Author Topic: New bike  (Read 1297 times)

New bike
« on: 09 February, 2020, 09:42:38 am »
Recommend a bike for my daughter. Ride with my 14 year old daughter around Graham Water. She borrowed a trekking bike and I was astounded at how fast she ascended uphill sections. Back at the bike centre she announced that she'd like a decent road bike for her birthday ( in two weeks). Narrowed it down to either a Cube Attain with full 105 7000 series with rim brakes or Cube Nuroad WSD with Tiagra and rep spyre cable discs. She wants speed and I'm thinking versatility. 5'9" fast runner ( her not me). Have other parents been in this quandary?

Re: New bike
« Reply #1 on: 09 February, 2020, 09:44:31 am »
She's 14, soon to be 15

Re: New bike
« Reply #2 on: 09 February, 2020, 02:18:21 pm »
I think a lot depends if you think she's done most of the growing and if she's gonna use the bike for going places or just rides if that makes sense. If it's the first be worth checking if can take racks etc

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: New bike
« Reply #3 on: 09 February, 2020, 02:25:21 pm »
Given the typical attitude of teenage girls to cycling, I'd be inclined to give her what she wants, on the basis she's more likely to ride it.

That said, rack mounting and room for wider tyres is always a good thing...

halhorner

  • Cycling Weakly
Re: New bike
« Reply #4 on: 09 February, 2020, 04:07:05 pm »
Sounds like you need to handicap her if you are to keep up, so perhaps something in gaspipe steel with marathon plus tyres?

Phil W

Re: New bike
« Reply #5 on: 09 February, 2020, 04:15:00 pm »
With pogo stick suspension and brakes stuck on for further handicapping.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: New bike
« Reply #6 on: 09 February, 2020, 06:08:12 pm »
Given the typical attitude of teenage girls to cycling, I'd be inclined to give her what she wants, on the basis she's more likely to ride it.

That said, rack mounting and room for wider tyres is always a good thing...

This, so much this.

Get her the best thing you can. The more fun it is to ride, the more likely it will be ridden. I am fed up with seeing people give up on cycling because they have started on a crap bike. I see it so often, guy bys gf a bike so she can come on rides, but he's not sure if she's going to enjoy it, so he gets her a cheap bike, so they go out, him on the lightweight di2 ultegra wonderbike, her on the 200 quid thing from decathlon. It doesn't fit great, it's hard to ride, and just not fun. She doesn't enjoy it, and thus it ends up in the shed, and eventually gets sold. I met one woman on a group ride a year or so ago "I never used to enjoy cycling until I tried a decent bike"

A bike that is fun and easy to ride will get ridden more. Don't skimp. If she grows out of it in a year, fine, sell it on, buy another bigger one.

If you can factor in that it can take mudguards and a rack, maybe she'll end up taking it to uni etc... too. But you have an opportunity here to either kill, or cultivate a life long love of cycling. One shit bike is all it needs to put someone off.

Oh, and get a really good lock, and make sure it's easy for her to use and take with her. You don't want it to get stolen.

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: New bike
« Reply #7 on: 09 February, 2020, 06:10:09 pm »
Of course, if you buy her a fast bike, and she gets really into it, she may end up wanting an n+1.

I'd call that a result.   :thumbsup:

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: New bike
« Reply #8 on: 09 February, 2020, 06:17:13 pm »
Of course, if you buy her a fast bike, and she gets really into it, she may end up wanting an n+1.

I'd call that a result.   :thumbsup:

Agreed!

And if you can't keep up with her, then maybe time to treat yourself to an ebike :p

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Davef

Re: New bike
« Reply #9 on: 09 February, 2020, 06:23:01 pm »
If she is also a runner tri is fun and perhaps different enough from what her dad does. Until you know what direction she is taking I would not spend too much - there are also bargains to be had second hand.


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Re: New bike
« Reply #10 on: 09 February, 2020, 07:48:04 pm »
Thanks for the replies. Having discussed this decision at length it looks as though I'm going to get her a Cube Nuroad women's specific bike. Tiagra, bottom gear is 34/34. As there are many bridleways and quiet roads we've decided on this bike. I can always put some 28 mm road tyres on if we decide to do more roadriding. The bike has bosses for mudguards and a four point rack. A salesman at Rutland tried to persuade us to buy a £500 hybrid with front suspension after I made it clear we wewr after a road bike. His reason was that was what they sell most of. We walked out.