Bike for wife. New or used and higher spec?

[Harleyboy]

Am in a dilemma. Looking for a bike for my wife. It will be her first bike and she will be riding with a friend and with me for mostly casual rides. Budget is £1000.

I like a Trek so am looking at a new Domane AL3 disc with Sora and mechanical discs. I have no doubt this would be a great bike but if I go used I could get Tiagra and hydraulic discs. Same gear range but bigger jumps obvs. She won’t know the difference as has no experience.

Also looked at a Liv Avail which gets Tiagra and mech discs but they don’t look that great in my (and her) opinion.

There is some stock of both new models and a good used Domane candidate. There’s also a carbon SpecialisedRuby (women’s Roubaix) that’s on the list.

Part of me is thinking that getting a better equipped bike might avoid an upgrade in a couple of years if she got really into it (unlikely though)

To my question - do I forget about my personal desire to have better groupset on a bike I won’t ride and get a new bike with warranty etc or risk a used one?

[TheDrownedApe]

last year i bought a bike for the wife as she wanted to come out with me. As she was new into cycling (except old decathalon 29er she never used) i didn't waste money on a new bike but rather a used one (still £300 boardman) just to see if she would actually use it.

She wouldn't go out on her own so it was only with me and she drove my crazy on the rides. Many, many issues such as:

stopping cycling going up hill and losing all her speed.
not accelerating down hill but free wheeling instead.
Taking any bends at 5 mph

I was literally cold, bored and not enjoying it at all and just a waste of my time. We argued every ride and i uszed to dread the suggestion.

Fast forward 12 months and she now has a v.good electric bike and just sold the boardman for £300. She keeps up with me nearly all the time, still gets a work out (as i do) and we don't argue.

So glad i didn't buy her a new bike until i understood her/my needs.

[snotrag]

Do whatever you can to get Hydraulic discs. I'd much, much rather have 10 speed with hydraulic discs than 11 speed with mechanical (or rim brakes, yuk!).

As for:

Harleyboy said:

To my question - do I forget about my personal desire to have better groupset on a bike I won’t ride and get a new bike with warranty etc or risk a used one?

Buying a high end carbon E-MTB full of expensive fragile electronics? High risk, Warranty very useful.

Buying a pretty simple mid-range road bike to be uses (presumably, sorry if not) lightly by your Mrs? Not really much of a risk of her sending it and cracking the frame is there,warranty in such case would not bother me too much. Not much risk. 'Lightly used' is the way forward here.

Edited by snotrag on Wednesday 24th March 08:19

[sociopath]

Mechanical discs are pants, I have them on my winter bike, nowhere near as good as my rim brakes.

I agree with the poster above, get her an ebike, so she can keep up, as she gets fitter she'll use the assist less, but it will be less miserable for both of you

[Harleyboy]

Good points made there and we’ve already had the chat about our rides being social I.e. her telling me to not expect speed! I ride most days and get a long ride in with mates at the weekend so think could manage a slower paced ride a couple of times a month. She’s been out with me on my winter bike which is too big for her and averaged 15 over 20 miles so she has potential! She’s very fit so don’t have particular issues about that but she’s not going to go climbing for fun.

I did think about a really cheap used bike but it seems that £3-500 bikes are total ste at the moment. I’ve even seen 12-15 year old things with rusted chains up for £350. I wonder if the new cyclist is being taken advantage of and stretching a bit further gets some slightly better value stuff.