[Closed] Bike for the lady

I remember the Myka Sport getting good reviews on Bike Radar a while back. This is the disc version which seems pretty reasonable:

http://www.wheelies.co.uk/p56076/Specialized-Myka-Disc-26-Womens-2013-Mountain-Bike.aspx

For a bit more, Halfords do a female specific Boardman MTB which looks to be pretty good VFM.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_777777_langId_-1_categoryId_165499

Edinburgh Bicycles also so a womens specific bike in their Revolution range which may be worth a look as a budget option. Frame looks pretty good but not sure on the brakes and fork.

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/products/revolution-spur-xc-disc-13?bct=browse%2fbicycles%2fwomens-bikes

EDIT - just realised that the EBC and Myka have cable disks. If you could stretch to it then my money would be on the Boardman. If she didn't get on with it, you could probably recoup the money by splitting the bike and selling the bits.

You may not need to go women's specific, depends on her proportions - classically girls are short in the body and longer in the legs than guys, but not always. If she has a longer body then a men's bike may suit her - you probably need to plonk her on a bike and see how it fits.

I have a lady friend who has a Mkya Expert hardtail and she does light XC riding and she finds it absolutely amazing, she says it fits her needs perfectly, so if you're looking for a bike made for women in mind i'd go for the Myka although as stated above you may not need a womens specific bike i know many girls who just ride any mtb no matter what gender is stated in the description

My better half is 5'9" and a half (the half is very important apparently), and she found a medium men's bike fit her better than a female specific one, so don't be afraid to try them, it's what fits that counts at the end of the day.

Also, if she's not sure whether she'll like it or not, go to a couple of trail centres and hire a bike for a half a day, that way she'll get a better feel for what she likes and if she likes the sport, and for the sake of maybe £50-60 a lot cheaper than buying one and it never getting used.

Thanks for the replies guys.

The boardman does look pretty swish, but out of budget. Its most likely i will hunt for something second hand.

She is only 5"2ish and generally pretty tiny all together, thats the only reason im thinking a womens specific might suit her a little better.

Iv'e seen a few Mykas come up and they look pretty ideal so something like that might be a winner!

honeybadgerx -

Hiring sounds like a good idea, My local trails would be forest of dean... does anyone know the standard of bikes hired out there?

Have a look somewhere like Pauls Cycles where they offload previous models. I got the wife last year a 2011 Giant Arete with RS air fork and XT reduced from £850 to £450. Really nice bike and she loves it.

daver89 - Member

Hiring sounds like a good idea, My local trails would be forest of dean... does anyone know the standard of bikes hired out there?

Give Pedalabikeaway a ring on 01594 860 065 (ask for Jodie or Lingy) and they'll tell you what's available in a size to suit, plus hire rates.

There was a nice looking womens specific Stumpy (pre-cursor to Myka I think) on the classifieds in size small a while ago. Might be worth a search...

Edit: [url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/fs-2007-specialized-stumpjumper-fsr-comp-d4w-womens-mtb-small-17 ]Here[/url] it is

Edit again: Meant to say I'd have bought it but is too small for my lady.

You'd be better off buying second-hand otherwise you could end up with something weighing a ton that gathers dust! Have a look in the Classifieds, plenty of bargains around.

He did say that the Boardman was out of budget slightly but damn if that stumpy fitted my fiancée but it was out of budget I would make it work for that, very good value...

The Stumpy that Tonyd refers to is a nice bike, but at 17" it would be too big for someone that is 5'2"

psling -

Thanks for that i will give them a call on the next dry day.

I agree though, the Stumpy is beautiful but would still be too big for her. A bargain none the less but for that i'd want it to be perfect to give her the best chance of enjoing it.

Will just keep an eye on the classified's and fingers crossed a gem will pop up. 🙂

My wife is 5'8" but has almost the same inside leg as me and I'm 6'1". A small gents frame with a short stem, plenty of steerer showing and spacers to raise the front plus a ladies saddle make her happy. The bike is a 16 inch Genesis Core with Tora forks and they are quite affordable secondhand circa £2-300.

When my bikes been knackered I've borrowed it and been very pleasantly surprised how good it rides and how much fun it is.

But I've just seen how tall your lady is and perhaps this might fit the bill better?
[url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genesis-Core-24-Lime-Including-a-Multi-Tool-to-the-value-of-20-/321036011309?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&var=&hash=item4abf3cc72d ]ebay 24 inch Genesis Core[/url]

Small men's bikes are often cheaper than their equivalent female version, don't come in patronising colours and with a few component changes can be custom fitted. My gf bought herself a Talon1 from wiggle, down from £999 to £530, SLX and Recon forks, she loves it

Yes the use of flowers and pink decals to girlyfy mountain bikes looks a bit naff according to my better half...

daver89 - the thread title for the Stumpy is wrong. It's a Small which is more like 15". Read down the thread. If it was 17" Id have bought it.

my girlfirend rides a small Giant Trance x3 - is perfect for her, full sus 100mm front and rear + hydraulic brakes

if she pics up a new one this weekend, it will be up for sale 🙂

14" on-one inbred frame (£140) with a nice s/h fork and wheelset off the classifieds?

tomaso's got it right.

The budget would be up to the £300 mark. Tight i know but there are much much smaller but shinier things im sure she would rather have!
If money was no object i would be spending a lot more but just to get her going i think its do-able on that budget.

Maybe a custom build with all second hand parts might be the way forward

Get it as light as possible! We're lighter than blokes to start off with (in the main) (and less powerful) so we need lighter bikes to even up the weight to bike ratio and not to be left trailing on the way up!

Feeling rubbish up hill was quite off putting when I started. Once I had that sorted, I got into going downhill faster. Now I like both.

I have got an Ibis to play with (I *need* it, ok?). 😀

This is the idea! For someone who hasnt rode in a good few years, to then be tackling Afans/Cwmcarns climbs it must be as light as possible, however we will stop as many times as we need to, we will work our way up to that to begin with anyway.

Unfortunately going in on a budget, weight is sacrificed somewhat 🙁

Haha, Ibis.......as you do!

If budget is low and you're sacrificing weight I'd suggest a tow rope for long climbs. I'm only half joking too, I've had to ride next to my missus while giving her a push on long climbs just to keep morale high and banter flowing. A tow rope in those circumstances would have been a blessing. She has a Spesh Hardrock that is pretty heavy (am building a lighter FS for her now).

tonyd - Tried that a little while ago with the Mrs, using a long bungee, worked a treat! 🙂 she made sure I took it off before anyone saw though lol.

Ahh now that brings back memories! My brother used to have to ride next to me giving me a push when i was struggling as a kid. Will certainly be doing that. Keeping morale high is key. When i was starting out the climbs used to destroy me.

Once she is up there though and can really see what its all for im sure she will love it

Love the tow rope idea! I got better pretty quick and can smash out a decent climb these days. But I remember being coaxed up hills and being taught to spin.

The Ibis is a borrow - luckily I'm 5'8" so 'borrowing'* the BF's lesser used bikes is possible. *for this type of borrow you need to surround the bike with barbed wire and perfect that look for just in case it's suggested that you might like to give it back.

In all seriousness, if I did have to buy my own bike now (after a couple of years of riding) I would probably get a hard tail for cheap/lightness as the confidence the Ibis has given me doesn't depart if I have a go on one.