Originally Posted by
OUGrad05
She keeps telling me ok but don't spend a ton of money on her but the problem is she won't keep up if she has some heavy bike with awkward gearing.
Whether or not someone is able to ride with someone else is a matter that exists on a higher magnitude than typical quality-tier differences between road bikes. Don't go to Walmart, but don't make a fuss out of $1000 versus $3000 either.
Most of what matters a lot is configuration. It needs to fit. The person needs to like how it rides/feels/looks/whatever. It needs to have appropriate gears available for them to do the rides that they want to do. That doesn't take high quality tier, it just takes the right bicycle set up right.
Beyond that... make sure it's running fast tires. That
can make a big difference.
My bike isn't particularly fast and I'm not a particularly fast rider, it's a Roubaix Carbon (105 kit).
Your excuses for your performance are terrible. A 105-equipped carbon Roubaix is a great bike.
I would say that
you need to HTFU, but mostly you should stop excusing something that you don't need to excuse. You don't need to apologize to anyone for averaging "only" 18mph.
I guess if I was in a draft of people I might be a bit quicker but doesn't really matter for the sake of this conversation.
How fast you'd go in a draft may not matter, but drafting as a concept makes all the difference in the world. If you're riding with someone who's not as strong a cyclist as you are, that draft goes a long way toward helping them keep up. Even at 18mph.
I'd like to get her on a Synapse or Super Six Evo for women likely Carbon and at least Tiagra.
If you're shopping Tiagra-level, I wouldn't discount aluminum. Aluminum bikes that are sold at the same price point as carbon ones are usually similarly good.
Has anyone else encountered similar thoughts when trying to get their SO/Spouse into riding?
I don't have a spouse. But...
Get her a great bike if she wants a great bike, but mostly make sure that she gets a bike that she wants. And if she doesn't really want a bike, or she doesn't want to do the riding that you want her to do, then recognize that you might not accomplish much by having her get one.