Womens racing bike.

Sorry it's an invite 2 not 1- doh

Nearly new Giant invite 1 for sale here if you are interested.

Giant invite 1 for sale XS

I'm 5'1" and I have a Felt 95W road bike which was about £500-£600. I found that a lot of the women's bikes I tried were exactly the same proportions as the men's bikes, just smaller frames and different paint jobs so I had trouble with the reach. Felt's women's bikes are designed by women.

On the other hand, those of us around 5' definitely have an advantage in sales, since men's small framed bikes are usually the last to go. I got my La Pierre Technic mountain bike in a small frame for about £500 in Chain Reaction's sale when it should have been around £900-£1000 so it's worth keeping an eye out on the sales online if you're comfortable checking the fit yourself or know someone who can.

Oh apologies. I must not have looked at the Luath 700 and just assumed that it was like all the other islabikes. A Luath would definitely be a good option.

I'd say my bikes are worth more than my car. A single bike service and overhaul can cost more than a car service!

magic amongst my friends and family it is fairly common to have a bike worth more than your car. Especially the sum total of your bike stable.

I did the same as Unexpected. Best money I've ever spent. Was more than £500 though.

I am 5'2" and I had a frame custom built. The total cost of the frame and the rest of the bike was about the same as an off the shelf one, and I got to pick my favourite colours

It's fairly usual for road / X bikes to come without pedals, especially above entry level. The reason being that there quite a few clipless pedal systems out there and most cyclists will have a preference.

Of course you can still fit flat pedals or toe clips although IMO toe clips are a PITA

There are two chainrings on the Luath 700.

Ds has cx tyres and road tyres for his Luath, and its great on rough trails with the cx tyres on

Ooh, Giant Invite 1 is purdy.

If some of these out of your price range, OP, you could look 2nd hand. I think one of our cyclo-X bikes (A Ridley something) was £1500 new but £750 2nd hand in quite good nick. It feels like it weighs ~ 3 kg.

I'm too chicken for BMX track on any bike, I only managed one lap ever. DH (almost 6' tall) rides a little Halford's MTB (for age 7-11) on our BMX track. It's good enough, he doesn't exactly want to go flying.

The Islabikes are fab kids bikes, my son has a Luath and it's our fourth Islabikes However for an adult who cycles regularly you might find the gears a bit limiting as there is only one chain ring.

Another recommendation for a Luath 700 here. I use mine now that DS has moved on to a larger bike. Very light and I love the additional gears change facility.

I have this Giant women's specific cyclocross and I love it. There are two spec levels if the invite 1 looks a bit pricey.

Giant invite 1

Giant invite 2

You can always have an alternative set of tyres for proper road rides but it comes with tyres suitable for light off road paths.

Nooo Viva don't sell your Tricross!

I have been getting into proper off-road riding on mine this winter and have had so much fun. I even went round a BMX track on it a few weeks ago when our CX ride went past one!

Must admit I'm thinking of selling my cyclocross and getting a hybrid. I tend to use my recumbent for all my longer distance rides now. In fact I haven't used the Tricross in over a year!

Longer distance on the road only I would use drops, but for lots of off road I get my hybrid out (which is set up with MTB geometry). My hybrid is getting older now, so I sometimes toy with idea of getting a Beinn 29 for myself. I find the flat bars with aggressive stance MTB-style geometry more comfortable than riding drop-handlebars.

Thank you for link ragged.

I may have been known to pinch a Luath off a spectating teenager when I've iggef up mid race. I'm a bit tall for it really, at 5'8", but it's a decent bike for £500.

If she's thinking cyclo-X then the Luath 700 could be perfect. It's not unusual for shorter women to buy & ride these nominally kid bikes. Not sure how ti compares spec wise to the other suggested here (or value for money).

I agree that a cyocross bike of what you need. A lot of women cysts I know rideKinesis cx bikes; their frame geometry seems to work well for women (it's not just about frame size). The Specialized Dolce range is good as pp have said, but as a smaller adult, one of the largest Islabike kid's bikes might suit you.
The Luath 700, with cx tyres. Their www won't let me link but worth a look. Unfortunately they only sell direct (although do mail order) so you'd have to go to Shropshire to try one out.

Another Specialized Tricross owner here - I wanted something faster than my mountain bike for road and cycle path cycling and the Tricross suits me perfectly so I shall add my voice to the 'get a cyclocross bike' campaign!

Don't get a mountain bike, they're harder work to pedal on roads.

Get either a cyclocross bike like the Specialized Tricross or get a decent spec hybrid bike. Depends if you want drop handlebars or not. Drops are meant to give you alternative hand positions to aid comfort on ling rides. I rarely use my drops to be honest. You can always put bar ends on the flat bars of a hybrid.

Most important thing is to get a bike which fits. Otherwise you can have the best bike ever and you will still have backache, etc. don't be intimidated by the bike shops....they will want to help and make a sale.

I would recommend that you go for a Cyclocross or 'Adventure Road Bike'.

They are similar to what you have in mind as a 'racing bike' but are a bit more rugged. They will come with thicker tyres which will cope with the potholes, but will be lighter and more comfortable for longer rides than a mountain bike.

You really need to sit on some to see what is comfortable for you, but don't feel that you need to look specifically for a 'women's bike'. I would recommend that you go to a branch of Evans - they cater for cyclists of all experience and you shouldn't find them intimidating at all. The same should be true of your local independent shop, but I suppose they are much more an unknown quantity.

Some branches of Evans are better in terms of their knowledgeability than others, but they are usually fairly decent, and more likely to know what they are doing than Halfords.

If you don't know a great deal about bikes then I would avoid buying one on line, especially second hand, as you will have no idea what to look for in terms of whether the bike has been properly maintained or if it is in a dangerous condition.