My girlfriend rides a mountain bike at the moment, or rather, she generally doesn't ride it at all. She learned late - only 2 years ago, is not confident on a bike, and can't get comfortable on the MTB at all, plus it's unnecesarily heavy and has knobbly tires etc.

I picked her up a Raleigh with a 48 cm frame which had been built up with really nice Campag hubs, Mavic rims, flat bars etc by a guy for his wife. Trouble is, it's too big! She can barely touch the floor with her toes when in the saddle, and for someone who is not confident, that's too much to ask.

I'd really like to build her up a nice road bike, so that she can enjoy some more pleasant riding, but what am I going to find that's smaller than 48 cm? It needs to be fairly cheap, and ideally light and purty. Am I going to have to hunt out something with 650c or even 24" wheels? Help!