cuffydog

A few weeks ago, some of you gave me excellent advice regarding my attempt to find the best hybrid-type bike for a commute that entails extremely steep hills. I followed that advice, at least in terms of gearing, retrofitting my fifteen-year-old reynolds steel custom-made frame with mountain bike gearing and upright handlebars and it is amazing. I'm going up 15+ grades, which I could never do before. (In my original post I was keen on a step-through frame, but eventually gave that up.)

Now I find myself in the market for a bike for my 13 year old daughter, who will be riding to school on those same hills. The bike I'm looking for will be upright, with mountain bike gearing (11-34T/44/32/22),be able to take a rack, have no front suspension and weight no more than 25lbs. Does such a bike exist? Is there a bike that comes close and could be retrofitted to do this?

Thanks.

slvoid

As long as the frame can do it, any bike will work.

cuffydog

I'm hoping to get something off-the-rack, if possible.

ceridwen

What price range? How tall is she? Is the comfortable changing gears and using brake levers? What brands are available in the stores in your area?

If she's ~4'10" or taller and you have a reasonably generous price range, sure.

If she's still really short or you don't want to spend more than $200 bucks, maybe not.

Cyclist0383

Check out the Jamis line of bikes. One of the Coda bikes might be just what you are looking for.
https://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/bikes/06_coda.html


Or the Kona Smoke might fit the bill.
https://www.konaworld.com/shopping_ca...5&parentid=182

ceridwen

I will point out now, I think you need to pick the bike based on every other spec but the crankset, and then have them change out the crankset for you (to a 44/32/22 one). That will give you many many more options than if you only look for bikes with a 44/32/22 off the rack. Pretty much everything that fits your other specs comes with a trekking (48/38/28) crankset. It should not be a big deal for the LBS to switch it out though.

jimmythefly

Specialized Sirrus. The size XS or S should work great, I know a guy who has one for each of his daughters. Cheaper ones come with steel forks, then aluminum, then carbon fiber. The carbon-forked bikes are by far the lightest. Downside is that they come with road gearing, so you'll have to do a lot of component switching, which you seem familiar with!

cuffydog

To answer the questions: She is tall--about 5'8", mostly legs. She rides a mt. bike with thumb shifters and recently did a five day bike trip (about 40 miles a day) on what seemed to be a comfort-type bike we rented in France. In addition to riding to school, we'll be doing more bike touring closer to home. I was hoping not to spend more than $500. I visited two LBS in the past week, one which carries Kona and Jamis, the other which carries Trek and Marin. In both cases they were out of every bike I was interested in and said that they could do a special order, which doesn't really help me. I'm guessing we'll have to drive pretty far to test out bikes, but I'd really like to narrow it down before we do that. (On the other hand, bicycleblowout has the Jamis Coda Sport (a steel bike) for $479.) thanks.

ken cummings

www.terrybicycles.com And get her an outfit and handlebar tape that matches her eyes/skintone.

cuffydog

The Terrys are mostly road bikes, aren't they--she won't go near a road bike, can't deal with the shifters or the riding position. Also, I thought the Terrys were best for shorter women.

tsl

Actually, Terry makes a model that fits the specs exactly and is only $550.

https://www.terrybicycles.com/cycling_savvy/susanb.html

And it cmes in sizes to fit women up to six feet.

ceridwen

Wow, she's gonna be tall!

Since she is plenty tall enough and is comfortable with an adult style bike where shifting and braking are concerned I think the problem becomes more or less the same as if she were an adult of her size. Keeping in mind that she is likely to grow a bit more I'd say buy the biggest frame that is comfortable, rather than the smallest. Just don't get a bike that is too big to be comfortable.

Have her tell you what she likes and does not like about her MTB and look for bikes that fit the bill. If you can't find the models you want in your area, check and make sure that none of the models they do have in stock use the same frame (or a very similar one) as what you want. I could not find anyone who stocked the Bianchi Volpe I wanted, but did find a Castro Valley (same frame) to test ride.

If she is all leg she may be more comfortable on a WSD bike, even though she isn't short. The coda and smoke are good options. Take a look at the Trek fitness series of bike (FX) as well. I would not worry so much about the exact number of the weight, rather make sure she feels comfortable with the weight of the bike.

cuffydog

TSL--you are RIGHT. It is exactly the bike I've described. That's amazing. Now, to find one to try out.

Ceridwen: She's 13 and I think may not grow more than another inch. She's definitely slowed down this past year. The Mnt bike is way too small (though I just put a stem extender on it and raised the seat about six inches and both really help, but the real problem is that it is extremely heavy, with knobby tires, and is a pain to ride any distance on the road. She loved the bikes we rode in Europe--liked the upright geometry and the fact that the distance between the seatpost and the handlebars was comfortable--but she said that if she were to get a new bike she'd like it to be lighter. (They weighed in the neighborhood of 32 lbs, without the full panniers.

She has not been keen to ride to school because of the hills, so I am trying to find something that will encourage her...

godspiral

She might not want to ride to school if going up is getting there instead of comming back home.

weight weenieness definitely makes much more of an impact with 110lb girls than it does with overweight guys. I found the Giant FCR3 was way better/faster/easier to climb than all the bikes $100 less than it (trek, specialized, kona).

My wife and 12 year old both like dancing on the pedals up hills more than spinning, so I'd focus more on weight than gearing for them. They're still at the stage where they get off and walk big hills though.

cuffydog

True enough about riding up those hills. Oddly, the hills coming home are even harder. (Go figure) We live in the mountains, so everything is up and down. Or, rather, way up and way down. The Terry is 24 lbs, which, so far, is the lightest of the hybrids. She'll have her books, and lunch, and stuff, plus a pannier, so that's got to add another five pounds at least, but I'll also look at the Giant bikes, too.

jyossarian

Jeez, she's taller than me! I'm jealous!

Take a look at the Sirrus. My wife has a Kona Smoke which is great, but it's also heavy and may not suit her hill climbing needs.

cuffydog

At the moment I'm leaning towards the Terry Susan B. It has 26" wheels, not 700c. I'm guessing that this won't make a whole lot of difference, right, since she's not riding for speed. Does anyone know anyone who rides a Susan B?

ellenDSD

Is it true that the tire diameter will create that much of a difference? I've heard so many conflicting comments that I'm not sure what to think...

jyossarian

26" wheels are usually for mtbs so they take wider tires than 700c which is usually for road bikes which take narrower tires. The smaller the contact patch, the less rolling resistance, thus less pedal effort. For the same effort, you can go faster on narrower tires, all else being equal.

CBBaron

The difference between 26" and 700c is not going to make much difference in speed providing the tires are similar. Bikes designed around 26" tend to have plently of clearance for wide tires and there are a number of wide slicks and semi-slicks available. The selection of skinny slicks is more limited but there are some good tires available. 700C bikes tend to have little clearance for wider tires especially with fenders, but there are exceptions. There is a very good selection of skinny tires available for 700c and a number of slightly wider tires available for touring bikes.
As for fat vs. skinny tires a high quality fat tire at high pressure actually has lower rolling resistance than an equivalent skinny tire at the same pressure. However skinny tires usually allow higher pressures which is why they usually roll better. However skinny tires ride rougher and make it more likely you will pinch flat or damage your rim if you are hitting lots of potholes, curbs, RR tracks, etc.
For a climb like you describe and if she is completely against drop bars consider a flat bar road with a replaced crankset. Weight will make a big difference especially if she is fairly light. I would expect you could find something in the 20-22lb range.
Craig

cuffydog

My original idea was to go with the flat bar lightweight bike and replace the crankset, but I'm thinking now that the two or three pounds on that bike, versus the 24 lb Terry might be negligible since she's not that light--about 130 lb at 5'8". My bike, with roughly the same components, weighs around 24 lb and I'm doing okay on the hills. Of course, I'm not hauling books and lunch, etc. Any suggestions for a very light, flat bar bike that could take a replaced crankset?

cuffydog

Okay, folks, now I am really confused. I just got off the phone with a guy who has a couple of Terry's to sell who is so down on them he made me rethink the whole thing. He says that the shifters are junk (and would have to be replaced) and that he thinks that for the money Terry bikes are overpriced for what they are. And I was just settling into the idea of buying one. I'm still leaning that way because he'll give me a deal, about $400 for a new bike (with a set of rapid fire shifters). The cons: I can't try the bike; it's 24 lbs; it has 26 inch wheels. The pros: good price (unless it's a bad bike); it weighs less than the Treks, the Kona Dew, and the Sirrus; it's got really good gearing; it's steel. Does anyone know anyone who rides one of these? On paper it seems perfect, but this guy was very very down on the Susan B and Terry more generally.

CBBaron

I don't know anything about Terry bikes but I have no problem with any of the components listed for the Susan B. It actually seems like a pretty good value to me. I like the 4130 frame and Deore level components, the Marathon tires are excellent tires, much better than is usually speced by OEMs. I'm not a big fan of rapidfires but most people seem to perfer them. What was the guy trying to sell you? I don't think your going to do alot better to meet your needs at this price range.

Craig

cuffydog

Craig, believe it or not, he was not trying to sell me anything. He just felt that he had to be honest and tell me that he couldn't move the bikes because everyone who tried one disliked the ride, because of the weird shifter/brake set-up. Though he told potential customers that he could swap the shifters and brakes for an additional $35+, they did the math, realized they'd be spending $600, and either decided to get a cheaper bike or a bike that retailed for $600. In theory he thought I'd be better off going with a lighter bike (20 lb-ish) and changing the cogs and crankset, but he wasn't recommending any particular one. I'm still inclined to go with it. I think it's a better bike than the Trek 7.5 FX, which would cost me a lot more.

ch9862

+1 on all counts.
I know nothing about Terry bikes either, but this one seems to fit OPs ideas like a glove. Really - just slap on fenders if you want, but otherwise don't change a thing! If I were to spec a rigid fork hybrid, it'd look the same.

Others may know more though.