Bike recommendations for my wife
Discussion
I was hoping some of you might be able to offer some advice on a bike for my wife. We haven't looked at any yet, just trying to get a feel for what's available. Useage would be weekend rides around 20 miles, mostly on roads and some hard gravel tracks.
A hybrid of some sort is looking like the eventual choice but beyond that we don't hae much of a feel for what's available. Budget is limited - £300 max ideally. Hopefully at this time of year there might be some sales/offers which would allow us to bag something with a higher RRP.
One thing that is confusing us is whether a bike specifically designed for women is necessary. Some manufacturers do them but not all, and some of the offers I've seen are for men's bikes. Or are they unisex? Getting a women's bike seems to limit the options a little.
Some possible women-specific candidates below, if anyone has any comments. Equally if you've seen anything else that might fit the bill, let me know!
Scott Sportster 60
Specialized Ariel Disc
Specialized Vita
Secialized Vita Sport
A hybrid of some sort is looking like the eventual choice but beyond that we don't hae much of a feel for what's available. Budget is limited - £300 max ideally. Hopefully at this time of year there might be some sales/offers which would allow us to bag something with a higher RRP.
One thing that is confusing us is whether a bike specifically designed for women is necessary. Some manufacturers do them but not all, and some of the offers I've seen are for men's bikes. Or are they unisex? Getting a women's bike seems to limit the options a little.
Some possible women-specific candidates below, if anyone has any comments. Equally if you've seen anything else that might fit the bill, let me know!
Scott Sportster 60
Specialized Ariel Disc
Specialized Vita
Secialized Vita Sport
Edited by Risotto on Thursday 5th January 14:45
I've just bought my wife a Scott Contessa 30 2011 mountain bike for £320 for just this sort of use (but she got it covered in mud the other day much to her disgust!).
The forks on the Scott are supposedly rated for a lighter rider, but other than that I put it side by side with an equivalent mens Scott and it looked the same to me, just in slightly more girly colours!
With modern mountain bikes (unlike my old Cannondale!) having sloping top tubes there didn't seem to be much call for the really low step over ladies bike geometry.
The forks on the Scott are supposedly rated for a lighter rider, but other than that I put it side by side with an equivalent mens Scott and it looked the same to me, just in slightly more girly colours!
With modern mountain bikes (unlike my old Cannondale!) having sloping top tubes there didn't seem to be much call for the really low step over ladies bike geometry.
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