Bike advice

Seems to be the season for asking advice on bike purchasing :-)

My fiancee wants to get a bike (yeah!), thing is she tops the scales,
well a gentleman doesn't get too specific but you get the idea.

She's a preference for a hybrid, any recommendations? Prefer not to go
over $1500.

Is it worth getting the wheels rebuilt right from the get go, the rear
one at least?
--
Cheers
Euan

eb wrote in
:

Is it worth getting the wheels rebuilt right from the get go, the rear
one at least?

She'd have to be a really hefty wench to need specially rebuilt wheels.
Bike wheels are very strong so just ask the bike shop to make sure the
spokes are properly tensioned and you'll be fine.

Graeme

Greetings,
Answer is Yes on the rear wheel. Get stainless steel
spokes put in, mine started twanging after a year.
Regards,
Ray.

eb wrote:

Seems to be the season for asking advice on bike purchasing :-)

My fiancee wants to get a bike (yeah!), thing is she tops the scales,
well a gentleman doesn't get too specific but you get the idea.

She's a preference for a hybrid, any recommendations? Prefer not to go
over $1500.

Is it worth getting the wheels rebuilt right from the get go, the rear
one at least?

eb Wrote:
Seems to be the season for asking advice on bike purchasing :-)

My fiancee wants to get a bike (yeah!), thing is she tops the scales,
well a gentleman doesn't get too specific but you get the idea.

She's a preference for a hybrid, any recommendations? Prefer not to
go
over $1500.

Is it worth getting the wheels rebuilt right from the get go, the rear
one at least?
--
Cheers
Euan

Here is some advice from experience:

(1) Don't spend lots of money - it probably won't get ridden that much.
If it does, she can upgrade later.

(2) Get a bike that has enough adjustment so it fits you as well - you
never know when you might want to nip down to the shops for some milk.
Oh yes, you might want to have some kind of detachable basket or
something to carry the milk.

(3) Use the existing wheels and spokes, stress relieve and tighten the
spokes if they aren't tight enough. Cost = $0

(4) Spokey dokeys and streamers are optional

A nice new bike, even a relatively cheap one is good fun for the SO,
but my SO is too scared of the roads (fair enough), so we tootle about
on bike paths once in a while.

Ritch


--
ritcho

Graeme wrote:

eb wrote in
:

Is it worth getting the wheels rebuilt right from the get go, the rear
one at least?

She'd have to be a really hefty wench to need specially rebuilt wheels.
Bike wheels are very strong so just ask the bike shop to make sure the
spokes are properly tensioned and you'll be fine.

Graeme

i'd have to agree. i weigh around 93 kg and have had no probs with my
wheels over the years, including a year long stint as a bicycle courier
in my younger days.

if her wheels are well made and she learns to stand on the pedals when
riding over major bumps then they should last for years with little or
no maintenance.

my current bike is an avanti hybrid has not had the wheel's trued since
leaving the factory. over the past four years i've done some reasonable
length tours and off road rides as well as general commuting on it. it's
had no broken spokes and the wheels are still quite true.

peter
--
Peter McCallum
Mackay Qld

eb wrote:

Seems to be the season for asking advice on bike purchasing :-)

My fiancee wants to get a bike (yeah!), thing is she tops the scales,
well a gentleman doesn't get too specific but you get the idea.

She's a preference for a hybrid, any recommendations? Prefer not to go
over $1500.

Hard tail mtb that allows for fat tyres, which you can pump hard.

You would really have to be indiscrete and let us know how much she
weighs to be more specific. I'm now 120kg (unfortunately) and swapped
to 2.25" tyres on the mtb I ride around the street because I also hit
20-40kms in places and my LGA engineers are incompetent; aka pram
culverts with 3" lips, etc. the 1.75" were okay if I restricted my speed
to a crawl.

I would suggest a basic economical bicycle for a start (~$500-$750) then
save rest for a good brooks wide leather ladies, lights and panniers,
etc. apart from the seat, stuff you could use if she doesn't ride. And
good cycling shorts and chafing cream.

If she can easily ride regularly, aka good off road route, then it can
be a really good form of exercise, but as someone else pointed out, SO
that feel it is dangerous can tie up good bicycle hardware {:-).




Is it worth getting the wheels rebuilt right from the get go, the rear
one at least?

If you are doing it, then yes. 4x gives a nicer ride.
If you are going off road/bush tracks, then I recommend steel rims for
longer life.
Otherwise, I would just save my money. (I can always use the buckled
ones for trailer wheels {:-)

Terry Collins wrote in news:41099840.F0A7B241
@woa.com.au:

If you are going off road/bush tracks, then I recommend steel rims for
longer life.

Of who? The wheels or the rider? Steel wheels (in my experience at least)
seem to bend at the rim easier than aluminium alloy (hitting rocks/kerbs
wrongly), plus they are useless in the wet for braking (which is reasonably
likely if you go off road).

Graeme

Graeme wrote:

Terry Collins wrote in news:41099840.F0A7B241
@woa.com.au:

If you are going off road/bush tracks, then I recommend steel rims for
longer life.

Of who? The wheels or the rider? Steel wheels (in my experience at least)
seem to bend at the rim easier than aluminium alloy (hitting rocks/kerbs
wrongly),

Well, that is counter to my experience. If a steel rim buckles, it
usually does so over 4+ spokes, which means it is possible to work the
buckle out and get another use out of the rim. Whereas aluminium rims
buckle over 1 spoke which gives you no way of pulling the buckle out.

The information was given in the context. If it is your bicycle, you
will do what you want to. I doubt his fiance is going to go rock
hopping, or bunny jumping through the bush.

Terry Collins wrote in news:4109F6B3.AC265D22
@woa.com.au:

Well, that is counter to my experience. If a steel rim buckles, it
usually does so over 4+ spokes, which means it is possible to work the
buckle out and get another use out of the rim. Whereas aluminium rims
buckle over 1 spoke which gives you no way of pulling the buckle out.

I was thinking more of "rim dings" than buckles, the kind that make your
brakes catch at one point on the rim. However my personal experience with
steel versus alloy may be down to improving technique, i.e. I had steel
wheels as a kid/teenager and I could almost certainly have treated them
better and when I got alloy wheels I was better at unweighting/jumping
over obstacles.

The information was given in the context. If it is your bicycle, you
will do what you want to. I doubt his fiance is going to go rock
hopping, or bunny jumping through the bush.

:-) True. But it's not the rock hopping I'd be concerned about, it's the
"There's a small rock/kerb. Never mind, my fancy new bike is built to
handle them." *WHACK* "Oops. Darling, is the wheel meant to look like
that?" - type of situation. It happens, I've seen it a number of times
with rather hacked off looking cycling partners riding slowly alongside
someone pushing their bike saying something like "But it was only this
tiny wee rock!"

Really, either way, it's a case of ensuring that a little bit of
education is given on the way to approach such hazards before it ever
becomes an issue.

Graeme

Peter McCallum Wrote:[color=blue]
Graeme wrote:


my current bike is an avanti hybrid has not had the wheel's trued
since
leaving the factory. over the past four years i've done some
reasonable
length tours and off road rides as well as general commuting on it.
it's
had no broken spokes and the wheels are still quite true.

peter
--
Peter McCallum
Mackay Qld

If this is the case, in all probability the wheels had a fair looking
at in the shop when they assembled the bike. Bikes of $1000 usually
come out of the box a little wonky, and need a tweak. Avanti are
probably the only company making bikes around this price that use
decent spokes, guaranteed not to go twang in a year or two.


--
mfhor