WTB: Budget Full Suspension Trail Bike for Mrs. LWS

[John_B]

It would require having a bike but I believe Stevens does a free/cheap Ladies Night class on Fridays. I'm not sure the level of skill required or what the evening entails but that may be something worth looking into as well.

[TAFKALVS]

So far suggestions about bike park are not well received. We have trust issues from asymmetrical skiing abilities and terrain choices. She's worried about bike park being the same.

[mtngirl79]

Bring her to Bellingham and I'll take her around galby.. I'm even certified.

There's also a ladies thing coming up at stevens I think, and in the method. Follow Angie Weston, Lindsey Richter and womensfreeridemovement on instagram.

Seriously, though. Riding with women that shred is huge. Men just don't get it. No offense.

[SchralphMacchio]

^ Yeah I didn't consider proper framing of the idea when I recommended it ... All I can mansplain is that going to a clinic at the bike park is not the same as having long term goals to ride in the bike park. Maybe if you frame it to your wife that a clinic at the bike park is really like a class at the climbing gym: to learn basic moves and systems before going outside to do sport or trad. It's a very convenient place to work on skills in rapid order. Green and blue trails tend to be fun cruisers with very specific turn sequences and/or rock/root features that can be sessioned for skills. Up and down. All skills learned in the bike park are transferrable to trail riding.

Feel free to use my wife as an anecdote if you want ... 4-5 years ago she bought a crappy $400 hardtail after we started dating because she "wasn't sure how long this would last" (still not sure if she was referring to either the relationship, or the bike ...). I got her into it on mellow trails, we started doing some shuttle laps in places that she really enjoyed but the bike would beat her up and vice versa. I mean, mechanical single-piston disc brakes (single-push onto rotors from one side only), cheap hubs/headset/bottom bracket (grinding bearings), hard tail bouncing off any roots or rocks. 2 years later, after she was willing to get a nicer bike, I bought her a FS MTB and she really enjoyed it. She loved how light and easy to pedal the Mojo was, and it gave her more confidence but it didn't fundamentally change her approach to riding. She would still walk the same features, not pushing her speed in "light tech" areas where she had good runout and visibility, still riding on the saddle way too much, etc.

After 2 days at the Trek Women's camp @ Whistler, she would ask me, "wait, let's stop here, can I try this again?" And she would really focus on "pointing my boobs" or "elbows and hips" etc through specific features. She said that camp made following me on our trail rides 100x more fun, and it changed her focus while riding from "keep moving because I'm taking too long" to "let me figure out how I can do this better (as long as it's not tooo scary)."

At the end of the day, an efficient XC oriented bike like the Camber sounds like it will make your wife's experiences more enjoyable, and it might be the right kind of frame + geo for what she wants as well ... But, and I know I'm totally generalizing, I think it's likely that unless your wife is already eager to push her limits on her own - it takes something like a couple of these types of womens specific clinics for her to really open her eyes to see the things she wants to take on, that she thinks will be Type 1 + 2 fun for her, and how she can progress to getting there.

[SchralphMacchio]

Also, our suggestion is that she is not riding with you at the bike park. She would ideally be riding with others with similar-to-slightly better skills and learning a million things while you do your own thing and drink beer. Asymmetry removed.

[funkendrenchman]

You're not wrong but this is why multiple people are repeatedly suggesting the DB bikes--because they are BY FAR the best value out there. Nothing else even comes close for the price.

This.....

[mtngirl79]

https://www.evergreenmtb.org/methowcelebration

[jono]

There are two options: you can get her a bike with a dropper post, or you can budget to add one on. See other thread.

I really want to disagree with Mtngrl about hard tails, but she makes a strong case. All I got on that is: if she thinks she'll enjoy FS/HT more then she's probably right. My wife got faster when she upgraded to longer, slacker, bigger wheels and longer travel and the smile got bigger, too. She still walks some of the same things, but she's gotten more confident and she tries more, too. I put most of this down to feeling comfortable on the bike, which has more to do with tires than you might guess. Good news is that you can replace those, bad news is she might want kind of expensive ones.

My wife did fall in love with an Evil last fall, so there might be a small Yeti SB-95 available in your price range later in the year if that's of interest.

[John_B]

https://www.evergreenmtb.org/methowcelebration

If you both come up for this I'd shown you around some of the other trails up here. You may have to pedal a bit though.

[mtngirl79]

I want to get out your way to ride, but I can't that weekend... I do have weekend off this summer, though.

And I can pedal. Slowly. Lol.

[Jonny Snow]

She needs one of these:

http://forums.mtbr.com/weight-weenie...d-1075642.html

Really nice build.

[Dantheman]

Yeah, that's totally something you might find used for a grand. How high are you?

[RootSkier]

She needs one of these:

http://forums.mtbr.com/weight-weenie...d-1075642.html

Really nice build.

Wow, that thread is dumber than this one.

[Dantheman]

Just bumping this to point out that altachic was passing folks left and right on her "unclimbable" 31.5 lb Clutch 2 going up Armcone (3k vert) yesterday.

[altachic]

Just bumping this to point out that altachic was passing folks left and right on her "unclimbable" 31.5 lb Clutch 2 going up Armcone (3k vert) yesterday.

This is true...and it was awesome.
I heart the Clutch SO much..and I do a good amount of climbing.