Austin Good for your Mom for getting out and riding and for looking to stretch her cycling and good for you for supporting her!
I used a "found on the side of the road" Mixte as the basis for building my Wife a bike for her birthday. It was a Schwinn Mesa Runner from the Mid 80s, or at least that's my guess based on the Miami Vice color scheme. It ended up being a 3x6 (18 speed bike) with Mt bike range gears and friction thumb shifters. If you are able to find a suitable donor it is possilbe to build one up with out spending a ton of $$$, If memory serves I replaced the tires, tubes, chain, cassette, rear derailleur, grips and shifters for around $100 and updated a few other things from parts I had laying around. You can view it at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryans_rando/sets/72157622516710346/ Folks have already mentioned the Soma and I will throw in two others: Velo Orange Mixte & the Handsome She-Devil. Both are coming in March, The VO is $700 and I am guessing the Handsome will be around $500 (no price posted yet). More expensive than the Soma but less than the Foy. Disclaimer I own a Handsome Devil and really like it. I was recently looking at IGH bikes for commuting. If she wants to stay the IGH route you might check out the following all of which would be complete bikes for less than the cost of the Betty Frame. All are 8 speed except teh 7 speed Villager and I am pretty sure they are ALL availabe as step through frames Fusion Novara Detour Deluxe Raleigh Simple city 8 Gary Fisher Live 2 Specialized Vienna 4 Specialized Villager Breezer Good luck and let us know what direction she goes On Dec 3, 11:11 am, Bruce <fullylug...@yahoo.com> wrote: > Austin: > > My 50 something wife LOVES her Trek Pure Lowstep Sport. I got her the triple > front, wide range 7 speed rear. $500 ish bucks, goes up hills, over dirt, > great bike. Upright seating, crank forward design. Better made IMO than the > Electra Townie which however has lots more choices for color/style. My wife > liked the front basket option, and there is a rear basket/rack option too. > > http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/bike_path/pure/puresportlowstep/ > > If Mom gets serious about riding, you can upgrade her to a Foy... > > ________________________________ > From: Austin Andrews <austinfromthefoodc...@gmail.com> > To: RBW Owners Bunch <rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com> > Sent: Wed, December 2, 2009 10:49:30 PM > Subject: [RBW] A bicycle for my fifty something year old mother. > > All, > > My mother has a 3 speed bicycle that she rides around town on. She > gets some groceries, visits friends, rides to the gym, that sort of > thing. She's really taken to cycling and she's taken the bike on some > longer rides, probably 30 miles at the longest. She wants to do more > of this. She wants to ride up big hills, she wants to ride on groomed > dirt paths, she wants to get even more groceries, she wants to go > riding with friends; basically she wants a do it all bike that is > comfortable, user friendly and will get her up that big hill coming > up. She'd also like a mixte/step through because she is getting older > and it's much easier to mount those sorts of frames. > > The 3 speed just isn't cutting it for those longer rides. I ask you, > members of this lovely list, what sort of bicycle does this lady need? > > I know the obvious choice would be a Betty Foy but she is squeamish > about the price tag. I really think she should get one but she just > doesn't want to spend that much money on anything, be it a bike or > whatever else might cost that much. I am well aware that the bikes are > worth the money and I've told her that. She just doesn't want a bike > that nice. So, does anyone have any suggestions? > > I honestly cannot think of a single bike she could buy off the rack > that would fit the bill and look good doing it. > > Best, > > Austin -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
