Hello all.

Firstly, sorry for not utilizing the search function... I just don't have time to dig around a lot right now...

In days gone by I used to bike a lot (back in the UK), but I'm pretty out of touch these days, so need some advice.

My wife currently has a couple of el-cheapo mtn bikes. She likes biking (on road / paved trails), but on those things its pretty hard work. So... I want to buy her a reasonable entry level road bike as a birthday gift.

I have a reasonable idea what to look for in terms of groupsets etc, but no idea which bikes work - fit and comfort wise - for women.

I notice some manuf. have "female specific" models (e.g. Specialized Dolce etc). Is it just "hype and colors", or do they really have some benefit?

I'd like to have some kind of shortlist before I head into the stores with her.

She is 5'3, 115lb, and fairly fit (skiing, aerobics / kickboxing etc). We'll typically be biking relatively short distances (~50s) at weekends, with some possibility of training for & attempting the STP (Seattle-Portland) or similar at some point. So I want something that won't need replacing/upgrading as she grows into it, but at the same time we're not going to be doing any racing.

Budget - I'd like to stay <= $1000.

Your advice / experience / suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Tom