Women's Bike Recommendations

I have a cruiser bike. I LOVE it. You can't change the speeds and you have to back pedal to brake, but I love it. It's a really cool light teal color, has a nice big seat, and has a basket lol! It's very comfortable and easy to ride. I got it at toys r us about a month ago for $120

Gosh there are so many kinds for so many terrains.
Where will you be riding this?
Off-road? Streets? Bike paths (paved/gravel/wood chips)?
Is the area hilly or relatively flat?
Will you be traveling with it?
Does it fold down? Will you need a bike carrier/rack for your car?
How will you store it during the off season?
Can you hang it by it's wheels from your garage ceiling?

(Bet you never thought there's be SO MANY questions to think about just for getting a bike!)

What do you like to ride?
Some people love the bikes where you are bent over (less wind resistance) with hand brakes and several gear shifts.
(We see a lot of these in groups of 5 to 10 on the narrow country roads around here wearing a lot of spandex.)
I never could get use to that type of bike.
My neck gets a kink in it from trying to keep my head up so I can see where I'm going and the seats are just NOT compatible with my behind.

Personally I like the brakes in the pedals (back pedal to brake), sitting upright on a wide cushy seat.
They call this a cruiser bike and they are very popular at the beach.
Many have a basket on the front and you can carry small things in it.
(My first bike was a 1969 Schwinn Slik Chik campus green no gears/no hand brakes. I love that bike! I still have it.)
http://schwinncruisers.com/catalogs/1969.html#slik-chik

I've seen a few recumbent bikes (2 and 3 wheel models) - probably has the most comfortable bike seat there is - but they can be fairly low to the road and might be hard to be seen by cars around you if you plan to ride on the road.
I'd like to try one out someday but they tend to be fairly expensive.

This article does a good job of breaking down the bike types. You can get a comfort bike at a store like Target for around $100. You can't get a decent road or mountain bike new for $100 but you might be able to find one used. If you buy used, you'll have to pay for it to be fitted and tuned up.

http://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/bicycle.html

I started riding 10 years ago with a comfort bike that my husband bought at Target. It was a surprise and was totally the wrong size, which took M. several non-fun years to figure out. I felt terribly out of shape riding that thing - every stroke was hard and got M. nowhere. Turns out the frame was about 6 inches too small for M.. So whatever you buy, make sure you size it correctly! There are lots of web tutorials that will help you figure out your correct frame size.

He bought a used road bike a few years later that I started to ride as well and I did a triathlon on that bike. It was still a bit small for M. but I was able to put in lots of training miles on it that were fun.

After I decided that I really liked biking, I got a used road bike for $500 that I then put another $300 into having it further custom-sized for M. (had the seat pulled back and changed to a different one, got smaller, more narrow handlebars and a stem that pulled them a few inches closer to M., new gear shifters, finally invested in clip-in shoes and padded shorts, etc. I trained for and completed a 150 mile ride on that one.

If someone had told M. when I was looking skeptically at that Huffy 10 years ago that I'd one day invest in a skinny-tire-and-spandex bike and do 150 miles on it, I would have laughed and laughed and laughed. You never know where your bike will take you!

Anyway...start withe the best bike you can get for your budget *that fits you* and remember to wear a helmet. Happy biking!

Our bikes are Specialized but you won't find one new for 100. Ours were around 600 a piece but they are the most amazing comfortable bikes for trail and street riding. They can also do off road but our old butts can't take the bumps!

I am going to mangle the spelling but you want to make sure the bike has schamo gears. Okay that looks awful, I am going to run out to the garage for the correct spelling...Shimano. You can find them even on a cheap Wal Mart bike and trust M. on this, cheap gears will drive you insane! Gears followed by brakes are what you will repair the most on a cheap bike.

I found my last few bikes at yard sales for $20-$30. Since I only really ride for recreation I didn't need anything special. I have had a Fila, a CCM and a Schwinn. They were all mountain bikes and all good for my purposes. I think I would like my next bike to be a funky retro looking cruiser bike. I would definitely get used if you can.

I recently got a bike for my birthday. I had no idea that I had to sit on the bike for comfort. My husband was just going to buy the bike, then decided to let M. pick it out. One store had a decent looking bike, but I hated the color. We moved on to several other stores until I found a mountain bike that was really comfortable, but the wheels were huge and the bike was very heavy. We ended up at REI and I got a Marin Kentfield CS2. It is a hybrid.

My daughter has a specialized. We never let her try the bike out, we just bought it. She competes in triathlons and now that I know, she can choose her own bike.

As for the gears, we both have Shimano gears. That is what came with the bike. They are great gears. We live on a higher elevation and the hills can be a challenge. We would never make it without our gears.

We wanted a $200 - $300 budget, but ended up spending $500. It is well worth it because the bike is comfortable and I ride it.

I have a Trek bike I got at a bike auction; it was used by tourists and I paid $200. I ended up replacing the mountain tires for hybrid all terrain. I love this bike and it has about 12 gears.

I also had a Raleigh 10 speed with skinny tires. It was lite weight and fast. I gave it to my niece. I loved it and she loves it now.

Trek, Raleigh and Schwinn are reliable and mid priced. See if there is one on craigs list if you can't afford new.

I went to college in the mid 80's at OSU in Stillwater. A friend sold M. her rose/pink colored Peugeot bike. I rode that bike instead of driving my car to the grocery store, it had a basket on the front, and to all my classes. It also had a rack over the back wheel. The handlebars were not the style that curved downward but normal ones where I didn't have to lean over at all. It is a ladies bike but not old fashioned. The seat wasn't a skinny pointy thing that would rub all the wrong places. It was wider and more sturdy, and padded a bit.

I still have that bike and it still works. It's a 3 speed and I love it. I've kept it inside so it's never been out to get rusty or beat up. It's not new by any means but it still works great.

I paid my friend $80 for it. I think it's been a great bike and would recommend that brand to anyone.

I've had terrible luck with bikes at Walmart. They break quickly, as in brakes stop working, etc. Shwinn has always been a good name in bikes. I'd check out Craig's list for a bike being sold by an avid bike rider. Usually they choose quality.