unless you're buying used (like, super used), $400-$500 won't be enough.
protip: buy her a salsa casseroll. it's made of sweet, buttery steel (4130 chromoly to be precise). it's my rain and commuter bike, plus backup bike. it's more comfortable than my slc-sl when it comes to big bumps in the road. i've done 540km on it over the last 4 days. did i mention that it's comfortable?
you can get a complete salsa casseroll with tiagra for C$1300 at your local bike shop. since you most likely live in the united states, it'll be more like US$1100-US$1200.
whatever you do, don't buy her a low-end piece of aluminium garbage. nobody likes riding a jackhammer. if you live around ottawa, ontario i would be more than willing to lend you my salsa to give you a demo of what i mean by how comfortable it is :)
other nice things about the salsa:
a) it will last forever
b) you can put fenders on it (hence why it's my rain bike)
c) you can mount a rear rack & panniers on it (for light touring)
d) it's COMFORTABLE. you will actually WANT to ride this thing.
lastly, the pictures on salsa's website do not do the frame justice. it looks great. trust me. i have some pictures lying around on my photobucket account that show off bits and pieces of the frame. if you'd like me to, i can go dig em up and post them here.
now go check it out for yourself:
http://salsacycles.com/bikes/casseroll_double/
p.s.: i ride with 25mm tires and it's plenty comfortable. i can only imagine how it would feel on 28mm, 30mm or 32mm tires.
protip: buy her a salsa casseroll. it's made of sweet, buttery steel (4130 chromoly to be precise). it's my rain and commuter bike, plus backup bike. it's more comfortable than my slc-sl when it comes to big bumps in the road. i've done 540km on it over the last 4 days. did i mention that it's comfortable?
you can get a complete salsa casseroll with tiagra for C$1300 at your local bike shop. since you most likely live in the united states, it'll be more like US$1100-US$1200.
whatever you do, don't buy her a low-end piece of aluminium garbage. nobody likes riding a jackhammer. if you live around ottawa, ontario i would be more than willing to lend you my salsa to give you a demo of what i mean by how comfortable it is :)
other nice things about the salsa:
a) it will last forever
b) you can put fenders on it (hence why it's my rain bike)
c) you can mount a rear rack & panniers on it (for light touring)
d) it's COMFORTABLE. you will actually WANT to ride this thing.
lastly, the pictures on salsa's website do not do the frame justice. it looks great. trust me. i have some pictures lying around on my photobucket account that show off bits and pieces of the frame. if you'd like me to, i can go dig em up and post them here.
now go check it out for yourself:
http://salsacycles.com/bikes/casseroll_double/
p.s.: i ride with 25mm tires and it's plenty comfortable. i can only imagine how it would feel on 28mm, 30mm or 32mm tires.