2007 Ladies Malvern Star Boulevard

2007 Ladies Malvern Star

2007 Ladies Malvern Star

I tested this bicycle on the road (bitumen) and off road (in gravel and sand) and it handled very well in both conditions. The gears took awhile for me to get used to. I found that the change for the front chain rings was good because it was not indexed like the back one. This allowed me to adjust the front derailer if I moved it too far and caused the chain to rub on the front derailleur. It was easily fixed by just moving the lever which has H and L witten on it for high and low. Doing this stopped the chain rubbing noise.

View of the shifters

Changing the rear gears was a little bit tricky for me because these are indexed. With a push of the blue button to change up, and a push of the lever to change down, but it changed smoothly.

View of the front forks

The front suspension worked well off road which gave it a smoother ride, but when tested on the road at a reasonable speed when the front brakes were applied I found that the suspenion forks were a bit too soft and made the front surge forward and nose dive. It was still controllable though. If these forks were ajustable I could of corrected this problem.

Having fatter tyres and a not so knobby tread worked well in soft sand and it plowed through it well when in the proper gear. Having not so knobby tread on the tyres was also good on the road as well.

View of the seat.

Suspension seat post plus the larger seat was nice and comfortable for both riding styles and an adjustable head stem allowed me to move the handle bars up or down on the spot without having to buy other adapters to make the handle bars higher.

Overall this bicycle would be great for a commuter. It should also stand up well for the recreational rider and would suit riding on the road for your weekend enjoyment. No I am not going to rate this bicycle because it is a bicycle and everyone has a different opinion..