Recommendations for a small touring bike

[Kathi]

I have nothing against 650 wheels, I had them on my Trek. But Guru (the company that built my ti bike) didn't seem to think I needed them. The wheels don't look too big for my bike. Only once did I notice toe overlap, when I was making the very sharp turn, uphill into my driveway. It scared me to death, but now I just approach the turn differently. I have 700 wheels on my carbon bike (48 cm unisex frame, with a lot of short reach things on it) and didn't notice any difference when I switched to that bike from my Trek 5200 with the smaller wheels. I do have 25cm tires on the ti bike, which makes it a bit smoother and I could put 28s on there, if I wanted to. The geometry on my ti bike is much more relaxed than the carbon one, so the bike looks bigger, even though the measurements are smaller, if that makes sense. I actually don't like being quite so upright, but I just need to switch the position of the bars a bit.

I'm curious, how does one do relaxed geometry on a small frame? I have the impression that relaxed geometry has a slack sta. but when I was out riding today I noticed a woman riding with a more upright position. Is that what you consider relaxed in spite of the position of the sta. My neighbor rides a hybred so he's in a very upright position.

For example, back in the old days the shop would put my handlebars in a very low position. They were so low that when I rode in my drops my thigh hit my boobs. I almost never rode in my drops. I would consider that an aggressive position. But it wasn't a good position for me. With my custom frame I have a longer ht than you would find on a stock frame but I'm in a neutral position, not high, not low. So is that a relaxed geometry or aggressive geometry? My front end is designed so I can raise or lower my handlebars by switching the spacers or stem. I will not, however, be able to go as high as a hybred.

I once tried a small touring bike that was custom designed for a woman my size. It had a slack sta but it was terrible for me. I felt like I was riding a recumbent because I wasn't centered over the pedals. Of course the bike wasn't fitted to me but I doubt the saddle could have been moved forward enough.

My saddle is as far forward as it can go, even with a 74.8 degree sta and a zero degree seat post so I'm pretty sure I can't go slacker, like 72.5 degree sta.

So based on the fact that certain aspects of geometry cannot change for me I'm confused as to what you did to get a relaxed geometry on your bike.