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  • Hello. A friend of mine has recently graduated and been given a gift by her father to buy a new bike. She's about 5'6, does a lot of cycling (about an hour each way to/from work for at least the past year) and is thinking of doing a bit of touring later this summer. However, she doesn't actually know very much about bikes and when I asked her what she was thinking of she showed me this link:

    How would you respond, and what would you recommend? The budget is around 500 quid (she's not actually in the UK, so that's a rough conversion from euros) and I guess she might buy a new lock too, but she's got lights, helmet etc so doesn't need to get all the accessories.

    Thanks!

  • Rather overpriced for what it is and not really suitable for touring. Depending upon her route it could do as a commuter, but it's more suited to popping down the shops on, rather than an hour each way.

    The dynamo is useful, but everything else is pretty budget and rather tired. Seven gears at the rear mean it has a freewheel rather than cassette and a triple chainset can be overwhelming: every time I have to work on one of these sort of bikes (town/mixte/"lifestyle"), it has only ever been ridden on one ring.

    What does she currently ride and where is she? I'm going to take a wild guess at France, in which case she should head to Decathlon: great value for money and sensible spec.

  • Based on what you've written, I'd want drop handlebars (the variety of hand positions provide relief from fatigue on long rides), a compact chainset (same range as a triple but less complicated and less likely to throw the chain on a clumsy shift) and a steel frame with mounts and clearance for mudguards and at least 28mm tyres.

    Finding a new steel frame that's not stupidly heavy for that money could be difficult, more likely she'll be looking at an aluminium frame with carbon forks which would do well.

    I'd keep a little over for a new saddle too: it's evens that she won't get on with the OE. All the women I know use saddles with cutouts.

    You might also ask here: https://www.lfgss.com/microcosms/542/

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