Looking for suggestions for women’s commuter bikes, the requirements are:

– Step-through frame

– Hub gears

– Slim frame tubes (aesthetic choice!)

– Dynamo lighting (from hub preferably)

– Extra points for belt drive

– Commuter friendly tyres (ie somewhere between mountain bike and road bike)

– Not crazy money, less that £1k new for certain (and would probably look for secondhand versions over £500)

Bike will be used for a short commute, errands and fitness riding around a city.

Does anything fit this out of the box and if not what are the closest?

Think a vintage Mixte frame bike would get closest to that long list of requirements, and you’ll probably have to do the dynamo yourself. Something like this, but there is quite a few on eBay.

Decathlon may be worth a look

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/elops-900-step-over-classic-bike-alloy-grey-id_8359415.html

What kind of distance is the commute?  I’d be going Dutch if short and mostly town/urban.  Really nice hub-geared and generator-hubbed Batavus and Gazelle models often go for a song hardly-used

* edit – I see there’s a new Gazelle Stael on fleabay atm, on budget that seems to mostly fit description, there’s also a used one at half that price leaving room to upgrade with dynohub if not already specced.

*edit – ‘Gazelle Van Stael’

That Gazelle is a very elegant looking dandy horse .

I’ve had my eye on a gents one for a while, as a ‘just a bike’ N+1 😉

Dutch quality, Brooks finishing kit, low-maintenance, shiny guards and luscious lugs = a winning combo IMO