Ladies bikes

i probably should have mentioned that it has to look nice if shes going to ride it often, she just wouldnt want to ride an ugly bike. bit materealistic but shes not really (yet) a bike rider and a nice looking bike im hoping will make her want to ride more. i want to make it custom and have her name on it and shit. my budget is as little as possible but realistically £250 maybe pushing to 300, which is more than ive ever spent on my bikes which are basically cobbled togather from old/spare parts.

went to my LBS today and she tried out a bunch of bikes. she imediatly swooned over a cruiser/chopper style bike but didnt really like riding them as shes 5'10" and they were real slow. she had a go on a langster SS and really liked it so i think the fear of "scary racers" has disapated which is good news. i think im going to build somthing similar to Eds bike but with a freewheel and brakes as she didnt like the coaster brake on one of the choppers she tried. i however thought it was sweet and ordered one in for myself.

im not sure on the frame. dont know whever to get a ladies frame or not, but it doesnt seem to bother her really so ill probably get diamond. ideally id like somthing like this 3rensho but thats fucking unlikely. id like the bike to be classic looking but she really likes orange and purple so it could end up being quite HHSB.
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shes already got a basket and bell she wants to put on the front.

it was wierd today going to a shop to try bikes, in a odd kind of way it felt like i was getting engaged, which for bike geek like myself it virtually was. ive never really planned to spend this much money on someone else, i dont even spend this much on myself.

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alot more love goes into building a bike than walking into a shop and getting one off the peg. ask veLLo for a pic of his gf's cycle that he built. i dont think it came close to 300.00 and looks special. he even painted her initials descretly on the headtube and seat stay tops ............ now that kind of effort gets ponts and prizes

............ now that kind of effort gets you laid

it sure is

i probably should have mentioned that it has to look nice if shes going to ride it often, she just wouldnt want to ride an ugly bike. bit materealistic but shes not really (yet) a bike rider and a nice looking bike im hoping will make her want to ride more. i want to make it custom and have her name on it and shit. my budget is as little as possible but realistically £250 maybe pushing to 300, which is more than ive ever spent on my bikes which are basically cobbled togather from old/spare parts.

£250-300 is what the missus bike would cost had I not chosen the better component, welding job, sandblasted, powdercoated with extra (glitter), velo orange front rack, brand new brooks saddle, Surgino crank etc.

the bike for my missus cost about £450ish, take away the unnecessary change (track end, removing blaze on - £75, front rack - £60, brooks saddle - £56, brooks handlebar tape - £30, Surgino crankset and BB - £65 etc.) and you can easily make it look as great as mine does for less.

my missus isn't a cyclists, she just want to get from A to B comfortably and quicker than walking or taking the tube and not paying a penny, she disliked her Brompton because the way it handle and it's spongy suspension, which cause her not to ride it that often (3 miles a week or less), but now she have a bike that's light, simple, straighforward, not ugly, etc. she end up riding everyday now.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh167/edscoble/-2-3.jpg

even when we're going out to Pho to have some nice pho, which is only a 5 minutes walk, she want to take the bike.

to stay under budget, this is what I recommended;

powdercoating with glitter paintjob and sandblasting - £60 (otherwise £45 without glitter).
crankset - £20
BB - £10
coaster brake hubs - £20
headset - £10, or free if reuse.
rims - £20 (cheap mavic is more than enough to last a while)
if you have a front wheel, polish it up and put it on like mine.
tyres - £13 from Condor
etc. etc.

Did you fit the tyres yourself Ed? ;-)

oi, let not get off topic!

woah ed, that is a very nice bike! congrats

what crankset are you using for £20? is a crank that cheap going to be any good/rugged enough?

Any cheap crank will be fine, there's a crank the bikefix site with chainguard too, check it out, I would give you the link but I'm on a mobile device.

The brompton crankset were a cheap stronglight one that you can get for cheap too, unless you're always abusing your bike, it should be reliable enough.

edscoble, that's the prettiest thing I ever saw (kitchen ain't bad niver)

PS I got my missus a 1970s Raleigh Caprice in pink (like this), 3-speed beauty, for about £35 off eBay.

she love it

that's a fantastic bargain and buy, you don't even need top change anything!

Just found this thing on eBay- my girlfriend wants a new bike but isn't confident enough to go down the fixed route.... I guess it's a bit 'unipack' but it's dirt cheap and with a new saddle and some tweaking it might be ok? Anyone seen one in the flesh??

from the picture it look reasonably decent, is it a mass produced bike? can't you give us anymore information on it?

@ Ed, very nice work man. real beauty.

+1, I love it, taste and style.

Ed's missus' bike is fantastic, everything a ladies' bike should be. I'm with Tricity and others on the subject of OTP ladies' bikes being too heavy these days. If you're trying to get across town quickly there's always a flight of steps you need to carry your bike up (particularly if you're going down the river) and those beasts are a nightmare for that. Falling backward down the steps on London bridge under the weight of one of those will do some serious damage.

Ladies' step through frames weren't always so heavy. I rebuilt a Raleigh Mixte (sometimes called Misty) for a friend before Christmas and it was almost as light as my Surly. I've seen a few since that have been stripped and powdercoated and look the bomb. Just thinking about it now makes me think maybe I should get hold of one and start a new project.

Does anyone remember a thread selling an orange colour girl's frame? it'd been advertised about a year back, and a few weeks ago someone was asking if it was still going. I've tried searching but can't seem to pick it up.

I'm thinking of one of a Soma Buena Vista for my missus. Birthday in August - if she's luicky it will be an early present.

Ed, that is a gorgeous bike.

Does anyone remember a thread selling an orange colour girl's frame? it'd been advertised about a year back, and a few weeks ago someone was asking if it was still going. I've tried searching but can't seem to pick it up.

http://www.londonfgss.com/thread20634.html

Damn, I wish the old **skool hooligans **were made a bit smaller.

This is the bike I built up (with help) for my GF, she is pretty happy with it, I still want to change the brake levers but Its a good simple SS....

http://www.londonfgss.com/thread20634.html

Thanks Ed but it wasn't this thread. The one I was after was over a year old but more recently someone had posted on it it asking if the bike was still for sale. twas an orange girl's frame with matching risers and tyres.