Which ladies bike? (Budget £250-ish)

[t84]

My better half has asked me for a bike for Christmas, but says she will be annoyed if I spend a lot on it (She thinks you can get a good one for £60 from Halfords!)

Will be used for mild offroad and just general leisurely riding around parks, etc.

Could you suggest some please? What brands are good at this price point?

[Vespula]

Whatever you do, do not get a £99.99 bike,

£250 really is your starting point for a decent bike.

I like GIANT but there are many others, Halfords Carrera brand is not bad apparently.

This is nice: http://www.cyclestore.co.uk/productDetails.asp?pro...

[t84]

Aye, I'm worried about sub-£100 bikes being unsafe and poorly made.

[tw_uk]

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/my...

This one would win it for me? Best for Brand, Frame & Spec?

[snotrag]

By far the most important thing when buying a beginners bike is to make sure you find a good, reputable local bike shop.

Bike sizes are not all the same, and fit is a very personal thing.

If you want your OH to enjoy the experience, get down to a shop, find a sales guy, and if there anything like a decent shop they will be able to advise on the types of bike available, and then get you sat on a few to get a feel of how things like top tube length, seat tube angle, bar height and wheelbase affect the ride and fit of the bike, and have a test ride of a few.

There is NO way that a beginner can hope to get this kind of stuff right by buying a bike off the internet.

If you then wish to buy from the internet using this knowledge, fair enough - but remember that you wont neccasarily be getting a better deal. And it works very much in your favour to be a customer of your LBS when it comes to having those little tweaks done, getting something adjusted, getting a spare part etc etc.
HTH!

[t84]

Oh definately, we're going to go and try some, it wouldn't be fair for me to order something off of the internet.

It's just at this price point I have no idea what brands are good or not, we definately will visit the LBS to try some out, I just want to be armed with a bit of knowledge before I go

[snotrag]

It very much depends what brands your shop sells.

But for thatk ind of money, for good beginners bikes, Ridgeback and Giant are two good, big brands with bikes between 2 and 3 hundred.

£250 is is a bit of a break point, as mentioned, when you move from something that is effectively a 'toy' to something that has had a bit of desing put into it with some nods towards quality and longevity.

£99 supermarket bikes are nothing more than a throwaway novelty item.

Your LBS if its a chain may have their 'own brand' (IE Pinnmacle or Revolution) which often are very good value.

[t84]

Well she's had bikes from these people before:

http://www.ronspencercycles.co.uk/

And then there's these:

http://www.cyclehouse.net/

There's also an Evans in Manchester but it's a bit far away, I'd rather have someone local to look at it for her if anything goes wrong.

[t84]

Went to Evans, apparently 'Scott' ladies bikes fit her best, so we're going to have a look at them

[Sarkmeister]

A couple of friends of mine have the Carrera Vulcan disc (female version) from Halfords. For the price its probably the best spec you'll get. Its also pretty sturdy, both of them have done the red routes at Glentress/Innerleithen on them without anything breaking.

[t84]

Budget is about £350 now, I want to get her something she likes rather than a compromise and she spoke to a nice woman at Evans Manchester who was the same height as her, so she has loads of ideas on what fits her and what doesn't...

Specalised womens are ok, but she doesn't like the riding position, she can't have a mens bike unfortunately (She tried a few) so we need to order a Scott in so she can have a go, as a bonus she likes the graphics and stuff on the Scott's and they seem to be a decent make.

Also, I made them explain to her at the shop why she shouldn't just get an £80 bike from Tesco (She hates having money spent on her!)

T

[snotrag]

Thats exactly what I was talking about - in that the Specialized dont fit, yet the Scott does.

Its all about the Geometry.

[t84]

Yep, think it's gonna be a Scott, they are also 'nice colours'

[t84]

Are hybrids worth a go? I'm thinking no as if she wants to get into it properly she will need to change bikes? She doesn't want to go on road either...

Edited by t84 on Tuesday 1st December 20:01