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My other half is after a classic/Dutch style frame and she likes the look of it.
Anyone have any opinions etc or suggestions of others to look at? Reviews of the Nexus version are scarce. There's plenty of that style out there but the spec is often pretty pants or they're proper heavy. We want to keep it (relatively) modern for ease of maintenance and finding parts.
Ta!
I don't have one but I rode one a couple of years ago - was dropping it off for a customer. It was a delight to ride, I was really surprised!
In a typical 'not quite what you asked' style, MrsIHN has a Dawes Duchess. Yes, it's no lightweight, but it's for shopping and riding to work in normal clothes, not racing. Yes, the spec is basic, but it's bombproof (she's ridden it a couple of miles to work and back in all weathers, and it's had basically no maintenance in four years). The exception is the brakes, which were woeful, but a set of Deore v-brakes fron ebay and decent cables/outers fixed that. It's an absolute hoot to ride, to the point that I put a QR seatclamp on it so I could ride it too 🙂
https://dawescycles.com/product-category/heritage/
(looking at that, the one she's got is now called the Cambridge, the current Duchess looks like it's been tweaked)
Again, similar but different, I built up a Pinnacle Chromium for my wife. I had almost everything available in parts bin including disc wheels, and Evans had the frame and forks (and headset) on sale for £135.
It's a lovely ride, nice and light, 1x9, microshift thumbie, SPA cycles cranks SLX on Open pro, 35mm file tread tyres, Deore brakes from some long-past, too-cheap-not-to CRC sale.
With a stack of spacers and a NC17 trekking bar, it's like a sit-up-and-beg version of her Allez, in lightness and handling terms. Could be made sportier with lower bars like the full build models, but it's spot on at the mo.
Worth a look, full build or f&f
Pinnacles look good. How do they size up? She's right in between the M and L; previously had M bikes but she feels they're too cramped so determined to get a L but no L left on Evans.
How tall? My Mrs is 5' 6. Might have been better on a large, but she's very happy with the medium.