I find it as no surprise when riders comment on how smooth and comfortable a road bike can be. Most think the drops are murder but don't realize how comfortable it can be riding the hoods.
As far as the top tube, keep in mind, many new bikes have the compact/sloping top tube style frame like Gina's bike. Plus, most WSD (women specific design) from the major brands take the female public bone into consideration.
And yeah, that's a funky custom setup set up on the rear of the Terry. A new bike will have several options as a rear set up. The reason her gears are that way is because it's only 7 speed and she wanted that tall gear fro the climbs. A new 10 speed will have a gradual increase throughout the cogset (greater number of gears).
Forgot to add, as far as the twitchy steering, it can be different from bike to bike depending on several things, fork rake, wheel base, stem length etc. Gina got this bike after riding her other bike for 7 or 8 years and had a hard time with the twitchy feel at first. Took about a month to master it and now she handles the bike really well. Actually much better than the old bike.
I'm not so sure anymore about new models but some WSD bikes used to come with 650 wheels instead of the taller 700c wheels on most road bikes. Not sure how tall you are but Gina is 5'4 and never had a problem with 700 wheels. Especially with the new sloping top tube. You can see it has lots of clearance for the public bones.
