Womens mountain bikes

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Conex

Conex

Joined
Dec 25, 2005
Threads
41
Messages
156
Location
Bradenton, FL
Do any of you guys have recommendations on womens mountain bikes? I know the wife will ride it around the neighborhood, but I would like to get her into trail riding so I have someone to ride with and for exercise. Something under $500 that has middle of the road components and can handle a little bit of abuse without a ton of constant tweaking.
 
I think you are going to have trouble finding a womens specific bike at your pricepoint. Do not worry to much about it, the primary differences are usually minor, often a lighter spring if it is a coil fork, possibly a shorter stem, but usually not a lot. Fits is the most important thing, so go to your local bike shop and see what she like in the price range. Anything from Trek, Giant, or Specialized will be good. Also this time of the year, dealers are starting to blow out 2007 bikes, so you should be able to find a $600-700 bike at your price limit.
 
Just get her out on a bunch of different bikes. Comfort is the key. You should be able to find a fine bike for under $500. I found mine at REI of all places after going to a few bike shops.
 
I agree on getting her out on several different ones to see what she thinks is comfortable, one problem is there is only 1 shop with high end bikes (Trek & Cannondale) within 3 hours of where I live. Another is price, you can come close to doubling the price to buy a Made in the USA bike so I was hoping to maybe buy one on my next trip to the States and bring it back. Thanks for the links and the recommendations, I'll check em out.
 
We bought my my ex-wife a Raleigh M80 about two years ago. It was in the mid $500's, I think, but I was really impressed with what you got for that price (including disk brakes). I didn't see it listed as a current model, but I'm sure there is something equivalent.

Here's the model she had:

http://www.raleighusa.com/items.asp?deptid=11&itemid=208

Might be worth taking a look.
 
Conex said:
I agree on getting her out on several different ones to see what she thinks is comfortable, one problem is there is only 1 shop with high end bikes (Trek & Cannondale) within 3 hours of where I live. Another is price, you can come close to doubling the price to buy a Made in the USA bike so I was hoping to maybe buy one on my next trip to the States and bring it back. Thanks for the links and the recommendations, I'll check em out.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't see anything wrong with buying a used bike either. I'd rather have a bad ass used bike for $500 than a brand new mediocre $500 dollar bike. Also I don't think their are to many bikes mad in the USA. Some of the frames are built in the USA but almost all the bikes are built and assembled in Asia.
 
I bought my wife a Devinci Cactus a couple years back. It came in a 14" frame with cable discs and a front fork of some sort. It was just under $700cdn. She's also 5'2", and it fits her perfectly.
 
Conex said:
Do any of you guys have recommendations on womens mountain bikes? I know the wife will ride it around the neighborhood, but I would like to get her into trail riding so I have someone to ride with and for exercise. Something under $500 that has middle of the road components and can handle a little bit of abuse without a ton of constant tweaking.
Click to expand...

For moderate use you can get a bike for less than $500.00. When we bought his and hers bikes in 1999 we got my wife a mens bike. The girls frames are just kinda silly since she will not likely ride in a dress. The brake lines on a girls frame make an extra unnecessary turn adding to wear over time.

Find a between $300.00 to $500.00 mens mountain bike. Trek, Giant and Raleigh all have great bikes at that price point.

:cheers:
 
cary said:
You don't want to be upgrading anything at your pricepoint. It will cost you $200 to ad discs. Unless you are riding in the wet, V-brakes work great for most women because of their light weight.
Click to expand...

I'm 200+ and my v brakes stop my wheels on a dime. Disc brakes are neat but not the most important upgrade. IMO.

I'd rather have a nice set of shocks or wheels.
 
atoyot said:
I'm 200+ and my v brakes stop my wheels on a dime. Disc brakes are neat but not the most important upgrade. IMO.

I'd rather have a nice set of shocks or wheels.
Click to expand...

It depends on where you ride. I rode Downieville about 4 years ago on a hardtail fisher with a Sid XC 80mm fork and V-brakes. I am a 225 pound clyde. The first thing I wanted were disc brakes because my arm pump was so bad after a while. V-brakes work fine in ideal conditions and short descents, but for longer and steep descents, disc make a huge difference.

I agree that for light riders, that usually discs move down the list of needed upgrades. BTW, her is my version of a womans mountain bike. The recipie was take a bunch of parts from other bikes, a Supergo (now Performance bike) Access XCL hardtail (nice light inexpensive hardtail frame) and build it up in a 24.5 pound bike that fits my wife.
H access Frame 002.webp
 
At the price point you’re looking at, disc brakes are junk, stay away from them. She’ll be much better off with a decent set of v-brakes then a cheap set of disk brakes.

Don’t get all caught up in the women specific bikes. There more of a marketing ploy then anything. The idea behind them is they have a shorter top tub/reach. The reality is that most of the women specific bikes in the price range that you’re looking at have the same frame dimensions as the unisex version. They may have a girly color, shorter stem or lighter weigh spring in the fork. If you get a unisex bike you should be able to have the shop you buy it from swap the stem, fork spring, ect. to your liking for no extra cost.

Just cus I got one for my chick a while back Id recommend Fisher marlin. Great bike for the cost (especial for me at $150 :D). There are many out there, get the one she feels most comfortable riding.
 
I agree on the good frame/ better components reasoning. I went to my local bike shop yesterday and he had 2 new mountain bikes for sale. Thats right........2. To his credit, its the rainy low season and he said he is waiting on the 2008's to show up the beginning of November.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom