Friend had the misfortune of getting her bike nicked. Insurance is covering the value so she has £1200 to play with.

She’s ~5’3″ so looking for xs/small full susser. Mostly XC riding and lighter the better. Realise the budget precludes really light weight stuff. Needs to be FS though, she has a troublesome back & HT is too harsh.

Previous bike was an Anthem and notice Paul’s selling the 2014 Anthem 2/3 in the right price ballpark. Thoughts? Any other suggestions?

Cheers.

For the money this looks good my Cus has one and loves it 🙂

Linky

Thanks @badllama, had forgotten about the Boardman.

No worries mate for the spec I don’t think you can go wrong and with shops every where she can have a try to get her sizing right 🙂

When we went to pick up my Cus bike it was an upstairs works shop where they were doing the final adjustments and as I got to the top of the stairs I paused and the staff member said “are you going to ride it down?” to which I replied “if it was mine I would have” lol

The 16″ boardman is almost certainly too big for someone 5’3″

The Norco Fluid comes in Xs, AND (I think) has a threaded bb, which means you can fit size appropriate cranks.

(Sjs cycles sell 150mm cranks, but square taper only)

My 5foot wife has a liv lust, it’s great, but the bb90 means we’re having a bugger of a time fitting cranks.

Muggue got a Ghost Lanao FS4 from germany for less than a grand. Shockingly good value, 400 quid cheaper than it was on CRC.

http://www.ghost-bikes.com/en/bikes-2012/bike-detail/lanao-fs-4/