Best womens hardtail for £500 - £800

[OliverAmoros]

Hi all
My female colleague is looking to her first MTB and wants to do some of the charity challenges and that sort of level riding.
Not knowing much about womens bikes I wonder if anyone has some advice. I expect going for a 2009 / 10 bike will be best but make-wise??? Does she even need a womens frame?

Cheers
Oli

 

[Globalti]

If she wants to do charity rides and not just off road riding, she certainly doesn't want an MTB. She would do better to buy a hybrid, which combines the lightness and speed of a road bike with the gearing and brakes of an MTB so it can cope with light off-roading as well. For general road riding and the occasional country lane she doesn't even need front suspension, which is additional weight, expense and complication.

Definitely go for a women's bike but NOT a step-through frame. These are a bad idea because the shape of the frame is weak in engineering terms and so has to be built with thicker tubing, meaning the ride will be harsh and unresponsive and it will weigh a ton.

For her, my ideal bike would be a lightweight hybrid, full rigid, with commuter tyres, mudguards, traditional two- triangle frame and a triple crankset, a good range of gears at the back and possibly disc brakes. At her budget, not wasting money on suspension forks she will get a superb bike. Anybody agree and got any suggestions?

 

[Muddyfox]

Does your friend want to ride MTB trails as well as doing the charity rides ?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

the requirement screams hybrid. Specialised Trek and Boardman do female friendly geometry frames. Whether she needs this depends on how she is... er... ahem... built. The last woman I helped to buy a bike was 5' 10" with a longer inseam than me. Go figure.