Mountain bike for wife

[The Engine Driver]

No, not a swap............our problem is that our 11 year old daughter
is growing like a weed and is rapidly getting too tall for her 24 inch
wheel Specialized Hot Rock A1 FS. Whilst riding round Alton Water
yesterday she asked if she could try mother's Hard Rock and
immediately decided that it was the bike for her. Very slightly too
large at the moment but that situation will change within a month or
so.

So, new bike time, which we always find difficult. Budget is around
£400 and we are looking at Marin Bear Valley, Marin Coast Trail,
Specialized Myka Sport, Cannondale F6 and Scott Contessa 40. Anyone
got any views or experience of these? I tend to lean towards
Specialized as we've had good experience with them in the past, is the
Myka Sport Disc worth the extra dosh?

Our riding is generally as a family group, no outrageous stuff but the
two of us do sometimes sneak off to Rendlesham or Tunstall during the
week for a more strenuous thrash.

 

[Doki]

"The Engine Driver" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> No, not a swap............our problem is that our 11 year old daughter
> is growing like a weed and is rapidly getting too tall for her 24 inch
> wheel Specialized Hot Rock A1 FS. Whilst riding round Alton Water
> yesterday she asked if she could try mother's Hard Rock and
> immediately decided that it was the bike for her. Very slightly too
> large at the moment but that situation will change within a month or
> so.
>
> So, new bike time, which we always find difficult. Budget is around
> £400 and we are looking at Marin Bear Valley, Marin Coast Trail,
> Specialized Myka Sport, Cannondale F6 and Scott Contessa 40. Anyone
> got any views or experience of these? I tend to lean towards
> Specialized as we've had good experience with them in the past, is the
> Myka Sport Disc worth the extra dosh?

They're mechanical discs, so no. Hydraulic Deores may be worth having from a
maintenance point of view. Depends how fast you go through vee pads - I used
to through a set in an hour or two of riding sometimes. Stuff around that
price point is likely to be much of a muchness, so I'd go for what fits and
is light.

 

[Peter Clinch]

The Engine Driver wrote:
> No, not a swap............our problem is that our 11 year old daughter
> is growing like a weed and is rapidly getting too tall for her 24 inch
> wheel Specialized Hot Rock A1 FS. Whilst riding round Alton Water
> yesterday she asked if she could try mother's Hard Rock and
> immediately decided that it was the bike for her. Very slightly too
> large at the moment but that situation will change within a month or
> so.
>
> So, new bike time, which we always find difficult.

How about, oooh, a Specialized Hot Rock A1 FS? If she already likes
what she's got you can do a lot worse than replace it with the same.

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 [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

 

[Alan Braggins]

In article <[email protected]>, Peter Clinch wrote:
>The Engine Driver wrote:
>> No, not a swap............our problem is that our 11 year old daughter
>> is growing like a weed and is rapidly getting too tall for her 24 inch
>> wheel Specialized Hot Rock A1 FS. Whilst riding round Alton Water
>> yesterday she asked if she could try mother's Hard Rock and
>> immediately decided that it was the bike for her. Very slightly too
>> large at the moment but that situation will change within a month or
>> so.
>>
>> So, new bike time, which we always find difficult.
>
>How about, oooh, a Specialized Hot Rock A1 FS? If she already likes
>what she's got you can do a lot worse than replace it with the same.

I think he's saying his daughter is getting a used Hard Rock because
she's decided it was the bike for her, and his wife is looking for an
upgrade to her Hard Rock (which is about to become the daughter's).

 

[Peter Clinch]

Alan Braggins wrote:

> I think he's saying his daughter is getting a used Hard Rock because
> she's decided it was the bike for her, and his wife is looking for an
> upgrade to her Hard Rock (which is about to become the daughter's).

And my point in reply is /if/ the existing bike does everything required
of it, is an upgrade in order or would it be a simple case of spending
more to do things with little effective difference?

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 [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

 

[Alan Braggins]

In article <[email protected]>, Peter Clinch wrote:
>Alan Braggins wrote:
>
>> I think he's saying his daughter is getting a used Hard Rock because
>> she's decided it was the bike for her, and his wife is looking for an
>> upgrade to her Hard Rock (which is about to become the daughter's).
>
>And my point in reply is /if/ the existing bike does everything required
>of it, is an upgrade in order or would it be a simple case of spending
>more to do things with little effective difference?

What? _Not_ spend money which has been approved for a new bike?

More seriously, your principle is sound, my point was that "a Specialized
Hot Rock A1 FS" isn't what the person getting a new bike has already got,
so replacing it with the same would actually be a second Hard Rock.
And the daughter isn't replacing hers with a larger one the same because
she's reportedly already decided the Hard Rock is the bike for her.

(If the wife is entirely happy with her Hard Rock, then keep it and buy
daughter a slightly smaller one now instead of waiting for her to grow
into the wife's would seem the obvious answer.)

 

[The Engine Driver]

On 28 Apr 2008 15:33:45 +0100 (BST), [email protected] (Alan
Braggins) wrote:

>In article <[email protected]>, Peter Clinch wrote:
>>Alan Braggins wrote:
>>
>>> I think he's saying his daughter is getting a used Hard Rock because
>>> she's decided it was the bike for her, and his wife is looking for an
>>> upgrade to her Hard Rock (which is about to become the daughter's).
>>
>>And my point in reply is /if/ the existing bike does everything required
>>of it, is an upgrade in order or would it be a simple case of spending
>>more to do things with little effective difference?
>
>What? _Not_ spend money which has been approved for a new bike?
>
>More seriously, your principle is sound, my point was that "a Specialized
>Hot Rock A1 FS" isn't what the person getting a new bike has already got,
>so replacing it with the same would actually be a second Hard Rock.
>And the daughter isn't replacing hers with a larger one the same because
>she's reportedly already decided the Hard Rock is the bike for her.
>
>(If the wife is entirely happy with her Hard Rock, then keep it and buy
>daughter a slightly smaller one now instead of waiting for her to grow
>into the wife's would seem the obvious answer.)

I think you're both correct, the Hot Rock is now too small for my
daughter and she really, really wants my wife's Hard Rock, which is
only very slightly too small. There's no point in buying a smaller
bike for my daughter as she is growing so fast that it will be a
matter of three or four months before she is almost as tall as my
wife. I've found that De Ver cycles still have some 2007 Hard Rock D4W
bikes left, so my wife has decided that she will almost certainly just
get a new one as - like myself - she doesn't fancy the hassle of
trying new bikes when she is happy with the design of the old one.

Hope fully the 2007 version will be pretty close in design to the one
she has!

TED