Mountain bike for wife

The Engine Driver

No, not a swap............our problem is that our 11 year old daughter
is growing like a weed and is rapidly getting too tall for her 24 inch
wheel Specialized Hot Rock A1 FS. Whilst riding round Alton Water
yesterday she asked if she could try mother's Hard Rock and
immediately decided that it was the bike for her. Very slightly too
large at the moment but that situation will change within a month or
so.

So, new bike time, which we always find difficult. Budget is around
£400 and we are looking at Marin Bear Valley, Marin Coast Trail,
Specialized Myka Sport, Cannondale F6 and Scott Contessa 40. Anyone
got any views or experience of these? I tend to lean towards
Specialized as we've had good experience with them in the past, is the
Myka Sport Disc worth the extra dosh?

Our riding is generally as a family group, no outrageous stuff but the
two of us do sometimes sneak off to Rendlesham or Tunstall during the
week for a more strenuous thrash.

Doki

"The Engine Driver" <theenginedriver@tiscali.co.uk> wrote in message
news:atp814lrr1edmp6fopce5oinc5v1rog7it@4ax.com...
> No, not a swap............our problem is that our 11 year old daughter
> is growing like a weed and is rapidly getting too tall for her 24 inch
> wheel Specialized Hot Rock A1 FS. Whilst riding round Alton Water
> yesterday she asked if she could try mother's Hard Rock and
> immediately decided that it was the bike for her. Very slightly too
> large at the moment but that situation will change within a month or
> so.
>
> So, new bike time, which we always find difficult. Budget is around
> £400 and we are looking at Marin Bear Valley, Marin Coast Trail,
> Specialized Myka Sport, Cannondale F6 and Scott Contessa 40. Anyone
> got any views or experience of these? I tend to lean towards
> Specialized as we've had good experience with them in the past, is the
> Myka Sport Disc worth the extra dosh?

They're mechanical discs, so no. Hydraulic Deores may be worth having from a
maintenance point of view. Depends how fast you go through vee pads - I used
to through a set in an hour or two of riding sometimes. Stuff around that
price point is likely to be much of a muchness, so I'd go for what fits and
is light.

Peter Clinch

The Engine Driver wrote:
> No, not a swap............our problem is that our 11 year old daughter
> is growing like a weed and is rapidly getting too tall for her 24 inch
> wheel Specialized Hot Rock A1 FS. Whilst riding round Alton Water
> yesterday she asked if she could try mother's Hard Rock and
> immediately decided that it was the bike for her. Very slightly too
> large at the moment but that situation will change within a month or
> so.
>
> So, new bike time, which we always find difficult.

How about, oooh, a Specialized Hot Rock A1 FS? If she already likes
what she's got you can do a lot worse than replace it with the same.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net p.j.clinch@dundee.ac.uk http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Alan Braggins

In article <67ldnvF2pluriU2@mid.individual.net>, Peter Clinch wrote:
>The Engine Driver wrote:
>> No, not a swap............our problem is that our 11 year old daughter
>> is growing like a weed and is rapidly getting too tall for her 24 inch
>> wheel Specialized Hot Rock A1 FS. Whilst riding round Alton Water
>> yesterday she asked if she could try mother's Hard Rock and
>> immediately decided that it was the bike for her. Very slightly too
>> large at the moment but that situation will change within a month or
>> so.
>>
>> So, new bike time, which we always find difficult.
>
>How about, oooh, a Specialized Hot Rock A1 FS? If she already likes
>what she's got you can do a lot worse than replace it with the same.

I think he's saying his daughter is getting a used Hard Rock because
she's decided it was the bike for her, and his wife is looking for an
upgrade to her Hard Rock (which is about to become the daughter's).

Peter Clinch

Alan Braggins wrote:

> I think he's saying his daughter is getting a used Hard Rock because
> she's decided it was the bike for her, and his wife is looking for an
> upgrade to her Hard Rock (which is about to become the daughter's).

And my point in reply is /if/ the existing bike does everything required
of it, is an upgrade in order or would it be a simple case of spending
more to do things with little effective difference?

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net p.j.clinch@dundee.ac.uk http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Alan Braggins

In article <67lsqsF2pahnhU1@mid.individual.net>, Peter Clinch wrote:
>Alan Braggins wrote:
>
>> I think he's saying his daughter is getting a used Hard Rock because
>> she's decided it was the bike for her, and his wife is looking for an
>> upgrade to her Hard Rock (which is about to become the daughter's).
>
>And my point in reply is /if/ the existing bike does everything required
>of it, is an upgrade in order or would it be a simple case of spending
>more to do things with little effective difference?

What? _Not_ spend money which has been approved for a new bike? :-)

More seriously, your principle is sound, my point was that "a Specialized
Hot Rock A1 FS" isn't what the person getting a new bike has already got,
so replacing it with the same would actually be a second Hard Rock.
And the daughter isn't replacing hers with a larger one the same because
she's reportedly already decided the Hard Rock is the bike for her.

(If the wife is entirely happy with her Hard Rock, then keep it and buy
daughter a slightly smaller one now instead of waiting for her to grow
into the wife's would seem the obvious answer.)