This is her current bike and she loves it. It's a Frankenstein monstrosity that I've slowly fixed and upgraded over the years, but it's not much of a distance bike. She'll be riding with my kids on this 50km road race in November and my thoughts are that it would be painful to complete the ride on this bike. They won't be competitive, but I think shooting for 12mph (19km/h) is a reasonable target. I have a road bike and I ride the 100km race (same event, different group), I'm not fast but I place in the middle of the pack at 15-16mph. I think I would die trying to ride her bike at the 50km though, it's just not a fast bike nor is it meant to be.
So that leaves me with two options. I could upgrade the groupset on hers I suppose, change to indexed shifters instead of the twist shift, and put some serious thought into better riding tires than the currents dumpster (literally I found a bike in a dumpster I took them from) tire's she's got on there.
Second choice, I can just pick up something new or gently used. She's 5'6 at ~115lbs (167cm/51kg) so a light weight and medium height, she much prefers the upright positioning than hunched over road bike position. The course is entirely asphalt, minimal hills, and she'd be training with the kids and I on similar terrain over the next six months. She's moderately active but not particularly trained in cycling other than her current bike and escorting the kids the mile to-and-from school every other morning or so.
As much as I want to just go get her a straight up road bike like mine, that's not what would really suit her best so I'm not really sure where to go or even what sort of bikes are suitable for her. I don't know if modern mountain bikes are up to the challenge, or if there's a good gravel or hybrid style bike that she'd do well with.
Budget, if it's a new bike I'd like to stay under the $1,000 mark. I've got 10% off at REI right now, so that could spread my dollar a little further there I suppose. If I'm going used I'd like to stay $500 or less.
by CobblerYm