Originally Posted by
LuckySailor
My wife is looking for a new cross bike. Her requirements are: the bike must be as light as possible, although not necessarily carbon. Will spend up to $2000. 105 group minimum. Should have accommodations for at least a rear rack. Frame cannot be light blue with lime green accents. Nice, smooth ride. Doesn't want a 3 series BMW, that is nimble, but feel every freakin crack in the road. Wants Cadillac smoothness and ride comfort. The bike has to be fast-she has to be able to keep up with me. (I am only stating what she is telling me. For the record, I am not FAST. On my recent tour, my average tour speed was 23 kph.) And probably the most important, Her standover height is 26" (660 mm). This is the real problem. She has looked at Specialized, Giant Liv, Felt, Focus. The Focus xxs Mares AX fit her, but it happens to be baby blue with lime green accents. The person who came up with those colors should be without a job at Focus! Thank you for the suggestions.
66 cm standover sounds very, very, very short. No offense intended to her or you, but are you sure that's her correct measurement? I can't see how even the xxs Focus fit her if her standover height is 66 cm; its standover is around 72 cm.
If she really has a 66 cm standover height, no cyclocross frame would ever fit her; 700c x ~33 tires are too tall for such a short person.
The only bike that could fit someone that height would be one with small diameter wheels, like 26" / 559 or smaller, and probably with a "mixte" (aka step-through, aka ladies) frame.
I suggest you measure again, her standover (aka pubic bone height) is probably more like 72-73 cm, unless she's like 4'8". Here's a how-to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yxZ...ature=youtu.be
My go-to suggestion for a new 'cross bike is the Fuji Cross 1.5, because no one else is offering such great componenets (105) for the money ($1200). But, the Fuji 1.5 is highlighter green, which may not meet your wife's color palette. The Fuji Cross 1.3 is an interesting rosy copper color, and has Rival 11 for $1500.
Also, Fuji doesn't offer an XXS size, just XS.
And plenty of folks would call 23 kph / 15 mph fast, if that's the average from your bike computer. That means that you spent lots of time at speeds higher than that, in order to average out the climbs and stops. Not racer-fast, but fast for a tour average.