Women’s Bike Suggestions

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bikingagain
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Women’s Bike Suggestions

Post by bikingagain »

I have a lady at work that wants to get into riding. This will be her first bike and isn’t sure what to get. I think a ktm is a little out of the budget until she gets a few years under her belt. Any suggestions on a decent first bike for her? I assume something not too tall, easy on the wallet, a good second hand one would be best. And anything else I would have forgotten. She will need all the gear too. Thanks
2018 KTM 300 xc
My Last Fight I Won By Two Blocks.
I Love Single Track. Except For All The Trees

twitch13
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Re: Women’s Bike Suggestions

Post by twitch13 »

Hey, my wife just had her first year of off road riding. I really wanted her to give the KTM Freeride a shot (mostly because I wanted to borrow it) but she settled on the new Kawasaki KLX 140G. She absolutely loves it and it was a great choice for a starter bike. Nice and low for her to touch on rough terrain, easy power delivery and the G version gives full sized wheels (18" in the back and 21" in the front) which is nice to get over obstacles. Might have a hard time finding a used one as the G version was new for this last year.

For Armor she settled on the Leatt 4.5 body protector. It's a bit heavy and hot but it fit well for her small frame and provided good protection for her multiple off's as a new rider.

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cerealkiller
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Re: Women’s Bike Suggestions

Post by cerealkiller »

I'd go for a TTR or CRF 230. TTRs seem to be a little cheaper and more plentiful - around $2000 for a 2007-2012. They have more power than the 140 - which your friend may or may not want - but the delivery is very smooth and friendly.

My very first bike (when I was 13) was a 1995 Honda XR200. I rarely changed the oil and air filter, basically didn't do anything else. Rode the snot out of it and it was still running great when I sold it years later. They are bombproof bikes.
-Jared
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boogle2
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Re: Women’s Bike Suggestions

Post by boogle2 »

I know you mentioned that a KTM would be out of the budget, but I just thought I would put down my experience getting a bike for my wife. We went through several bikes for her, and have now landed on a 2017 KTM 150XC-W which had the suspension lowered 2" via spring cutting, and then had it revalved. We also put on a steering stabilizer for the first time.

This has been by far the best bike for her for a number of reasons.

1. Any full size bike just ruined her confidence about getting a foot down, and made her scared to ride tough singletrack. She now follows most places the big guys go, and keeps up pretty well for a new rider. Now with the lowered bike, she has all the confidence in the world to go over large logs, or off camber turns on slopes. The other thing lowering the bike does is lower the center of gravity, so picking it up becomes way easier, and the bike just feels lighter as well while riding.

2. E-start. I overlooked this as being a huge plus, but she would get so incredibly tired trying to kick over her four stroke every time she stalled and it just compounded her issues to the point of creating tons of frustration. This leads to my next point:

3. Go two stroke. Four strokes don't lug all that well when you are an inexperienced clutch user, and stalling all the time is no fun, especially when there are 37823 other learning curves being thrown at you. Her 150 2 stroke now just putts all the way up any steep technical section, and by doing so, has allowed her to actually develop her clutching abilities instead of sitting 1/4 of the way up a climb, trying to kick the bike over 10 times. The resistance to stalling is just so much superior to any four-stroke, and thats really what you want. I suppose you could go with a rekluse, but that would be more added expense and complication.

4. A couple other things just as I think of them are total weight, and full size tires. Moving up from a Honda 150RB has helped significantly in that now she has a full size 21" front tire that soaks up logs, roots, and rocks much better instead of getting bounced around. Also, I think the new 150's are among the lightest full size 2 strokes you can get at around 200 lbs dry. I believe the 200XCW's were 220 lbs, and this thing is definitely lighter than the 200's. Its incredible. Her old Honda was around 185 lbs and it was really good in that respect, and I can definitely see her struggle more to pick this bike up, however she is doing it much less frequently these days.

So as I said, I know you mentioned a new KTM was out of the budget, but I just thought I would put down our (her) experience just for some food for thought as we have been through 3 bikes looking for the perfect setup for her.

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bikingagain
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Re: Women’s Bike Suggestions

Post by bikingagain »

Thanks for the great responses. I am sure it will help with making the decision.
2018 KTM 300 xc
My Last Fight I Won By Two Blocks.
I Love Single Track. Except For All The Trees

kjo417
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Re: Women’s Bike Suggestions

Post by kjo417 »

I started on a yamaha 125 and loved it....so much I cried a little when I sold the bike. My husband didn't go for my idea of mounting it on the garage wall.

Everyone is different when it comes to bike/bike types. Hopefully she finds something that makes her happy and confident as a rider.

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