First Bike, any thoughts?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Jenn,
Many women have shorter reach than men and will not be comfortable going long hours on a bike designed for a man, like your husband's (DearHusband's, DH's) bike. You might want to try test riding some women-specific bikes at any bike shop near you. Forget whether they are courteous or not- just go in and test ride their bikes anyway it will help you decide what you need. You don't need to buy the bikes, just try them out. It's almost impossible to know which type of bike will be great unless you have ridden others to compare it with.
Just because your dh's bike is a perfect fit for him doesn't necessarily mean that type of bike will be a perfect fit for you- your proportions are DIFFERENT- he doesn't know what it feels like to be in your body on a bike. Try some bikes out, riding around and around the block at nearby bike shops.

[LBTC]

Welcome to a great sport and a fabulous forum, Jenn!

Like the other girls have said - a properly fitting bike is the most important thing. If it fits well, it feels good and if it feels good, you will ride it! Hopefully you can find a bike shop (BS) with a good attitude, but if not, as the girls say, ignore the way they act and test ride lots of bikes. You want to feel the difference in real life before making the purchase. Look at lots of brands and lots of styles and when you figure out the dimensions (or if you can have a professional tell you which dimensions to look for after a proper bike fitting), you can narrow down your choices...then you can look at things like which BS you want to deal with and choose the brand that way, or you can make your choice based on the best components for the money, or even use colour as your deciding factor.

Fit first. The rest will come.

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

[Jenn]

Thank you all so much! I'm so happy to have found this forum! There is sooo much wonderful information here!
We get the cycling magazine and I looked through all the reveiws and there are some that I like and want to go try and ride. Being a stay at home mom with a 1 year old on military pay, my budget is somewhat limited so that narrows the margin in a BIG way. Not to mention, everything else I have to get. I was pretty big into mountain biking in my single younger days but I definately enjoy road biking more now. Until I find one, I'll just keep spinning, which I like but it's better to be outside.
Thank you all again for the advice, we are going to go to some different shops this weekend, maybe we'll get some better sales people. That is what they are there for right?? To SELL not to chase off...
Thanks again!
Jenn

[kt004]

Take a look at the new womens specific Raleighs...

http://www.raleighusa.com/items.asp?...=15&itemid=380

http://www.raleighusa.com/items.asp?...=15&itemid=379

The 2.0 goes for around $900 and the 1.0 for $625. Raleigh is trying to get into the women's market and they are pretty decently priced for the specs.
We've had a couple of them in our shop and we can't keep them in stock.