DIABLO67 said:
...If you want to get your wife to ride, ask her what she wants and not what you think she wants. I know from experience. Take notes on what she thinks is cool and go from there. Mostly have fun together!
That sounds great in theory, but it didn't work for me. After trying (twice!) to set her up with hand-me-down random bikes, she insisted on going to the bike shop to buy a thing. I worked there at the time, but she insisted I SHUT UP while the owner sold her a low-end step-thru hybrid, which i paid for. She rode it like maybe 5 times. Later, she decided she wanted to ride trails with me, so she went to REI on her own ("you always try to make me get what YOU like!") and bought a pretty nice (albeit aluminum) thing. She rode that maybe like a dozen times, but mostly to the train station or the pub; maybe twice on trails. She sold it to a male coworker after 2 years or so.
After that, she put together a list of demands for the next build. It was, at times, difficult to figure out what she meant. I took my time, showed her stuff, and did everything she asked. Even got the thing powdercoated pink. In the end, she got a vintage Fuji mixte with a sprung brooks, drums front and rear with a 3speed. She rode it twice, insisted that I make the gearing higher, than rode it another 10 times, with vague complaints that the gearing is too high. I'm about to part it out; it'll be a few months before she notices and complains. :roll:
She DRIVES 1 mile to the GYM to sit on a stationary bike. :x
Everyone's got a different relationship, and no 2 wives are exactly the same, but if I could do it all over again?? I wouldn't even get involved at all. Leave her to her own devices.
