Ladies. Question About Your Cycle

_Waffle_

I was wanting to purchase a new bike for my girlfriend. Do you prefer a cruiser with a lower bar and a large comfy seat or something more slim and aerodynamic? Is there one brand that stands out as being a more comfortable easy to ride bike? I have a budget of about $600 for this.

sunnybeaches105

Came in to mention Trek Emonda

_Waffle_

sunnybeaches105 wrote: »

Came in to mention Trek Emonda

Nice looking bikes. Thanks! I really like how these look.

vixtris

Lol @ title. It depends on where you will be riding? I prefer a mountain-type bike, so the tires are a little on the thicker side with good tread, compared to a city/street bike. I also like a big seat, even though my butt is on the smaller side, I just don't like the feeling of a bike seat wedging up my butt.

Lovee_Dove7

Lol Oh, that cycle. I have a TREK mountain bike, I love it!

_Waffle_

This would be used mostly in an urban environment but I do use an easier crushed limestone trail from time to time. Essentially I like to run a lot of miles an her knee won't support more than 3 miles. This would let her ride along so it's going to be pretty easy to keep up with a 9:00 - 10:00 mile on her bike. I'm thinking about getting a bike too and if I do it would be more of a road bike than a trail bike so I don't want her to have something cumbersome and sluggish.

jessiferrrb

before it was stolen this was my favorite bike of ever
http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/bikes/city-bikes/dual-sport-bikes/neko-womens/c/B432

i went right back to trek to buy the same bike again but got sidelined by this pretty thing
http://archive.trekbikes.com/us/en/2006/trek/bonnie#/us/en/2006/trek/bonnie/details

i made a huge mistake.

rainbowbow

Well, what's she going to use it for? commuting? Just biking around? What kind of area do you live in?


At first i was convinced i would be happy with a women's city bike. The ones where you're practically sitting upright, you can swing your leg through when mounting and dismounting, not too many complicated settings i needed to learn, etc.


I have one similar to this, but with a larger basket on the front for grocery shopping.

i cannot even begin to tell you how much i hate this bike and wish i hadn't been so stupid to just go with something i thought looked cool. first of all, i can't freewheel because there's a pedal-brake. secondly the bike is sooooo front heavy and clunky feeling (not nimble at ALL). It's hard to peddle because its so heavy and if my tires aren't 100% I am literally DYING anytime i have to bike more than 3-4k. The amount of pumping and work i have to put in is INSANE. And the position isn't ergo-dynamic. Don't even get me started on the amount of power it requires to get up to a decent speed. Everytime my boyfriend and i go visit our friend's house (about 7k away) i'm working my butt off whooping and gasping while he's lightly pedaling with no issues.

edit: ps. i am used to the pedal break now, i'm just saying that for city commuting or stop at stoplights and stuff it sucks because i can't back peddle to get the peddle in the right starting position. I have to stop in the right position or lift my back tire up and move the pedal.

My boyfriend actually got another bike for himself (a fixie) because he was tired of doing the maintenance on his old bike. So he gave me the bike he was using which we bought at the same time as my other bike. it looks like this:




Thank god we're close in height so it's perfect for me. It's light, it's fast, it requires little effort to pedal, I can go up hills with no issues now, i can actually find a gear that's comfortable, the position i'm in feels better on my back, etc. I could really go on... the only thing is that doing maintenance on it by yourself is a pain in the *kitten* because you have more parts and stuff. So, unless you want to invest in all the tools and stands and all of that i recommend going to a bike shop which can handle all that for you. We replaced the tires on this bike once and we had a serious coming to jesus moment trying to get the tires back on the tube. All in all it was like a 4 hour ordeal.


There's also the option of a fixie, but these can be hard to ride for newbies and take a lot of getting used to. It's also not a good option if you live in a hilly area. But you can easily replace things, fix things, do maintenance, etc.

As far as the seats go, i don't know if i have exceptionally wide sit bones or what... but i have to have a wider plush seat otherwise i'm in immense pain. I've tried more sleek seats that were "unisex" but i MUST have a ladies seat. I haven't tried one of the more sleek ladies seats like these:



because i have one like this that i LOVE:


But maybe i'll change it one day.



So my opinion? get something like the one i have now. get it fitted for her.

litsy3

I've got one of these, which I use for commuting to and from work (10 miles each way) on country roads that are relatively but not insanely hilly. It's a basic workhorse hybrid, and is nice to ride. It's not the fastest bike in the world, has a slightly upright position, but is decent and I really like riding it. The wider tyres than you would get on a proper road bike are handy for some of the slightly uneven roads. http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/bikes/city-bikes/fitness-bikes/fx/7-2-fx-womens/p/1323013-2016

However, I also have one of these, with a 3-speed hub gear, which I used to use when I lived in a city. http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/hybrid-bikes/raleigh-caprice-silver-womens-hybrid-bike

Unlike the poster above, I loved both. The 3-speed city bike was great for city riding - there weren't many hills (or a few, but basically having a gear for going uphill and one for flat pretty much covered it), you could change gear while not pedalling (e.g. Stopped at lights), and mine had proper brakes. The hybrid is good for the amount of country riding I do and the abuse it gets. One day I'll get a proper road bike.

pomegranatecloud

I prefer a slim seat. I prefer a road bike over a cruiser, especially for city biking.

Machka9

I am a woman and a long distance cyclist.

My favourite bicycle is a Marinoni Ciclo sport touring road bicycle with a men's standard B17 Brooks saddle.

That's the bicycle in my avatar.

StephanieJane2

i have a hybred, A Giant Escape. Good for road cycling and some off road as long as track is not too wild !

mom23mangos

I am a commuter and have had three bikes. A Liv Alight, which I hated; a really old beach cruiser that was like riding on a cloud. Fat seat with springs, wide tires, upright, easy to pedal and get up to speed. Could easily do 12-17 mph on it with little effort other than how fast you could pedal. I currently have a Momentum iNeed Street and I love it. Probably my favorite so far. 7 speeds so I'm not limited on speed, rack and cup holder integrated into the frame, fenders, kickstand and bell included. All for $420.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WC_cqdYVcaY
https://www.momentum-biking.com/us/bikes/street/black-white

lapierrecyclist

My husband and I have road bikes, but we got my daughter (who is 5' 4 1/2" tall) a Specialized Vita Elite hybrid, as she wanted to be able to go off road sometimes. She likes it so far.