Originally Posted by
agmetal
One that I haven't seen mentioned but has my attention for a possible future project is the new Soma Pescadero frame...it's basically the Smoothie ES, but with even more tire/fender clearance.
That sounds like a great frame set. I have a set of long reach caliper brakes in a box, so I was kind of leaning towards that style of frame, but I really like my linear pull brakes as well and might want to get her into that kind of thing as well. Either would be fine as this will be her first road bike and she doesn't have a preference.
My thought is to get her a "do all" bike for her first one. So if she likes road, it does road. If gravel, it does gravel. If touring, it does touring. The Soma Pescadero, Double Cross and Black Mountain Cycles MonsterCross framesets all meet that.