Giant Bikes? Compact Sizing?

[Triskeliongirl]

Wow, thanks for all the great information. I am currently riding a 19" steel terry isis that I am *very happy* with the fit on, but she is heavy. I made a mistake and prior to this bike bought a 17.5" titanium isis which I am finally willing to admit to myself is simply too small, although she is light. Gosh, one feels bad when they make a $2000+ mistake......... But, then its like going in circles, the bikes with toe clip overlap handle well, the ones without are sluggish, etc. But even then, how fast the steering is can be influenced by what you are used to.......... While I like the fast steering of my terry's, I can't ride no hands either, so maybe I would like a bike with more neutral steering, I don't know. For me its further complicated by the fact that test rides are difficult since I can only ride a bike with a modified crank set. While the top tubes on the giants appear long, the seat tube angles are slack, so the reach is comparable to the specialized that have shorter top tubes and steeper seat tube angles. For me I need a slack seat tube for my long thighs. My problem is my height is all in my legs, and my arms and upper body are short. I am kicking myself that I didn't buy Isis in the 19" but they only made her for one year in titanium. I bought the 17.5" to get the slacker seat tube angle, but maybe I should have just looked for a different saddle with longer rails. As I write this, I think I really have to think hard about going custom. We have a local carbon framebuilder, Crumpton, in Austin, who has a good reputation for really working with people (which I need), but I have no idea how he does with women's bike. I am thinking of going carbon, since the goal is to have a very light go fast bike to complement my steel terry travel bike.

[SouthernBelle]

The most common criticism of the Giant OCRs is the xero wheels. Mine feel a little squirelly and I'm 99.9% sure the wheels are not stiff enough. Most of us end up changing out things. That is my next major changeout.