Which Bike

Hi Susie.

First off I am a roadie who enjoys mountain biking so I strongly support your getting a road bike but, I wasn't clear as to whether you intend to start road biking of if you are commuting. The reason I bring this up is I generally commute on a mountain bike as I feel it's upright position gives me better visibility and it's rugged wheels, wide soft tires, and disc brakes give me more safety amongst the 2 ton steel encased homicidal maniacs that inhabit my city. So some slick tires on a beater MTB is an option.

As far as the brands you're looking at... They are all good. Its like Ford, Chevy, and Toyota. Some people have strong feelings about one or another but at the end of the day these are reputable companies making pretty good mass produced bicycles. Far more important than the choice of frame manufacturer is component selection and how you feel on and about the bike.

A good LBS should be able to set you up with a bike that fits with or without women specific geometry. At your height some smaller frames that are not WSD should fit fine with maybe a stem change, smaller sized handlebar, and/or a saddle change. Remember that while the 'ideal' woman has long legs the average woman tends to have shorter legs and a longer torso than a man of the same height. You'll really have to ride the bikes preferably with a saddle that supports you well to know which one works best for your physique.

I hope this helps, good luck!

Back me up or correct me if I am wrong, but I believe you can test ride the bike just outside the shop. That'll give you a small idea of the proper frame size. Make sure you try riding with your hands on the hoods as well as in the drops. Just take in your pedals with you. When a person is ready to drop 2-3 grand on a bike, a little adjustment for proper fit in a test ride is more than reasonable. Good luck.

Deafwolf, it really depends on the shop whether they let you test ride just outside or for longer distances. The better shops in my area are pretty lax one even has loaner saddles that you keep for a week or more to really figure out if it's the right one for you. You're right about the fit issue except a good shop will give you a good 'rough' fit regardless of the price of a bike. Mainly for self interest, if your bike fits wrong because of a simple issue most buyers will blame the shop and go elsewhere to purchase their next bike.

Did we loose some threads in the move? I can't find several of mine I was going
to add some info to.

I think they're still there somewhere, but the organization is all out of whack. I'm lost and unable to navigate this new set-up.... at least not yet.

I assume that the transition is still ongoing and that all threads haven't been brought into the new system yet. It also seems that all of the features have not been enabled just yet.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by Deafwolf [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

I think they're still there somewhere, but the organization is all out of whack.

Actually a bit of both, hopefully it will be resolved soon.