Originally Posted by
Wilfred Laurier
Nice enough bike. Switching to street tires will make a massive difference.
But as others have said, bringing a shiny new bike to a college campus is a perfect recipe for getting a bike stolen. Pull a beater out of a dumpster and change the tires and cables and give her that.
As for your plan to ride it yourself, are you a particularly short person? Because you will likely not be comfortable on a 'Women's Small' size bike if you are an average height (or above) male.
The sizing seems strange. I'm 5'8" with a 30" inseam. In the last photo I posted you can see the saddle raised all the way. As for reach, the bike feels great like that to me, but when I sit down, I want the saddle a bit higher for pedaling. I'd be comfortable riding it on trails. With the saddle at it's lowest position, it's 31" to the ground. The standover directly in front of the saddle is 27".
It probably is too big for my daughter. I guess it just comes down to geometry. My daughter is very comfortable in an upright riding position on my wife's size medium step-through hybrid. That bike has a recommended rider height of 5'5" - 5'7". The GT has a recommended height of 5'3" - 5'6". My daughter is 5'3".
My last mountain bike was an 18" 1999 Trek 6500 and I was very comfortable on it.