Originally Posted by
Trek_geek
Got my wife a Trek 7.5 FX WSD about 4 years ago. She loves it. Upright seating, flat bar. 700x32 tires so it is good on paved surface at 100 psi and packed gravel trail at 50-60 psi. Had to the 7.5 $900+ to get the carbon fork. Now the 7.4 FX has a carbon fork and is just over $800. If she is not going to ride that much, the 7.1; 7.2 and or 7.3, all with steel forks and less expensive and still WSD (women specific design)
The Trek FX series, the Giant Dash, the Specialized Vita and the C'dale Quick were all on my list for her. All are very nice bikes. There are also bikes by Felt, Jamis, GT, and a lot of others that would be somewhat cheaper but not as nice. I've been checking around for a used one of any of the first 4 and almost never see them.
I also had another idea that won't cost too much money. I can put an upright bar on the Cannondale that we have, but not upgrade the shifters, just to see if she's more comfortable on it that way. That would be the cost of a straight bar, an upright stem, and a pair of levers, altogether about $75 at most. I spent more than that on socks and shorts last week. Shifters and cassette would probably cost another $50-75. I already have a set of brake cables from another project that I never used so those are already covered, and I think most shifters come with cables, or at least they should.