Westwardbound
New Member
After some excellent advice three years ago on the merits of triple vs compact on a Specialized Allez, I've got another question!
My daughter (age 12, fairly tall at 5' 4" or 164cm, and probably still to grow further) needs a new bicycle. She cycles fairly regularly on her Raleigh handbag special (!), longest ride about 25 miles at a very relaxed pace - with a lunch stop - on road and cycle path. Terrain locally is a mix of very flat and very hilly. Nothing off-road. Try as I might I can't persuade her to go the full-on road bike route, so its probably a hybrid (but at the flat bar road bike end of hybrid). We've a number of good bike shops selling a mixture of makes, so the choice comes down to:
Scott Sportster 60 Women's - £350
Specialized Vita - available locally for £299
Specialized Vita Sport - available locally for £349
and the off-the wall choice of Boadrman Hybrid Comp fi - £499 plus however much it costs my LBS to check it over.
All seem to offer the option (later) of mudguards and rack in case she decides to brave the traffic to cycle to school. We could also get a Trek but there's nothing in the range that seems to offer more than the above. She seems to prefer twist grip rather than trigger gear changers - not sure if twist grips feature on any of the above.
I'll post a separate thread for help on the availability of the Boardman and where we might see one nr Bristol/Bath, but any thoughts on the choice above would be much appreciated. Thanks.
My daughter (age 12, fairly tall at 5' 4" or 164cm, and probably still to grow further) needs a new bicycle. She cycles fairly regularly on her Raleigh handbag special (!), longest ride about 25 miles at a very relaxed pace - with a lunch stop - on road and cycle path. Terrain locally is a mix of very flat and very hilly. Nothing off-road. Try as I might I can't persuade her to go the full-on road bike route, so its probably a hybrid (but at the flat bar road bike end of hybrid). We've a number of good bike shops selling a mixture of makes, so the choice comes down to:
Scott Sportster 60 Women's - £350
Specialized Vita - available locally for £299
Specialized Vita Sport - available locally for £349
and the off-the wall choice of Boadrman Hybrid Comp fi - £499 plus however much it costs my LBS to check it over.
All seem to offer the option (later) of mudguards and rack in case she decides to brave the traffic to cycle to school. We could also get a Trek but there's nothing in the range that seems to offer more than the above. She seems to prefer twist grip rather than trigger gear changers - not sure if twist grips feature on any of the above.
I'll post a separate thread for help on the availability of the Boardman and where we might see one nr Bristol/Bath, but any thoughts on the choice above would be much appreciated. Thanks.
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