Getting a bike for my wife

[Donga]

On Mar 26, 7:40 am, [email protected] wrote:
> On Mar 26, 7:18 am, "Donga" <[email protected]> wrote:

> Generally, in my experience, males are very dismissive of the concept
> of involving your partner in your sport/hobby of choice.
>
> See this post, the above joke about golf, pretty much any male that I
> go sailing with - it is always the same gear - you have to fight for
> your time, or trick your partner to get the time away, why would you
> ever choose time with your partner over sailing/cycling/whatever you
> do.
>
> I have no problem getting time away to go cycling, but I actually like
> my wife and enjoy spending as much time with her on the weekend as I
> can - going for a three hour ride on a Sunday really cuts into that
> unless I get up and do it at 5.00am and I am not that way >inclined.

A sensible partner will support their other half doing what they like.
I invite mine to join me for coffee afterwards.

 

[LotteBum]

Just wanted to comment on a few things that have been said....

Generally, in my experience, males are very dismissive of the concept of involving your partner in your sport/hobby of choice.

I can see why. Whilst I would always encourage other women to ride bikes, it can be really frigging annoying to have someone tagging along who really slows you down, until they get better/fitter/both, week in week out.

My partner and I both ride, and both did so before we met. But we don't ride together much at all - in fact I think we've ridden together once this year. Put simply, I slow him down. He says he doesn't mind, but just knowing he's faster than me makes me hurt.

Whilst a lot of the time, we ride at the same time, it would be no different if I were boar hunting, stick throwing or knitting when he's riding, or vice versa.

See this post, the above joke about golf, pretty much any male that I go sailing with - it is always the same gear - you have to fight for your time, or trick your partner to get the time away, why would you ever choose time with your partner over sailing/cycling/whatever you do.

See, I don't know why anyone should have to 'fight' for their own time or trick their partner into doing something. It's healthy to have your own time to do your own thing. If I'm not happy about my partner going riding it's usually if we have something already planned, or he doesn't give me any notice (but even then I normally don't have a problem with it). Time away from me is what makes him who he is, and I appreciate that.

I have no problem getting time away to go cycling, but I actually like my wife and enjoy spending as much time with her on the weekend as I can - going for a three hour ride on a Sunday really cuts into that unless I get up and do it at 5.00am and I am not that way inclined.

Why not? It's the best time of day to ride!

Maybe when I am as old as the people who share there views on these things with me I will be as bitter as them. I hope not.

I think it's great to have more women out there on their bikes, but I think far too many of them do it just because their partner does, and just so that they can spend time with their partner. That seems sad to me. Anyway, that's just my observation.

A friend of ours recently took up cycling, and he's so hooked it's not funny. He bought his wife - who is a lovely, lovely lady - a bike, but she's just not as into it as him, and he's saying "Gee, look I spent all this money on a bike for her" etc. I think that's a real shame, because I do think she was pressured for the sake of spending more time with him.

By all means, get her a bike. But don't get her a bike if it's not something she's really interested in. And don't expect her to always ride with you. Riding with faster people is really quite confidence shattering

Cheers,
LH

 

[Theo Bekkers]

LotteBum wrote:

> Whilst a lot of the time, we ride at the same time, it would be no
> different if I were boar hunting, stick throwing or knitting when he's
> riding, or vice versa.

He knits while you hunt boar?

Theo

 

[LotteBum]

He knits while you hunt boar?

Yep.

 

[Terryc]

[email protected] wrote:

>
> How do you figure?

Less balance issues, less likely damage, more useful
>
> I don't know if you would find people who are hard core into skating
> would agree with you there, and the fact that you call it "Roller
> Skating" shows the level of information that you have on it.

Yer, it thrills me beyond bladder control {


>
> Just because cycling costs a lot more and has more shiny gear doesn't
> make it more legitimate as a hobby or form of exercise.

Never been a consideration for me. I've never seen any benefit in lycra
or bikes above $500.
>

 

[Terryc]

LotteBum wrote:
> and without doubt THE best ladies seat in the world
> (my neither regions are in fine shape after 85km yesterday and a quick
> 25km recovery ride this morning, where I'd normally be quite sensitive
> - sorry if that was too much info).

Brand and model of seat?
It is an issue here, so I might suggest it toswmbo.

 

[Bleve]

On Mar 25, 7:36 pm, [email protected] wrote:
> My wife has been showing an interest in coming cycling with me.
>

[chomp]

> Suggestions anyone?

Lots of things have floated past in this thread, but thus far, as far
as I've read, no-one's pointed out the difficulty of riding with a
partner. If you're a semi-serious cyclist or more, and she's a once
every week or so rider, you may not be likely to enjoy riding
together. Mainly because, you won't be. Your power output will, most
likely, even at uncomfortably low effort, be more than she can do
unless she gets serious. She probably won't be able to hold your
wheel even when you're tootling, and you'll both end up frustrated,
her, because you've flogged her to death and she'll feel awful, and
you, because you'll think she's lazy for not sucking your wheel when
you're taking it so easy. If you slap her on some dunger flatbar,
it'll make it even worse. This is not a good experience.

But, there's an option that is worth considering, if you do want to
ride together, try a tandem. You can't drop her on a tandem, and you
can put in as much power as you want and all she has to do is turn the
same cadence. Tandem's aren't cheap, a road tandem will set you back
around $4,000+ new, but you can get 'street' tandems for around $1,200
new (Apollo tandem sport, for example). You can probably hire one to
try too.

Worth considering anyway.

 

[Donga]

On Mar 26, 2:58 pm, LotteBum <LotteBum.2o1...@no-
mx.forums.cyclingforums.com> wrote:
> Theo Bekkers Wrote:
>
> > He knits while you hunt boar?Yep.
>
> --
> LotteBum

ROTFLMFAO

 

[just us]

I am a wife! A few years ago hubby had a crook knee, so had some surgery and
bought a bike. Well like all wives - I wanted what he had so off I went to
LBS and bought a Topanga MTB. Fairly top of the range bike in its day.
Sheesh that bike hurt! I tried so hard to do what hubby was doing on his
bike, but I was always the tail end charlie, always the one he was waiting
for. We then inherited a Tandem, and wow I loved to get on that with him. We
did thousands of kms, all over Far North Qld with panniers, tents, all the
gear. The MTB gathered dust.
We then did the Coast to Coast ride up here on the Tandem and I was in awe
of all these women, yes some were on fancy road racers, but some were on
Hybrids and I got it into my head that if I could sell the MTB maybe i
needed to get a Hybrid. Sale was made and I lost $500. With my $200 return
I bought a $450 Hybrid and was rubbished beyond belief because I had never
acheived much on the MTB. Slowly I worked up from being stuffed after riding
6kms to and from work to making a round trip of 45kms to get to and from
work. I bought a pair of knicks and a fancy riding shirt LOL. On my days off
I was off on my own doing 75kms rides up and down the hills of the
Tablelands. THEN I discovered other friends who wanted to ride, so we did a
few overnighters with full panniers. Yep, I sold that Hybrid before Xmas,
lost $200 and have just bought my dream machine and have clocked up 3000kms
on it so far. Tis a well earned Trek Hybrid and I am just on last
preparations for a 1400km ride with another "wife" who is 59 (10 yrs older
than me).
Now I can go for weekend rides with my hubby - he loves the fact that we can
ride together without him waiting at the top of every hill. We can take
panniers on the singles and just have great times. We have done some great
300kms 3 day weekends, and this weekend we are off again for a 2 day 200kms
ride down the Palmerston Range to Babinda and then home via the Gillies
Range. OMG I CANT believe I am capable of doing all this but I am. I really
think the reason I have succeeded with this cycling thing is that I did it
myself, was not forced into it, picked the gear and the bikes out myself and
went out there alone and learnt (the hard way in most instances) how to get
the best out of gears, how to change tyres, fix stems, buckled wheels etc
etc etc. My poor hubby has been behind me 110% ....
Kathy

 

[DaveB]

Bleve wrote:
> But, there's an option that is worth considering, if you do want to
> ride together, try a tandem. You can't drop her on a tandem, and you
> can put in as much power as you want and all she has to do is turn the
> same cadence. Tandem's aren't cheap, a road tandem will set you back
> around $4,000+ new, but you can get 'street' tandems for around $1,200
> new (Apollo tandem sport, for example). You can probably hire one to
> try too.
>
> Worth considering anyway.
>
>

Or use a child on trailer bike as a handicap system. Our trailer bike is
SS so if I keep in a gear that allows daughter to pedal it restricts me
to a reasonable speed for my wife on the flat, and on the hills all that
extra weight is plenty enough to slow me down.

I don't think either of us would be happy if we rode together (without
the daughter), and Bleve makes a good point. I see a tandem some day in
the future.

DaveB

 

[Donga]

On Mar 26, 5:17 pm, "just us" <[email protected]> wrote:

Yay Kathy and yay hubby!

donga

 

[Fractal]

"Bleve" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Mar 25, 7:36 pm, [email protected] wrote:
>> My wife has been showing an interest in coming cycling with me.
>>
>
> [chomp]
>
>> Suggestions anyone?

> But, there's an option that is worth considering, if you do want to
> ride together, try a tandem. You can't drop her on a tandem, and you
> can put in as much power as you want and all she has to do is turn the
> same cadence.


I do admire a his and her tandem team, but whenever I see one I cant help
thinking of the US(?) security rule that the President and the Vice
President should never fly together in case of an accident. Or more
recently never put all your ambassadors in the one Garuda, Mr Downer.

fb

 

[just us]

Hi Bleve - great idea and similar to my reply above. Looking back at our
early tandem experiences hubby must have been busting his guts just working
for me. Now when we go out on the tandem I realise how much more power I
have and that I am really and truly pulling my weight. I also agree about
riding with ones spouse - not at all an enjoyable experience when you are
new to cycling - he just gets frustrated waiting all day and she just gets a
downer in confidence. REally to do this, you have to start out wanting to do
it and get it right on your own.
Kathy

 

[just us]

LOL our sons say that us out on the tandem is a quick way to gain both
inheritances at once.

"Fractal" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Bleve" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> On Mar 25, 7:36 pm, [email protected] wrote:
>>> My wife has been showing an interest in coming cycling with me.
>>>
>>
>> [chomp]
>>
>>> Suggestions anyone?
>
>> But, there's an option that is worth considering, if you do want to
>> ride together, try a tandem. You can't drop her on a tandem, and you
>> can put in as much power as you want and all she has to do is turn the
>> same cadence.
>
>
> I do admire a his and her tandem team, but whenever I see one I cant help
> thinking of the US(?) security rule that the President and the Vice
> President should never fly together in case of an accident. Or more
> recently never put all your ambassadors in the one Garuda, Mr Downer.
>
> fb
>
>
>

 

[Dave]

On Sun, 25 Mar 2007 02:36:42 -0700, arrowtech.clayton.lee wrote:

> So, essentially I am thinking of a budget of around $500 to get her
> something decent that can be built on, but on the other hand won't
> have been too big a cost if it doesn't work out.

Kona Dew, if you can get a small enough frame. It's a flat bar roadie with
OK running gear, and it's tough enough to take a fire road cruise if you
decide to look further afield than Centennial Park. Giant and several
others do similar bikes, but I haven't ridden them so can't say anything
about strength.

Oh, and remember Homebush as well, since I reckon it's more interesting
than CP.

--
Dave Hughes | [email protected]
You're a classic example of that inverse
ratio between the size of the mouth and the
size of the brain - Doctor Who

 

[Spoken4]

I'd spend $500 on the bike and $500 on getting someone else to do the
laundry. Seriously - it's not always the bike, its having the time to
ride. I get to ride to work each day, my wife isn't working but doing
"home duties". We get out a bit on the weekend because we (I) are
determined to have the kids get proficient at riding and being active -
and while we love it, having the kids can be a bit restrictive on routes
and distance. When she's at home, like I am at work, she doesn't get the
time between washing, kinder-run, school-run, shopping and the million
other tasks she does (god bless her). (YES WE SHARE THE
COOKING/VACUUMING and I MOW)
Will she have *the time* to ride it?????

DeF wrote:
> [email protected] wrote:
>> My wife has been showing an interest in coming cycling with me.
>>
>> She is quite fit, has been doing a lot of bike work at the Gym, and is
>> interested in coming cycling with me rather than us going our separate
>> exercise ways.
>>
>> She doesn't have a lot of cycling experience apart from when she was a
>> kid, so her skills in terms of bike handling, use of gears, general
>> riding are quite lacking.
>>
>> We have been to centennial for a couple of rides with her hiring a
>> crappy MTB from the bike hire guys there, that went pretty well and
>> she is interested in moving to the next level.
>>
>> I have a mid low/mid range road bike (Felt F80), I definitely want to
>> look at getting her either a road bike or a flatbar as we
>> realistically will only be doing road work.
>>
>> If it was a roadbike, I would definitely want to get her something
>> with STI gear, as getting used to riding is and gears is hard enough
>> without having to take your hand off the bar and reach down to the
>> tube to change gears when you hit a hill. I am guessing a flatbar
>> might be easier and less threatening in terms of gears and handling to
>> start with.
>>
>> Platform pedals definitely seem like the go to start off with,
>> clipless is too expensive/scary at the moment.
>>
>> We had an ill fated and expensive experience with buying her some good
>> rollerblades for her to come skating with me, I don't want to make the
>> same error here and drop $1000+ on a bike for her only to put 100k on
>> it and decide its not for her.
>>
>> So, essentially I am thinking of a budget of around $500 to get her
>> something decent that can be built on, but on the other hand won't
>> have been too big a cost if it doesn't work out.
>>
>> Given that, it appears that second hand would be the go.
>>
>> eBay appears to be the obvious choice - are there any other good
>> second hand cycling options I should consider?
>>
>> If I go eBay, how do I estimate the frame size that she needs? She is
>> 164cm. It is key that she can easily put her feet down when stopped,
>> as that gives her more confidence, but I expect that if the framesize
>> is right we can work that out to start out with seat height.
>>
>> Suggestions anyone?
>>
>
> Let me very quickly tell what happened with my other half.
>
> Shortly after returning from living in the UK, we laid down
> around $700 for a steel framed Giant "ladies" bike. After a
> few initial rides, it collected dust and cobwebs in the shed.
> And this was before we had kids which gobble up any time you
> might have thought was for recreation and relaxing.
> The tires perished, chromed parts rusted and eventually, (after
> about 6 or 7 years), we gave it to away.
>
> I was getting into biking in a big way including some racing and
> she was again getting interested. This time, I thought we should
> get her a decent bike. Two reasons, a good bike is more pleasurable
> to ride and if you've laid down some cash, she might feel more
> obliged to ride it. We also got her some clip in shoes, fancy
> cycling gear from Primal and a light helmet. She's now riding to
> work on a regular basis (about 22km). We don't ride much together
> (kids need someone to mind them) but she gets out quite a bit.
> She's now lining up for a TT on Good Friday.
>
> So, my view is that you shouldn't get a **** bike - it's a false
> economy. We got an Avanti Blade - a flat bar road bike. It's
> light, has index gears (27 of them), has reasonable quality
> components that work. Wheels are a bit heavy and I can tell it's
> not a $6,000 European thoroughbred but for around $1,000 (we paid
> $800 as it was on special - last year's model) it's value for money.
> She's now done rides of over 50km.
>
> In short, don't buy a cheap and nasty bike because you're worried
> about it not being used - it's a self defeating strategy.
>
> Cheers,
> DeF.
>

 

[LotteBum]

Brand and model of seat?
It is an issue here, so I might suggest it toswmbo.

Bontrager Select FIT CRZ+ Basic

I've had womens saddles ranging from big and cushy to racy, hard things... this one is in between... and it has a hole which protects delicate areas. I've had a saddle with a hole before, but it wasn't soft around the edge of the hole, so it just hurt more than a normal saddle. I'd say you'd have to order the saddle from a Trek dealer - Bontrager being Trek's brand and all....

Cheers,
Lotte

 

[Theo Bekkers]

just us wrote:
> I am a wife! A few years ago hubby had a crook knee, so had some
> surgery and bought a bike.......
.........> OMG I CANT believe I am capable
> of doing all this but I am. I really think the reason I have
> succeeded with this cycling thing is that I did it myself, was not
> forced into it, picked the gear and the bikes out myself and went out
> there alone and learnt (the hard way in most instances) how to get
> the best out of gears, how to change tyres, fix stems, buckled wheels
> etc etc etc. My poor hubby has been behind me 110% ....

Well done Kathy. You're right, the partner needs to want to do it by and for
themself and get to their own level at their own pace.

Theo

 

[adam85]

Bontrager Select FIT CRZ+ Basic

I've had womens saddles ranging from big and cushy to racy, hard things... this one is in between... and it has a hole which protects delicate areas. I've had a saddle with a hole before, but it wasn't soft around the edge of the hole, so it just hurt more than a normal saddle. I'd say you'd have to order the saddle from a Trek dealer - Bontrager being Trek's brand and all....

Cheers,
Lotte

Also worth looking at is the Selle San Marco Aspide Glamour. I know a few woman including my wife who have bought these and like them. Plus the white one adds a bit of bling. They are fairly lightweight but seem to have a wide base that suits the sit-bone position of many women. They have a range of saddles in varying widths.
http://www.sellesanmarco.com/index.asp?language=2
http://www.sellesanmarco.com/2007/woman_size235.asp

Adam

 

[LotteBum]

Also worth looking at is the Selle San Marco Aspide Glamour. I know a few woman including my wife who have bought these and like them. Plus the white one adds a bit of bling. They are fairly lightweight but seem to have a wide base that suits the sit-bone position of many women. They have a range of saddles in varying widths.

Oh I SO want the pink one for my mtb and the white one for my road bike (to match my white helmet and AWESOME white Sidis).