A bike for the girlfriend

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My girlfriend is looking for a mountain bike so she can do some basic
riding with me, it'll mostly be fireroad trails, possibly tarmaced
trails with a little off-road. She requires a 14" frame.

She's looking to spend around £300 and I spotted a Carrera Vulcan 08
with an ok spec for £279.99.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_273359_langId_-1_CarSelectorCatalogId__CarSelectorGroupId__varient__categoryId_82400_crumb_33980-33957_parentcategoryrn_82400

I asked in alt.mountain-bike and someone suggested an 06 Trek 4500 which
has V-brakes and a shimano gear set.

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b3s24p473

Can anyone give suggestions on what to go for, I know that Trek is
typically a better brand than Carrera but I'm not that bothered by brand
names TBH, plus the Carrera will come ready to ride which will save me
some hassle building the Trek.

--

My blog - http://degeneratemoo.livejournal.com

Moo wrote:
> My girlfriend is looking for a mountain bike so she can do some basic

Doh, I saw the title and thought "Yeah, that would be a fair swap !"

--
Cheerz - Brownz
'89 K100RS
'53 JCW MCS (Cage)
http://www.brownz.org/

"Brownz (Mobile)" <someone.not@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1s7Sj.47038$B83.39207@newsfe3-gui.ntli.net...
| Moo wrote:
| > My girlfriend is looking for a mountain bike so she can do some basic
|
| Doh, I saw the title and thought "Yeah, that would be a fair swap !"
|
Someone was offering his wife on the same terms - with my bike collection, I
could stock a nice mini-harem.....

pOB

In article <67re3eF2pvse1U1@mid.individual.net>, Moo
rodneylowe@roonster.wanadoo.co.ukREMOVEME says...
> My girlfriend is looking for a mountain bike so she can do some basic
> riding with me, it'll mostly be fireroad trails, possibly tarmaced
> trails with a little off-road. She requires a 14" frame.
>
If she needs a 14" frame I wonder if she'd do better with 24" wheels.

"Moo" <rodneylowe@roonster.wanadoo.co.ukREMOVEME> wrote in message
news:67re3eF2pvse1U1@mid.individual.net...
> My girlfriend is looking for a mountain bike so she can do some basic
> riding with me, it'll mostly be fireroad trails, possibly tarmaced trails
> with a little off-road. She requires a 14" frame.
>
> She's looking to spend around £300 and I spotted a Carrera Vulcan 08 with
> an ok spec for £279.99.

Unless you're keeping the purchase a secret from her I suggest you go to a
shop and have her take a test ride on a few different bikes before deciding.
A bike may look better spec but just feel wrong or not fit well. You never
know, a real shop might chuck in a few extras like a lock too.

POHB <newswithnospam@hayward.uk.net> wrote:

> "Moo" <rodneylowe@roonster.wanadoo.co.ukREMOVEME> wrote in message
> news:67re3eF2pvse1U1@mid.individual.net...
> > My girlfriend is looking for a mountain bike so she can do some basic
> > riding with me, it'll mostly be fireroad trails, possibly tarmaced trails
> > with a little off-road. She requires a 14" frame.
> >
> > She's looking to spend around £300 and I spotted a Carrera Vulcan 08 with
> > an ok spec for £279.99.
>
> Unless you're keeping the purchase a secret from her I suggest you go to a
> shop and have her take a test ride on a few different bikes before deciding.
> A bike may look better spec but just feel wrong or not fit well. You never
> know, a real shop might chuck in a few extras like a lock too.

thats what i did when Sa's bike got nicked so needed transport. went to
the local bike shop got all the "boring" bits done, and then got sa to
pop over and take it for a quick spin.

we got things like the tires changed for marthon pluses and such so it's
fairly bomb proof.

it's seems thus far (a few months along) to be a roaring success. though
it's a sod to get on the bike rack as it's a step though.

roger
--
www.rogermerriman.com

Moo <rodneylowe@roonster.wanadoo.co.ukREMOVEME> wrote:

> My girlfriend is looking for a mountain bike so she can do some basic
> riding with me, it'll mostly be fireroad trails, possibly tarmaced
> trails with a little off-road. She requires a 14" frame.
>
> She's looking to spend around £300 and I spotted a Carrera Vulcan 08
> with an ok spec for £279.99.
>
>
<http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001
_catalogId_10151_productId_273359_langId_-1_CarSelectorCatalogId__CarSel
ectorGroupId__varient__categoryId_82400_crumb_33980-33957_parentcategory
rn_82400>
>
> I asked in alt.mountain-bike and someone suggested an 06 Trek 4500 which
> has V-brakes and a shimano gear set.
>
> http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b3s24p473
>
> Can anyone give suggestions on what to go for, I know that Trek is
> typically a better brand than Carrera but I'm not that bothered by brand
> names TBH, plus the Carrera will come ready to ride which will save me
> some hassle building the Trek.

if there is a local bike shop you can pop into and get your better half
to try a few bikes, that would be my choice, particaly if your lady is
needing the smallest bike.

the other option is how off road, and or serious is she likely to take
it, might be that a hybrid with a more sit up and beg postion might be
more her thing or not? rather depends if you think you'll be doing a mad
sunday dash or a nice roll though the forest.

if it's a nice roll then a hyrid with it's for road wide tires should
soak up lumps and bumps.

roger
--
www.rogermerriman.com

Roger Merriman wrote:

> the other option is how off road, and or serious is she likely to take
> it, might be that a hybrid with a more sit up and beg postion might be
> more her thing or not?

While not dismissing the idea of a hybrid, of course you can make an MTB
a bit more upright with a suitable set of bars/stem.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net p.j.clinch@dundee.ac.uk http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch <p.j.clinch@dundee.ac.uk> wrote:

> Roger Merriman wrote:
>
> > the other option is how off road, and or serious is she likely to take
> > it, might be that a hybrid with a more sit up and beg postion might be
> > more her thing or not?
>
> While not dismissing the idea of a hybrid, of course you can make an MTB
> a bit more upright with a suitable set of bars/stem.
>
> Pete.

true, and seems a fair number of bikes do have more upright than nose in
the dirt postion, at the moment any way, in as much as i've noticed any
way.

roger
--
www.rogermerriman.com

"Rob Morley" <nospam@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.2283a48ed6d7b7d098b7ba@news.individual.net...
> In article <67re3eF2pvse1U1@mid.individual.net>, Moo
> rodneylowe@roonster.wanadoo.co.ukREMOVEME says...
>> My girlfriend is looking for a mountain bike so she can do some basic
>> riding with me, it'll mostly be fireroad trails, possibly tarmaced
>> trails with a little off-road. She requires a 14" frame.
>>
> If she needs a 14" frame I wonder if she'd do better with 24" wheels.

That's what I ended up getting my Girlfriend. 24" wheeled bikes are fairly
common second hand, 14" framed 26" wheeled ones aren't. However 24" bikes
tend to have shoddy components - I was lucky and landed on one with a good
build (basically all the bits the dad had taken off his mountain bikes), but
the frame is still *very* heavy.

IF you can run to it, I'd get a 14" or 13" framed 26" wheeled bike. Good
bits for 24" bikes are often hard to find, particularly wheels and tyres, as
they're either aimed at kids or the dirt jump / 4x crowd.

In article <MPG.2283a48ed6d7b7d098b7ba@news.individual.net>, Rob Morley wrote:
>In article <67re3eF2pvse1U1@mid.individual.net>, Moo
>rodneylowe@roonster.wanadoo.co.ukREMOVEME says...
>> My girlfriend is looking for a mountain bike so she can do some basic
>> riding with me, it'll mostly be fireroad trails, possibly tarmaced
>> trails with a little off-road. She requires a 14" frame.
>>
>If she needs a 14" frame I wonder if she'd do better with 24" wheels.

Islabikes Beinn 26 is a 14" frame and 26" wheels
http://www.islabikes.co.uk/bike_pages/beinn26.html
"Adult sized wheels but this is not an adult sized bike" "Age 9+"

But a small adult may be the same size as a 9 year old child.

There's an argument that 24" wheels might give a better proportioned
frame, but the Beinn looks okay to me (and more importantly Islabikes
have a very good reputation), and availability of tyres and tubes will
be better.

(As someone else said, for a small cheap second hand bike a 24" wheel child's
bike will be easier to find, but a good one will still be hard to find.)