Erwin8r, my wife was only concerned about the downhill as well. But my wife's response after riding it the other day was that it was not near as bad as she had thought it would be.

Concerning roadbike being 'twitchy'. If I remember correctly, she's coming off a hybrid right? My wife felt the same way after coming off hybrid, but riding time and going to 25 tires made a huge difference for her. She said it felt much more stable.

Concerning clipless pedals, the route I took my wife was the pedals that were normal on one side and SPD on the other and told her it was a goal to shoot for but we wouldn't do it until she was ready. A few weeks later she got courageous and switched over and has not looked back. Her only question was why she waited so long. LOL