What Bike To Start With?
 

Wife (54) would like to begin joining me on the bike. We're looking at a cross between commuter type riding, (3-4 days, 6 - 10 miles) week long camping trips (I'll pull the trailer with most of the gear) and some road biking (1 X week on paved riding trails 15 - 30 miles) Looking for a single bike that might work for this range of riding and would give her a comfortable experience. I welcome any suggestions on brand, specific type, etc. She's athletic but hasn't been an active rider for 25 years or more.

Congrats on having your wife interested in riding with you. There are several ways to approach this. A lot depends on your budget and what kind of bike she is most comfortable riding. I would take her to a bike shop and have her try several different bikes so she can decide if she likes a bike with an upright position and flattish handlebars or if she is comfortable with drop bars like a road or touring bike.
What kind of bike do you ride? She may want something similar (or not).

I would encourage you to think about the elements needed to perform all the functions you list. My thinking is that you'd want 700c wheels able to handle 23 to 35 mm tires; eyelets on the front and rear for mounting racks and fenders; at least two water bottle braze-ons; a triple crankset; and a steel, aluminum, or titanium frame as a starting point. Almost all other things (seats, handlebars, stems, etc.) can be switched out easily as your wife comes to learn what she likes/wants. My own bias is to consider a touring bike. While there are many bikes out there that will do much of what you want, the long camping trips almost scream for a touring bike. In fact, my thinking was much like yours several years ago, and I ended up with a Cannondale 800T touring bike. I still have the bike (along with many other since I've been bitten by the bike bug), and it worked well for touring, casual path riding, and some century road rides. It is currently doing duty as my daily commuter.

If interested in touring bikes, here are some websites to get you started:

http://www.salsacycles.com/fargoComp09.html
http://www.dawescycles.com/c-10-touring-bikes.aspx
http://www.bgcycles.com/blt.html
http://www3.cannondale.com/bikes/09/...odel-8TR1.html
http://www.rivbike.com/article/bike_...ing_vs_touring
http://www.bilenky.com/models.html
http://www.performancebike.com/bikes/ProductDisplay?storeId=10052&langId=-1&catalogId=10551&productId=1073310&cm_mmc=$(referrer)$-_-Bikes/Frames-_-FUJI-_-30-1281&mr:trackingCode=9C17BC46-A681-DE11-B7F3-0019B9C043EB&mr:referralID=NA
http://www.rei.com/product/784361
http://www.surlybikes.com/frames/cross_check_frame/
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/windsor/tourist.htm

Big problem in coming back after that length of lay off is getting BIKE-FIT. Same for any lengthy lay off really but The bike that may be suitable now- may not be suitable when the 2lbs of fat (Conservative over-estimate just so I don't get thumped) has gone off the thighs and been replaced by muscle.

Two things to remember- Get her to test ride as many bikes as she can just so she knows the Variations that are available. And N+1 is not just limited to the male of the species.

All good advice above. Getting bike fit, as Stapfam mentions, almost always involves enduring a little discomfort on the journey. This is normal and does not necessarily mean you have a faulty bike fit. IMO it is very unlikely you will find the perfect one for her on the first try: thus Stapfam's N+1 comment seems apt. Also IMO, people tend to err on the side of upright comfort type bikes and then often find that riding them for two hours or more is not that comfy. Good luck!

I agree with Stapfam and will add just a bit. I hope this is your wife’s idea and that she hasn’t felt pressured into it. If it is her idea then N+1 is a real possibility.
When I got back into cycling I was 60 pounds heavier and I went for a pure comfort bike. Giant Revive LX. Because it was so comfortable to ride I rode it every day. After a few months I got a MTB but I still rode my comfort bike every day and once in a while I rode the MTB on Saturday. I started riding some club rides with the trike and bent riders and after about 6 months I got a road bike. I built my first road bike a few months later. I could just as easily have gone to the MTB side but there is still N+1 and now my wife is riding as well. On a comfort bike.

Sounds like you're looking for a touring bike. Whether she prefers upright or drop bars is a secondary decision, but it sounds like a traditional tourer would suit all the purposes you list.

I am currently shopping for a new bike and seriously researching women specific design bikes. I have ridden a man's bike for over a year and it has been fine as I am tall and I had the the bike professionally fitted. However, I have ridden WSD at bike demos and instantly felt the difference. Her choices may be somewhat limited, but it may be well worth it to make sure she is comfortable on her bike if you wish to develop a long-term riding relationship with her.:love:
I have been warned that some manufacturers' idea of WSD is a pastel paint job, so do your research!
Good Luck and let us know what you decide!

I was thinking touring bike on first read because of the camping trips, but really, he says he will be carrying most of the load in a trailer. Not that a touring bike would not work well, but it may not be necessary to have a bike built for carrying a full load. That capability is good to have, but it usually comes at the price of more weight, slower steering and a less lively feel because of less compliant tubing. Something like the Salsa Casseroll (like mine) might be a good choice for carrying some stuff but not a full touring load.

But we are all just guessing at this point and could give a lot better advice if the OP would revisit his thread and give us more information to work with.

As if we've ever needed an OP to return to keep jabbering on with advice before!:lol:

Really; we can continue to talk someone into buying the bike we'd like next.

TANDEM!
That way you don't loose each other, get through the traffic light or up the hill at the same time.
My wife has ridden over 225,000 miles with me on tandem(s) in the past 32 years.
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Thanks for the thoughts, suggestions and humor, not sure what additional info would be helpful, know specific tail of the tape to share other then wife is 5'8" and pretty standard frame when it comes to legs, torso and arm length. A bike she was given many years ago has a top tube of 15" and she is very uncomfortable. We were down at REI and she was fitted on both a 17 and 19 with opposing opinions. The sales rep said said she matched the 17 perfectly and yet she was uncomfortable. Same bike in the 19" and she felt much better but rep felt she was stretching forward too far with her arms hyper-extended (didn't see that at all). By the way, this is totally her idea, I've actually tried to talk her out of it a bit, when we met I was on an 80 mile ride and on several early visits, I didn't stop by in my car, it was on my bike. She knows I went almost 6 months without using a car so the bike is more then just a fad with me and given all that, she still want's to give it a go. I'm excited to have her take such an interest in a passion of mine. Hope that helps a bit for those looking for more details. BB

If it were my wife in the lead dog position, I wouldn't mind the view at all.

My recommendation to 90% of newbies who buy bikes would be a road bike, because 90% never ride on surfaces where a mountain bike would be advantageous. (Okay, I'm generalizing and making sweeping, unsubstantiated statements. I realize that.) In your wife's case, since you mention that you would be interested in week-long camping trips, as well as commuting, and road-riding, it sounds like a touring bike would be the way to go.

Having said that, I've learned from personal experience with my daughter that my recommendations don't always stand up very well against her pre-conceived notions. She was convinced that drop handlebars made for an uncomfortable riding position, and that bar-end shifters were too hard to learn to use after she was used to grip shifters, so the beautiful, vintage Bianchi road bike that I built up for her sat unused, and when she went off to college she insisted on a (gasp!) comfort bike - a Trek with a step-through frame, suspension forks of dubious quality, a suspension seatpost, and a HUGE saddle. (She also wanted folding metal baskets on the back and a wicker basket for the front. The Trek frame is pretty light, and the components work acceptably well, but when we put all the racks on it it weighs a ton.)

However, she loves it and rides it. That's the difference.

So, when your wife decides on a bike, I advise making sure it's one she feels great about. If she's at all like my daughter, she'll be much more likely to ride it. Sure, suggest the bike that you think makes the most sense, but if she's resistant and wants to go in a different direction, honor that. If she gets bitten by the bike bug on a bike that isn't the best for what she wants, she'll likely get the urge to trade up, or do the N+1 thing.

Mostly I am looking for feedback on what she likes and why. What specific models of bike did she try at REI? Sounds like a MTB or hybrid based on the sizes you mentioned, inches rather than centimeters. 19" does sound pretty big for someone 5'8". I am 6'0" with a 34.5" true inseam and ride a 19" MTB which is closer to the upper limit of what would fit me than the lower limit. Road bike sizing is different. I ride a 58cm or just under 23" frame size road bike. What was it about the 17" bike that made her uncomfortable? Could it be something that could be adjusted? But ultimately, sizing is best worked out between her and whoever is fitting the bike for her.

Has she given a preference for handlebar type? I would want a bike with drop bars for the kind of riding you described (road, cyclocross, touring), but if she has a strong preference for flat bars, she should probably go that way (hybrid, fitness etc.). Some have suggested that it doesn't matter. While it is true that you can change from one style to another, with modern shifting systems, that is not as simple or inexpensive as it once was. There are many good bikes of either type that could do nicely, so I would go for the one that comes closest to being right in stock configuration. She can always go for a different configuration on her next bike. N+1 ;)

50 years ago I rode tandem with my sister, and we shared pilot/stoker positions. It only took a few minutes to adjust saddle heights (only a few seconds now with QR) - mark the seat post positions with permament maker.

A year ago last summer I decided to buy a folding bike to see if my wife would get back into cycling. Any time I would say that she just needed a lighter bike, she would reply that her bike needed a lighter engine. This newer and lighter bike would be ours unless she wanted it as her own, and it was something I could take along on an occasional trip if she didn't get into it. Pretty soon she was riding again and it was no longer our bike, so I bought something a bit more pricey that would keep up with the road bikes on my Tuesday group. If I had been psychic and I were just now buying bikes, I would get Bike Fridays, but her Dahon Speed D7 and my MU P8 with its added luggage rack are very serviceable.

Once we got going, we soon talked about accomplishing her childhood dream of riding the C&O Canal. In 2008 we rode the whole thing in two sections and in 2009 we rode the Erie Canal between Lockport and Palmyra and back. I only use my road bike as a backup now, because the folder is easier on tingling in my fingers and it is a simple matter to put it into the car.

AMTRAK is very folder friendly, as is our local light rail (MARC), so I rode alongside my folded bike to DC to get an AMTRAK senior discount one way out to Cumberland. Then I rode back to DC in four days, finding some time to fish along the way this time. For sheer versatility in travel, you can't beat a folding bike. If I could actually get it into non-oversized airport luggage, everything would be perfect.