# So boys, what have you built for your wife/gf lately?



## DeeEight (Jan 13, 2004)

About three months ago, my girlfriend was given an all-original 1991 Specialized Crossroads by a fellow at her kickboxing school who pulled it out of some trash (he's a sanitation engineer) and other than rusted chain, cracked tires and seized cables/housing it was in decent enough shape to do a rebuild on. This is how it looked when she got it...










When pulling it apart I found the stock tires were 700x41C Specialized Nimbus with lots of clearance for mud around the frame and fork... and thought to myself "hmmm... 41mm wide is about a 1.7" width... Bontrager makes some nice Jones XR 29 x 1.8 kevlar foldables with good tread..." and thus a project was born. So with about $250 in parts including the $70 for the tires, this is what has resulted, and as pictured its 25.04 pounds.

Essentially the project goal was to give her a bike she could start trail riding on, and do cyclocross races on in the fall with, and other riding where her existing skinny/smooth tire hybrid was innapropriate (it'll remain her riding to college bike). If she needs an actual mountain bike for an serious off-road ride, I've got an existing pool of loaner bikes she can pull one from and she's never owned one either so this thing represented less of a change in riding position for her to adapt to early on. Sometime during the late summer I may build her a mountain bike to give her for her birthday in september but for now, this is her first bike that didn't come out of a department store.


----------



## madisongrrl (Dec 8, 2006)

I'm not a boy, but I built this up for myself.

http://rebach.smugmug.com/gallery/4615333_LBD5C/1


----------



## Visicypher (Aug 5, 2004)

For Valentine's Day, I built her up Rocky Mtn. Vertex TO with full XTR, White Industries Hubs laced with Ti spokes, Thomson Stem, Easton Monkeylite riser, RS Sid, Syncros seatpost. 

After riding some slickrock in St. George, I decide that I would help her get a FS. Now she rides 2008 Fuel EX 8 WSD. I'll slowly swap out parts on that bike with some of the XTR. Her first upgrade on it might be a pink bashguard from Blackspire and tubeless conversion.


----------



## surly_an_instigator (Nov 3, 2005)

for our 1st anni, i built up this little sweetheart. this 21 lb beauty is a 13.5" salsa ala carte w/ paul word hubs laced into salsa del gado hoops, generously donated sid fork and various other parts from my stash. she refers to it as the "death bike".

you can check it out here~ http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=352660

anybody else having problems with mtbr and uploading pics? i tried for over an hour to upload the same pics i've used before and i kept getting error messages. i'm over it. its frustrating when i've edited my pics in photobucket, used them to post before and now i cant get them to work. but it seems like super large pics that arent sized and change the format of the posts are allowed to upload. :skep: any idea?!


----------



## sandan (Feb 17, 2004)

I didn't build anything lately but I did get my wife a pair of Sidi Dom 5's for her birthday.


----------



## chuky (Apr 3, 2005)

If this is addressed to the guys, why is this posted here? This is the Women's Lounge, not the Dudes Who Managed to Get Girlfriends Gathering Place.


----------



## athalliah (Dec 9, 2005)

chuky said:


> If this is addressed to the guys, why is this posted here? This is the Women's Lounge, not the Dudes Who Managed to Get Girlfriends Gathering Place.


where is the :laughing my ass off: smiley?


----------



## screampint (Dec 10, 2001)

chuky said:


> If this is addressed to the guys, why is this posted here? This is the Women's Lounge, not the Dudes Who Managed to Get Girlfriends Gathering Place.


Thank you chuky! I was wondering that myself. Go post in Passion or General, more guys read that.


----------



## jewels (Mar 17, 2004)

bf built me up a rear wheel this week, laced it up and all! it's a mavic 717 on an american classic hub. Granted he bent the last rim, so I had one coming. Glad to have waited for a NICE wheel, rather than get a cheapie quick. I'm happy happy to have it, AND he put a spankin' new nevegal tire on it too.


----------



## Visicypher (Aug 5, 2004)

*I wondered that too!*



chuky said:


> If this is addressed to the guys, why is this posted here? This is the Women's Lounge, not the Dudes Who Managed to Get Girlfriends Gathering Place.


Though I responded, I wondered why D8 posted it here. 

I'll ask Impy and Formica.


----------



## Impy (Jan 6, 2004)

Visicypher said:


> Though I responded, I wondered why D8 posted it here.
> 
> .


I dunno but it's not hurting nothing. Hi d8.

Fair game to post your own build, or what your bf built for you I think too.

I'd contribute but I'm currently down a few bikes...


----------



## Zignzag (Jan 23, 2004)

screampint said:


> Thank you chuky! I was wondering that myself. Go post in Passion or General, more guys read that.


D8 = Upie. Didn't you use to snurfle on his web site, or something like that?


----------



## 245044 (Jun 8, 2004)

Here's my wife's bike I built for her while she was pregnant. Of course she hasn't ridden it much lately, but she wants to ease back into it.


----------



## rocks'r'friends (Mar 30, 2007)

Haven't built anything lately, but I did get her something nice
http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=396975

Now if the snow would just stop falling.


----------



## DukeNeverwinter (May 6, 2006)

I built my lovely girl a Access XCL farme (performance bike). x9 shifters and rear derailleur, x7 front. Rockshox Dart 3, Sun rhyno rims/deore hubs. Bontrager race gxp crank. 

I am really proud of her. After her third ride she can stay upright and is learning to shift. I can;t express how happy I am that she wanted to learn how to ride a bike again after 15 years.
i'll post pics when I can


----------



## JMH (Feb 23, 2005)

Wow, tough crowd! :lol: 

Especially since I happen to know that Chuky's SO dials in some pretty unreal bikes for her all the time.  

JMH


----------



## NAT0007 (Nov 3, 2007)

For my short legged daughter.


----------



## screampint (Dec 10, 2001)

No, never "snurfled." He did mention me on his website, but I have never met him and don't care to be associated with him.


----------



## DeeEight (Jan 13, 2004)

She's mentioned because she provided the suggested rules for it. That's it. But its funny to me she's just been re-associated with me by whining in this thread and having you zig, remember that old and odd detail.


----------



## DeeEight (Jan 13, 2004)

NAT0007 said:


> For my short legged daughter.


Thanks for reminding me, I have to replace the one I did for my bestfriends younger gelfling soon. I did this for her two years ago and she's about to outgrow it. Its oddly enough an 24" wheel urban jump frame that was marketed as a kids bike that year. The girl's got a love of pink and purple and well, I lucked out on the paint and the available vintage accessories in my stockpile. I'm thinking I'll get her a GT this year, they have a woman's avalanche 3.0 in pink.


----------



## catzilla (Jan 31, 2004)

chuky said:


> If this is addressed to the guys, why is this posted here?


Heh. First time I saw the title, I'd wondered the same thing.

Then I remembered that fella's post up every other day trying to find the perfect bike, perfect upgrade, or perfect accessory for their lil' ladies. And I'll be damned if I wouldn't love to see how some of those turned out.

Besides, I figure more fellas peruse this forum than women. I mean, there are only so many female mountain bikers, but every guy knows a girl who rides. Or wants to.


----------



## DeeEight (Jan 13, 2004)

catzilla said:


> but every guy knows a girl who rides. Or wants to.


Or that he wants to get into riding... in my case, I wanna get my gf into actual mountain biking and this was a good bike to start transitioning from just commuting and pathways with to some real trails.


----------



## yoterryh (Mar 21, 2006)

*Specilaized for daughter*



NAT0007 said:


> For my short legged daughter.


That's a nice looking bike! I'm looking to outfit my 8 year old daughter with her first real mountain bike. Can you give me some details about that bike? What all did you put on it?

Thanks!


----------



## NAT0007 (Nov 3, 2007)

yoterryh said:


> That's a nice looking bike! I'm looking to outfit my 8 year old daughter with her first real mountain bike. Can you give me some details about that bike? What all did you put on it?
> 
> Thanks!


Sure! BTW, my daughter is 26 years old. The bike is a 2007 Specialized Hardrock Sport Womens Disk.
It cost $500 Canadian. It's her first mountain bike, and I didn't know if Jeni was going to get into biking. 
I figured that if she really got into it, I would upgrade it.

Well, she got into it 

I replaced the front tire with one with a more aggressive tread, replaced the RST fork with a RockShox 
Tora Solo Air. Replaced the 26" back rim with a wide 24 inch, and put a wide but light rear tire on.

The end result is a bike that Jeni feels really confident on. Especially on downhills. There are a lot of good 
arguments against using a 24" back wheel, but in this case it worked out perfectly.

She also loves the fact that her bike was "built for her".

There are a lot of experts that will tell you that this build is all wrong.

The grin on her face, and the mud all over her bike tells me that it was right on.

She calls it "Icicle" :thumbsup:


----------



## DukeNeverwinter (May 6, 2006)

sorry for the fuzzy pics, my phone camera is crappy.


----------



## screampint (Dec 10, 2001)

"Off the rack" bikes. Here are a couple options:

My 10 year old daughter on her Rocky Mountain Vapor 24:



















Truly a trailworthy bike.

And my son's first mtb, a Marin Hidden Canyon with 20" wheels (he's now 15, but in the photos he's about 5):



















I know that Kona has a good kids mtb as well. Look for a shock that actually works under her weight if you get a bike with a shock, otherwise she is just hauling around extra weight.

And for bragging rights, a recent post with the progression of my kids' riding https://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=393539


----------



## yoterryh (Mar 21, 2006)

Thanks for the responses about kids bikes. I want to show my daughter the pictures of your kids riding, screampint! NAT007. I didn't realize that was an adult size bike! I was all ready to pull the trigger on an Ibex Alpine 440, but they are sold out until Fall. Now I'm looking closely at Specialized and a few others and hoping to get my daughter something soon.


----------



## Zignzag (Jan 23, 2004)

*Screampint and Upie sitting in a tree...*



screampint said:


> No, never "snurfled." He did mention me on his website, but I have never met him and don't care to be associated with him.


S.N.U.R.F.L.E.!!!!


----------



## FoShizzle (Jan 18, 2004)

my wife has a mid 90s rockhopper but i just bought my mistress a new Exorigid Motolite which she really likes


----------



## antonio (Jan 18, 2005)

FoShizzle said:


> my wife has a mid 90s rockhopper but i just bought my mistress a new Exorigid Motolite which she really likes


F'n hilarious!


----------



## Impy (Jan 6, 2004)

antonio said:


> F'n hilarious!


YAH! F'ING EH! YAH MAN THAT IS SO F'ING HYSTERICAL! *crotchgrab* *snort* GAR! I'ZE A MAN! *burp* YAH RULE!


----------



## FoShizzle (Jan 18, 2004)

Impy said:


> YAH! F'ING EH! YAH MAN THAT IS SO F'ING HYSTERICAL! *crotchgrab* *snort* GAR! I'ZE A MAN! *burp* YAH RULE!


agreed....its actually not funny at all. it was quite stressful deciding between the motolite and racer-x


----------



## antonio (Jan 18, 2005)

Impy said:


> YAH! F'ING EH! YAH MAN THAT IS SO F'ING HYSTERICAL! *crotchgrab* *snort* GAR! I'ZE A MAN! *burp* YAH RULE!


Umm, I don't even know how to respond. Should I be apologizing?

Seriously, I was reading the thread and his (inappropriate) post just came out of nowhere. It made me laugh, so I thought I'd give him props.

Thanks FoShizzle.

Ant


----------



## rr (Dec 28, 2003)

FoShizzle said:


> agreed....its actually not funny at all. it was quite stressful deciding between the motolite and racer-x


I went with the Julianna for my wife, it worked, I got layed

screw the mistress, she's easy


----------



## FoShizzle (Jan 18, 2004)

rroeder said:


> I went with the Julianna for my wife, it worked, I got layed
> 
> screw the mistress, she's easy


true...plus your mistress, aquaholic, already has a nice stable


----------



## Impy (Jan 6, 2004)

antonio said:


> Umm, I don't even know how to respond. Should I be apologizing?
> 
> Seriously, I was reading the thread and his (inappropriate) post just came out of nowhere. It made me laugh, so I thought I'd give him props.
> 
> ...


No apology needed. I was trying to be funny. Obviously failed.

Here I though women were the sensitive gender. Geez! You guys did wander in here ya know.

Anyway I apologize for being sarcastic and snarky. You don't even think it's a little bit funny?


----------



## Impy (Jan 6, 2004)

FoShizzle said:


> agreed....its actually not funny at all. it was quite stressful deciding between the motolite and racer-x


Dude, that's serious.


----------



## antonio (Jan 18, 2005)

Impy said:


> No apology needed. I was trying to be funny. Obviously failed.
> 
> Here I though women were the sensitive gender. Geez! You guys did wander in here ya know.


I'm definitely sensitive today. Sorry about that. :thumbsup:

Ant


----------



## Ken in KC (Jan 12, 2004)

*Yep...*



Impy said:


> No apology needed. I was trying to be funny. Obviously failed.
> 
> Here I though women were the sensitive gender. Geez! You guys did wander in here ya know.
> 
> Anyway I apologize for being sarcastic and snarky. You don't even think it's a little bit funny?


I laughed at nearly every post in this part of the thread. I thought yours was funny, Impy. What would have put it over the top and made all the guys laugh would have been a reference to farting. Because farts are f'ing hillarious for guys.


----------



## Impy (Jan 6, 2004)

Ken in KC said:


> I laughed at nearly every post in this part of the thread. I thought yours was funny, Impy. What would have put it over the top and made all the guys laugh would have been a reference to farting. Because farts are f'ing hillarious for guys.


rats. next time.

although it should also be noted that ant probably upped his hotness factor to the gals here greatly by admitting he was being sensitive. we dig on that kind of stuff you know.


----------



## cyclewrks (Aug 3, 2006)

*The wife finially gets the new DH bike*

I talked her in to going to Mammoth at the end of last season to try out lift assisted fun (she has been riding XC for years), borrowed a bike (slightly too big) from work, and created a monster! As soon as we got home, she was wanting a DH bike of her own. Looked at Syrens, talked to Kyle and the crew and decided that she could fit on a small Blindside and not give up the travel. So after a couple of months of calling in favors from various friends and waiting on parts, she has got a sweet lil 38.6lbs whip! Thanks to everyone at Transition, Hayes Bicycle Group (my employer), E13, Shimano, Kenda, FSA, Cane Creek and Factory Effx for the custom Graphics (still waiting on the pink Transition logos). Pink for the Cause just like her XC bike. Now all we need is for her shoulder to heal so she can have a chance to ride it this season!


----------



## DeeEight (Jan 13, 2004)

Impy said:


> Here I though women were the sensitive gender. Geez! You guys did wander in here ya know.


Sensitive maybe... but determined definitely... I got held to a lower budget than I'd originally planned for a custom build I just finished yesterday at 1am for a 5'5"/150 pound (but heading to 165 she claims) bodybuilding and hockey playing, massively tattoo'ed 23 year old woman. She was FIRM on the whole $550 cdn budget and this is the result... 25.7 pounds of hardtail intended mainly for 80% commuting (hence the semi-slicks) and 20% XC riding. I finished it at 1am because she was determined to be picking it up by 11am. I'm just disappointed because for only another $100 I could have made it more than two pounds lighter.


----------



## mtymxdh (Jan 14, 2005)

*never give up*

been with my GF for like 9 years now... it took me a long time, but finally I got her into MTB...
just bought her first MTB... ...

Sorry she wasnt in "photoshop mode" so she asked me to not take her face.. but naaa I break the rules now and then....

out of the box:










like 5 minutes later: 
MAYBE IM DEATH BECAUSE I POSTED THIS PIC OF HER, WITH OUT A NICE HAIR AND MAKE UP, BUT AS YOU CAN SEE IN THE WATCH ITS ALMOST 2 O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING AND I DONT LET HER GO TO SLEEP BECAUSE IM BUILDING THE BIKE AND CANT STOP TALKING ABOUT BIKES.....










and now its his and hers...










this monday I'm taking the bike to the shop for final adjustments, and she is going out like half week, so we wont be riding until next week....

im so happy


----------



## DeeEight (Jan 13, 2004)

When I was building that orange one the other night/morning, at one stage my gf stomped out of the house I learned later, and walked around the block a few times because she was pissed off at me for having to work on a bike for some other girl (one who was paying me to build her a bike though) instead of paying attention to her. Of course she was pacing around one night while I worked on the bike I was doing for her too. She likes RIDING bikes, not talking about the mechanics of bikes.


----------

