My wife is Road Bike Curious - What bike?

[CanucksTraveller]

My good wife has watched me going out on my road bike, (and also watched Le Tour, the Olympics, La Vuelta et al, which might have more to do with it), and it has somehow got her thinking.
"Can you drop the saddle on your hybrid so I can have a try of cycling instead of jogging?" was the cry recently. So we did, she's had a few rides on that and she seems to be very excited by it.

Then she asks if I think she could ever attempt something like Ride the Night 2017. "Yes" says I, "but you need to train some, and on a road bike it'll be easier" says I. So now she starts to think about road bikes. Then some nervousness around cleats comes in. I said we can do some practices tomorrow, so I think it'll be fun to explore shoes and cleats with her.

Anyway this enthusiasm is most encouraging, and I want to help that. I think her target of Ride the Night 2017 is doable, and I'd like to buy her a road bike to assist, but I have no idea where to even start for a novice lady.

I don't have a concrete budget, but for a novice maybe £300 to 400 or so. Any recommendations from the lady riders? My lady is quite statuesque, 5 foot 10 and 13 stone so maybe a man's bike might even be the right way to go?

 

[raleighnut]

A new bike (and position on it) plus cleats bit much all at once IMO, I'd get the bike but stick 'track' (or some other flat) pedals on at first until your good lady is used to the bike. Have a look at some MKS pedals, some of those are nice on a road bike (and not at all like the free 'resin' ones)

 

[vickster]

a men's bike might well be better, much more choice. she's a similar height to me, I ride a 54cm frame (top tube measurement). Bear in mind, she might have longer legs but shorter reach and narrower shoulders than a man of the same height, thus budget for a stem and/or bar swap. Plus a women's saddle

With that budget, look at second hand or perhaps decathlon for new (although I personally think their bikes are ugly being mostly black )

There's no difference between choosing for a novice woman or man, it's down to size and shape.

Personally I find braking effectively from shimano brifters v hard, due to good shape. So SRAM suits me much better and I have cross lever brakes on the bikes I ride in traffic. It does narrow the choice and increase the cost but she may be fine. She just needs to try some bikes out. A £500-600 budget will of course increase the choice especially of new bikes

Let her choose the bike however and as above, there's nothing wrong with using flat pedals and trainers if comfortable

Ride the night looks to be a flat 100km so with a bit of cycling if she's halfway fit she won't need to 'train' IMO just have saddle time. I expect it's done at a leisurely pace, if that's her main goal not sure she even needs a road bike, cool if she wants one. Many will do on hybrids, MTBs etc

Oh and what's her weight got to do with anything when choosing a road bike?

 

[Kajjal]

Let her choose the one that fits well and she likes the look of. That way she will want to ride it. You can help with the price / spec decision. It is best to spend a little more to get a better bike in the current sales or as suggested from decathlon. For the pedals light weight mountain bike flat pedals have a lot of grip and provide a good stable platform for pedaling. My wife had a womens synapse and found it worked very well.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

Oh and what's her weight got to do with anything when choosing a road bike?

Probably not relevant now you mention it, but I wasn't sure if ladies bikes were possibly built with slighter frames in mind.

Thanks for the info. :-)

 

[vickster]

No, the proportions are a little different but not much, slightly taller headtube from memory, bar width, stem length, saddle, possibly crank length, the main differences on most wsd bikes

Try comparing say a men's and women's synapse with the same effective TT and see where the frame geometry is different

 

[biggs682]

@CanucksTraveller another vote for 2nd here but then thats hardly surprising

And i would also go with the mens route as well more choice but you are better of letting the other half choose , feel free if ever near to Wellingborough and she can try a couple of my old retro steels to see how she gets on

 

[HarryTheDog]

I was in the same position last year, I went down the 2nd hand route for my missus. I was offered a massive bargain on a top end bike ( 9 months old the guy just wanted to move onto his next toy, more money than sense etc) and I could not resist. I went straight for clipless and she did a load of practicing with the bike on a turbo, she has never had a clipless moment. To begin with she thought it far to race focussed compared to my daughters aluminium training bike she had been borrowing but did not take her long to love the bike.
Unfortunately she never really got the bug and after a winters lay off the bike has very rarely been taken out this year but if we were to sell it we would probably lose no money at all on it.
You have the advantage in that your missus is tall so getting a bike to fit should be no problem. My missus is tiny ( 5ft) so much harder to find a 2nd hand bike to fit ( 50cm top tube)
( her bike is a Kuota KOM EVO they don't differentitate whether the bike is for male/female)

 

[dellzeqq]

be very, very careful. You have no idea where this might end...

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/15178
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/18438

 

[StuAff]

be very, very careful. You have no idea where this might end...

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/15178
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/18438

We're still wondering when that ride report might end

 

[rideswithmoobs]

Bi curious ? Oops wrong forum .......