Originally Posted by Hiro11

Lots of great suggestions here, guys. Appreciate the feedback. Great tip on the possibly negative handling aspects of an extremely short stem. We'll have to watch that.

Bikes like the Pinarello, Felt and Scott are overkill for my wife. Most seem to be right around $1,000 minimum. The Ruby would also be awesome... for two grand. I certainly get that there are lots off options, just not many for a beginner.

The Dawes BD bike is a good option but similar to something she already owns. She was looking for a drop bar road bike.

I have been focused on used but bikes this size are extremely rare on CL or the like.

Lastly, I have to disagree that a 44 "isn't all that small", the bike we got her looks extremely small to me...