buying a bike for my daughter , £ 600 budget

[reacher]

guys i need to buy a xmas presant for my daughter , budget is 600 quid give or take , she will be useing it to train on with me , not leisure
whats good , as i'm not experianced on the technical side ,
i'v got a couple of possibles so far ,
dave hinde , shimano tiagra microshift 9 group set , any one have any experiance of this one ? i know nothing at all about micro , nor can i find it by googling , i rang them and they say , naturally , that its a good set up ,
halfords , boardman comp at 629 says it has 105 group set but when i ring up it only has part of it on the rear , any good ?
thanks in advance for any help ,

 

[lukesdad]

How old is your daughter ?

 

[2Loose]

dave hinde

Google says 'stay away'.

 

[jay clock]

yes, and how tall. If a teenager/adult then you need to factor in height. If she is 5'5 to 5'6 or taller she may well cope with a men's frame bike. If smaller, or if she has long legs relative to arm length/reach, then she would be better with a women's frame (women specific design).

If younger, then Islabikes is highly recommended.

Finally, Decathlon does good value bikes in smaller sizes

 

[jay clock]

sorry, spotted the Dave Hinde reference. No personal experience but do google Dave Hinde and there is enough to warn you off. In his previous ebay guise as number1bikebits he refers to one of his customers as "lying scum" see here http://toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs?User=number1bikebits&Dirn=Left+by&Many=ON

He then traded as bikeontime and I think he may have moved to another ID

 

[sheddy]

Sorry to state the obvious but don't buy a bike as a suprise - she will want a test ride

 

[reacher]

she is my height , 19 years age
i saw all that on google about dave hinde , but i'v just bought one from him and the service was 1st class i must say , could not fault the advice or delivery , nothing at all , it arrived as promised , perfect condition ,
i'v just looked at the boardman in halfords , they are setting one up for her try on sunday , a ladies , 105 on the back tiagra front , looks ok , its just for training on she wont be racing or anything ,

 

[mcshroom]

she is my height

There's a slight problem with that information

The boardman bikes get a good writeup, so if she likes it then it is a good bike. A couple of womens specific bikes in your price range are the Boardman Fi (or now called Boardman Womens Road Bike apparently) and the Specialized Dolce, but as has been said it may be that a mens/unisex frame would be fine.

 

[reacher]

There's a slight problem with that information

The boardman bikes get a good writeup, so if she likes it then it is a good bike. A couple of womens specific bikes in your price range are the Boardman Fi (or now called Boardman Womens Road Bike apparently) and the Specialized Dolce, but as has been said it may be that a mens/unisex frame would be fine.

oh yeah ,
what i meant to say was she rides the same size as me so we are sorted on that , a 54 ,
the boardman looks favourite ,
she can try one on sunday , an its got pink on it which according to my daughter is more important than the rest of the spec lol