Mountain Biking - how much does it need?

my girlfriend is talking about mountain biking with me, but I have a feeling that this might be one of those 3 or 4 rides and she deosnt want to do it any more sort of things. So I dont want to invest much in this endevor. I still have an old Trek 800 from when I was a kid. And I was wondering what do I have to do to this thing so that the bike cant be blamed if she dosnt like mountain biking? Im figureing new chain and cables. Its a 21 speed bike,with not so good components. The shifters are rather odd, they click like rapid fire shifters but only have the thumb part, push one way to up shift and push the other way to down shift. Should I put a cheap set of rapid fire shifters on there? That would mean an upgrade from 7 speed to 8 or 9 speed. The breaks should be fine right? it has cantaleaver brakes. Front fork isnt so good, but im not replacing that, not unless she gets into it.
Let me know what you guys think.

I would look into renting a couple of times. Riding a new bike is much more fun than an old beater. If you can rent a couple of times she could make a better dicision. She might really like it :)

If she fits on your bike, you should let her ride it, and you can ride the old beater!;)

yea she dosnt fit on my bike, the old one only fits her because I was aperently smaller when I was 13. 18" frame instead of the current 21" frame.

Wow, even an 18" frame is pretty big for most women. My wife is 5'6" and she rides a 15".

I didn't have to work too hard on getting my wife to ride. She's the type that doesn't like to be left out. When her brother got a bike, I got excited about he and I riding together. She asked, "Where's MY bike?".

The question you've got to ask is, "Does she really want to ride, or is she trying it out just for you?" If she's really interested, definately see about renting a quality bike. OR, find one you think you may buy for her and ask about a DEMO ride, not just a quick test ride. We've often Demo'ed bikes for serious customers.

L8R
L8R

well I just did the 24 hours of great glen, and she was working suport for us. The whole weekend got her kind of interested in biking, but im not sure if she will get into it or if she is just excited about it because she spent a weekend hanging out with bikers thinking, "I could do that"

She is also about 5'6", but a 15" frame seems awefully small. Ill have to put the wheels back on that bike and have her stand over it I guess.

Cool. The best thing you can do for your wife is to get her comfortable. When my wife wanted a bike, we test rode a myriad of bikes. We visited one shop three different times and kept going back to re-test ride one specific bike. That's the one we decided on. Even after close to 9 years owning it, and buying her a FS bike, she refuses to sell it. She loves that bike. We now use it with a child seat on the back to ride around the neighborhood.

If you wife has been introduced to the cycling culture and digs it, you're more than halfway there!

L8R

I finally talked my wife into riding with me on some easy trails and she really liked it. She likes hiking too and it's a little like hiking at times on easy trails. We're both real granolas anyway. It also gave her a first hand view of how much I enjoy it. She said "it matches your personality". Then we found out she's pregnant with our first child...no more riding for her for a while. We also figured out she was pregnant on that first ride too. Not even born yet and my baby's been out on the trail! I'll get 'em both back out there eventually. I think an introduction at her pace will result in the best results...depending on the personality of course.

Hey Bigbiker, my wife road until she was about 5 mos. pregnant. Not anything difficult mind you, but she road her mtn bike on easy trails, her road bike often, and walked a ton. She also kept riding on her trainer up until about 7 mos. She stayed so fit, when you looked at her from behind, you wouldn't know she was pregnant, (even during the final trimester) then she'd turn sideways and it was like, WOW, she's got a basketball or two under there!

L8R