, my heavy hardtail got me into mountain biking and taught me good skills, but the new lighter full suss already feels so much more manoeuvrable and appropriate for my feeble muscles.

Hannah

PS. +1 for a comfortable saddle. I went to the Specialized website and followed the instructions for measuring my arse. Although it’s not particularly dignified, I’ve ended up with a very comfortable perch!

Here are some thoughts from the lady in my life…

Saddles – Charge Ladle, she loves it & several of her lady friends also have them now after trying hers.

HT vs FS – started on a HT for a few years, then another HT, finally got a FS & she loves it, it’s heavier than her old HT but it rides lighter & faster.

With women’s geometry I think it only really makes a difference for women at the shorter end of the spectrum.. my missus has 100mm travel bike mainly because there’s no way she’d fit on anything with more travel.

I’m selling a Santa Cruz Blur LT2 frame. It’s got 140 travel, anodised black, small (I’m 5’6″) and in really good condition. £500. It’s a hugely confidence inspiring bike.

Full sus I bought an old 6 Heckler from ebay fitted all my old parts the wife loves it, she has even raced it once 😀 140mm each end very comfortable and gets her out of trouble,

I picked up a gary fisher hifi carbon frame which weighs only 2.1Kg including shock for sub £200 on ebay which I would highly recommended. I believe they are so cheap as they have a habit of breaking with heavy men folk on them. When i found this out I passed it on to my wife as I loved it and did not want it to be wasted so best idea was give the wife a lovely frame upgrade.

My missus started off on a hardtail but soon moved to a full-suss with added skill compensation. She was riding Fuel ex5.5 with SLX, dual air revs, mavic 717 wheels and the all important pink cables. She much preferred riding the full suss, she wasn’t worried about honing skills on a hard tail, just enjoying what she had.

Sadly she’s got the roadie bug now so the bike will be up for sale at the weekend. Back to mountain biking without her then!

Evilsam- happy hardtail owner. TBH, as a first proper off road bike it needed to be fairly straight forward and easy to maintain. She’s not too bothered by the technical stuff, and guaranteed if we did spend out on a good full susser I’d be the one fettling with TWO bikes in the carpark, rather than just one.

At the moment, weight to fun ratio equals a hardtail- especially as it is properly pink…

Depends on whether she’ll get properly into it or not, last thing you want is a £1k full suss ornament gathering dust in the shed like Mrs PJM’s Marin Rock Springs.

My advice would be to get her a reasonable hardtail and see how she gets on with it. Once things wear out or she decides weight is an issue etc then by all means trade up components. If you’re smart, you’ll pick a hardtail that has a common seat post size eg 30.9mm.

HT, with a decent saddle, I use a cannondale Raven

Well it looks to be a fairly even HT/FS split between the STW oracles, but on the basis of budget it looks like it will be best to go for a light hardtail to start with.