People who know about bikes please look at this and tell me if it ok?

[fillyjonk]

Its for city use and trail use but on easy trails. No mountain biking.

ridgeback

I am confused re wheel size also

Is it "the bigger the better"?

I can't go and try them out, my local bike shop doesn't seem to stock women's bikes .

I need to be able to fit one of these to it bobike

this I like also but am worried it has too many gears

certainly recommend finding a bike shop where you can try out a bike first.

I've just bought my SIL's bike and toddler seat and a child's cart to put on the back of the bike. We're also trying to become a 'cylcing family'.

Everyone in my town cycles.

sorry, no actual advice about bikes though

i KNOW I have to find a local bike shop

but my local bike shop is full of enthusiasts who only like other enthusiasts

so am forced to go on the internet

oh come on please

there surely must be knowlegable people out there

MTB wheels are smaller than touring bike wheels, which also means they're better for potholes and bumpy trails, but a wee bit slower on smooth tarmac.

700 x 35c tyres are reasonable for fine off-road use.

The specs on the Ridgeback Metro are all decent, but it is always best if you can try one first. You'd be surprised what suddenly bothers you when you get on the real bike. Besides, who is going to assemble it for you?

Almost any bike shop should bite your hand off for your business if you say, "I want to spend £250 (basic) and this is what I want for my money". If they make a good impression selling you the bike you'll also come back for service, accessories, the next bike, etc.

Bobike should work depending where cables go -- it looks like on the Ridgeback the rear brake cable will get in the way of fitting the Bobike bracket to the downtube (I think, can't find a good pic of the Bobike bracket that goes on downtube). If you went for a man's bike style instead, the rear brake cable would probably go along the crossbar, so not in the way.

The Ridgeback Motion LOOKS like the rear brake cable might thread thru inside the frame downtube, this would also solve the problem of where to put the Bobike bracket.

Why are you afraid of too many gears? 21 gears is not a lot of gears, believe me. It's only theoretical, anyway. Some of the combinations are impossible to use.

Is everything ok? You haven't said "hello" on the Feb08 thread for a while.

oh thanks for noticing i wasn't on the thread, its just i got utterly overwhelmed by the number of posts and couldn't keep up will pop in soon.

I just like the simplicity of the metro. Three gears is adequate for me, so am not sure why to have more.

Ok will try bike shop again. They have told me though that they would have to order in specially, and am worried they will then expect me to buy the thing.

You don't need woman's bike per se - a "mixte" frame will be more stable (could be important if you are carrying the extra weight of the child seat) and still allows you to get your leg through the middle if you want to when mounting/dismounting. It's a sort of half way house between a woman's frame and a man's frame.

Don't have enough expertise to comment about whether the Bobile would work - why don't you contact Ridgeback themselves (or Bobike).

As ljkk says, the 21 gears aren't really a lot - in practice a number of them aren't useable. They're really quite easy to use: the left hand hand grip control the "big" cogs, of which there are three and the right hand controls the "fine tuning" cog - of which there are 7 (3x7=21, see ). In ptractice, I spend most of my time in the middle cog, and occasionally go on to the big cog if I want to get my speed up or am going downhill and want to make the ost of it. I only very occasionally go onto the little cog - it has to be a very steep and long uphill.

The bikeshop should have a model that you can try that is roughly the right size, but yes, many expect you to pay in advance. You don't know if you don't ask, though.

More gears makes it easier to get uphills or fight against the wind, in general!