Motobecane Gigi?

Greetings! I've just gotten back into the life physical after many years mostly chained to a desk, and am in need of advice. In addition to working with a trainer, I've been riding my bike (a '99 Giant Cypress) a lot -- and I love it just as much as I did when I was a kid. I'm 5'6" and 225 lbs, though working on losing about 10 lbs a month until I hit my fighting weight of 165.

After a not-too-successful attempt to do a 25-mile ride with a lot of climbing yesterday, I came to the conclusion that I need a road bike. Nothing flashy, mind you, and nothing over $800. I do prefer a WSD, since I have short little arms and tiny spade-like hands.

As for goals, I'll be doing a metric-half century next month, a metric century in the spring, and a couple of multi-day rides next summer (if not sooner). So I need a bike that can stand up to the training I'll require to meet those goals, while not making me feel like a total slug.

I did some looking online and found the Motobecane Gigi -- it really looks like a great deal through Bikesdirect.com -- but I'm a little leery of buying one online. (The fact that it's pink does factor in highly on the plus side! :p ) Any suggestions you can provide will be gratefully considered!

Rubi

First off, let me say congratulations and I hope you are successful. Anything worth doing is worth doing big.

Proceed with caution when you buy a bike online. In fact, I would strongly urge you not to unless the company you buy your bike from requests a lengthy set of measurements from you when you buy the bike.

Here's why.

You are about to drop a lot of money on a bike. Plus, you have some very specific cycling goals in mind. If the bike doesn't fit you well, you'll spend more money trying to get it to fit properly and/or you'll just end up regretting the decision.

I would also urge you to shop around and find a bike shop that you can deal with. A good bike shop will listen to what you want and kit you out on a bike that fits you well (a really good one will swap out parts until they make it fit) and suits your purposes.

Also, a lot of companies that make carbon fiber parts won't warranty them if the rider weighs much over 180 pounds. Carbon fiber is great for skinny bike racers who barely weigh enough to stand up in a heavy wind but not so good for the rest of us real folk whose body fat registers in the double digits.

Honestly, I would probably nudge you toward something like the Terry Madeline. It's a solid bike and would probably be good for the long miles you have planned. Nothing sucks worse than dropping $800 on a bike and realizing that it doesn't really fit you right and there is nothing you can do about it.

Now, $1500 is way more than $800, but you'll find as you rack up miles that the dozen little things you get for your money are more than worth the extra money you actually paid for it.

I'd also caution against buying over the internet. You should be able to find a bike comparable to that one at your LBS at a similar price - the suggested price for that one is waaaaaay more than it should be. The sale price is reasonable for a bike with those components, so its not like its some sort of super duper deal, the sale price just brings it down to normal.

My suggestions to look at would be Bianchi steel bikes - the Volpe would probably meet your needs very well, if it fit you properly. The Eros Donna is a bit more than your budget, but is a WSD.
A bike very similar to the Motebecan you are looking at, but with better components is the Fuji Finest 2.0 (and it is also pink). The msrp on this one is just over $1,000 which means that it is likely you can actually purchase it for less. (I used to have a Fuji Bordeaux, which the msrp was $1300 on and I paid $900)

*Edit* - in fact I just opened up a Performance flyer and there is the Fuji Finest 2.0 on sale for $799, yes this is the big box store of bike shops but at least they do have a very good return policy and it is just easier to deal with real people in a real shop. Their in store customer service usually isn't all that bad. (they'll also order the bike for you at the sale price if they don't have it in stock - and if within 30 days they put it even more on sale they'll refund you the difference)

Women specific design isn't really women specific. It's short torso long leg design. Most "men's" bikes are designed for a longer torso and shorter legs. There are men who ride WSD bikes, and there are women who are best off on a "men's" bike. If your arms are much shorter than your height, that's an indicator that WSD might be better for you... but it's not foolproof.

I'd find a shop that will let you do test rides and I'd try several of each. One of the bikes should stand out as fitting better. Tiny hands means you want shifters and brakes that are easy to reach. That's usually fairly adjustable.

Oh, and a road bike won't automatically make climbing easier. I'd look at the gearing on your current bike with Sheldon Brown's gear calculator. Then when you find the road bike that you think is "the one", compare the gearing on the two bikes. If the road bike doesn't have low gears that are as low or lower than your current bike's, it won't be better on hills. The bike shop should be able to swap parts if "the one" has gearing that's really really off. Long term, the only way to make climbing hills easier is to climb more hills :o.

Thanks for the input! There's a Performance Bike not too far from here, so I'll give them a call to check on the Fuji, and see if I can find my way up there over the weekend. Eden, did you happen to see if there's an end date on the sale flyer?

And yes, I sort of suspected that the way to get good at hills was to climb more of them. That's on the agenda for the weekend, too. ;)

I'll keep you all posted on my progress!

My daughter bought the Gigi from BikesDirect about two years ago. She's been pretty happy with it but has had a lot of trouble with spokes breaking. she is more in the 120 to 140 lb. range. The bike is a beautiful shade of pink. I agree with the gals that suggest a nice steel bike. Many of the new steel bikes out there are really light weight and very strong. I ride a steel Bianchi Veloce and she has been a great bike. What ever you choose, be sure to test ride a lot of bikes first.

I'm one of those dudes for whom "men's" bikes don't fit. When I was being measured for my co-motion, the guy said "if I wasn't designing a custom frame for you, I'd say try a women's specific design, you're built about right for it."

The fuji and the bianchi would be good deals too. Definitely worth checking out.

Just a word of advice. Don't let the shop say "you'll get used to it" when it comes to fit.

If they really care about you and your bike, they may do an initial set up, then have you ride the bike for a few days to see how well it works and offer to change out parts until it fits right.