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is that if the step through city bike type efforts are going to be laborious on a countryside spin it'll just result in both of them having a bad time)
why do you think that is going to be the case.??
my partner has ridden bikes of all types all her life but loves her step through city bike for rides in the city, along the South downs way etc etc.
do not dismiss them out of hand.
one city bike atop Firle Beacon
My colleague's wife had a bad car accident a few years ago and hasn't been able to get back on a bike since, she thence sold her road bike and is currently bikeless.
She's keen to try an e-bike as a way of getting back out so I was hoping for a few suggestions of what might suit her.
They live in the countryside so rides would be country roads (some poor surfaces) and a smathering of hills too.
The nature of her injuries has her very keen to have a low top tube or even step through although I suspect anything that falls into this category will have horrible handling and weigh a tonne as they'll be more city bikes than anything else? I think she has had a few efforts at her road bike before selling it and the top tube criteria is more of a "would be nice" rather than a necessity...
Geometry wise she'd like to be sat up a little bit more but again, I'm conscious she used to cycle a bit and don't want to recommend something that will be horrible to ride and she'll end up hating once the novelty of getting out on it at all wears off...
My best suggestion is either something like Specialized Vado SL
or Cannondale Topstone Neo Carbon Lefty
Is there any use looking towards anything like the Specialized Como for countryside spins? Also worth noting her husband is a keen cyclist and will be riding with her so trying to aim for something that would keep the two of them as closely matched as possible (probably poorly described but what I mean is that if the step through city bike type efforts are going to be laborious on a countryside spin it'll just result in both of them having a bad time)