Originally Posted by
liferider
I've been checking these out lately for my wife and I. She isn't much of a cyclist and these would mainly be for getting out on the MUP and some surrounding areas. She wants to go out and ride with me, but doesn't like to stray from the MUP.
When I take my road bike out on the MUP with her, it's hard to ride slowly and hang with her, so I end up taking my mountain bike instead. Right now she's riding a Specialized Rockhopper that I threw some slick tires on - but it's still a tank. I think she would have a much easier and enjoyable time on a bike that is 7-8 lbs. lighter, such as a flat-bar road bike.
I was looking at
Giant's Rapid series. Any thoughts?
I bought my wife a Blue RC-4 back in 2005. She loved it but complained that her shoulders would hurt from being so bent over and that she never would use the drops. Hum, I thought, maybe conversion of this to a flat bar bike... Sure enough, I put on the step and 27mm clamp bar that I took off my mountain bike when I upgraded it to 31mm, the XT rapid fire shifters that I replaced, and some borrowed brake levers. She loves it and it cost nothing for the upgrade other than some new grips.