DebW in the 21st century?

[Triskeliongirl]

Deb,
at 5'7" and 32" inseam, I'm trrying to understand why you would need wheels smaller than 700 to avoid toeoverlap.
I'm 5'5", inseam 30", shoe size 9. On my Rivendell 54cm w/700 wheels, I seldom if ever get toe overlap- it's just not a problem.
Is the issue for you because your top tube is going to be shortened to accomodate your "women's reach"? Is it because this is going to be a WSD?

Lisa, its not just your height and inseam, reach is also dicated by BOTH the length of your arms/torso and the length of your femur. The length of the femur dictates how far back your saddle is relative to the bottom bracket. Long femured people (like me) sit very far back, further lengthening our reach, so then we need a shorter top tube to reach the handlebars. Then arm and torso length also effects reach. Toe clip happens when the top tube gets too short to accodomodate a 700c wheel. Some manufacturers fix this by slackening the head tube angle, but then the handling becomes sluggish, which is why some of us need bikes with smaller front wheels. Other manufacturers fool women into thinking they are buying a bike with a short reach by reporting a short top tube, but then steeping up the seat tube so much that they can never get set up properly on the bike. You are lucky 700c wheels work well for you body, makes life much easier!