Trail bike for my wife?

**jono** · 11-12-2005, 09:40 PM

So I'm looking for a light trail bike for my wife--maybe 'trail bike' is pushing it a bit, since she's not going to be pounding on it at all. She is currently riding a 5 year old full suspension URT that weighs as much as a lot of DH bikes. She mainly just does XC on it, but she goes farther/faster with suspension, and she does clean some little pieces of Gooseberry on it; she's not going back to a hard tail. I have a Jekyll and I'm kind of thinking of a Rush, but what else would you consider in the $1000-$1500 range that compares favorably with a Rush 600 as a starting point? Thanks!

jono

**Particle** · 11-13-2005, 12:02 PM

I've been wanting to do the same thing for my wife. She's been riding an old Scott hardtail with a SID and full XC-racer setup...meaning it's light but not very comfy to ride. She loves her townie cruiser and I keep telling her modern bikes are more like cruisers in the riding position...so I really want to get her a nice slacked-out trail bike.

The one I've been eyeing for her is the Iron Horse MKIII. You can get the basic level one for around $1400 I think.

**bklyn** · 11-13-2005, 01:04 PM

Threads like these convince me I need a husband.
Sweet of you to get her a new & nicer bike.

**DerJaeger** · 11-13-2005, 01:48 PM

How about a Kona Dawg? They're suprisingly light (~32lbs, I think), yet are still a pretty robust bike. A Dawg should be within your price range.

**crashnburn'd** · 11-13-2005, 01:53 PM

The Mongoose Teocali series are pretty nice 4-5" travel bikes. Offhand, I don't know the weight though. They have a suspension similar to the DH bike I ride and are really nice pedalling bikes.

GT i-Drive 4 are really nice, light bikes. They have a different (and supposedly better and reliable) version of i-Drive this year. I've only ridden one of these in a parking lot, but seemed nice.

**jono** · 11-13-2005, 02:49 PM

Thanks for the replies! It seems slightly odd to say it, but I think I've come to the point where the best bang for the buck in my riding experience comes from getting my wife better stuff.

So, I've looked at the Iron Horse a bit and it looks like it will be heavy compared to the Cannondale. I'm not sure if I'm finding the best data, but I'm seeing roughly 25 lbs for a Rush and 'almost 33 lbs' for a Hollowpoint MkIII in this price range. For a 130 lb rider (that occasionally pushes the bike over elephant boulders) that difference seems significant. It seems like some of these female-specific bikes should take advantage of the lower loads that a lighter rider imparts and shave some weight, but I haven't seen any great options there, either. Is there a lighter version of the Hollowpoint than what I'm seeing? Or of anything else, for that matter...I'm starting to scour the net for fully sprung XC bikes with 4"+ travel, but good weight figures seem hard to come by.

Thanks!

**gravitylover** · 11-13-2005, 04:33 PM

Try the '06 Specialized Stumpjumper FSR 120 disc. About 27-28 pounds with a Fox fork and rear shock both with lockouts and rebound/compression damping adjustments and Avid BB7 discs. Nice ride for sure and tough enough for what you say she'll do with it. The other one to look at would be the Marin Rock Springs. 5" in front and adjustable from 4 to 6 in the rear with Hayes hydro's.

**jono** · 11-13-2005, 10:22 PM

Thanks, I'll have a look at that, too! Looking around more, I noticed that the people on light-bikes.com have built up a GT i-drive pretty light, and no surprise a Scalpel or two, and somehow this is turning into a weight weenie with travel project...I think I'll have to have a good look at the Rocky Mountains, too.