Help! Carbon bike choices for me?

[northstar]

No clue LB, but have an OCR1 too! I'm 5'3" and I have an extra small! One thing I liked about the OCR is that it was full ultegra... Too bad it's not carbon. Do they make carbon bikes with triples AND ultegra? I don't ever seem to see any...

My Trek 5000 has a triple with Ultegra RD and 105 on the front, and is carbon. Though I think the current version of it is called a Madone 4.something.

[rij73]

I ride a Blue Competition Cycles RC4. It is a unisex bike, but the XS size has the same top tube length as the Ruby 48 that everyone your size seems to be recommending, plus it is a compact geometry, so the standover shouldn't be an issue at all. You might want to try one out. I absolutely adore mine... It rides amazingly and is sooooo beautiful and distinctive. It's full carbon tubes with aluminum lugs. Frameset is 3.5 pounds. It is an awesome bike. I had mine put together with a 105 groupset except I did get the Ultegra short-reach levers. I bought the frameset on Ebay and put on the components that I knew I wanted. That way was much less expensive than a brand new factory-spec'd bike.

Check out http://www.rideblue.com/rc4.html and also http://www.rideblue.jp/product/rc4.html

That second site is in Japanese, but it has better pictures and geometry charts.

Blues are hard to find, but worth a long drive if necessary to try one out.

[Southside Sally]

I ride a Blue Competition Cycles RC4. It is a unisex bike, but the XS size has the same top tube length as the Ruby 48 that everyone your size seems to be recommending, plus it is a compact geometry, so the standover shouldn't be an issue at all. You might want to try one out. I absolutely adore mine... It rides amazingly and is sooooo beautiful and distinctive. It's full carbon tubes with aluminum lugs. Frameset is 3.5 pounds. It is an awesome bike. I had mine put together with a 105 groupset except I did get the Ultegra short-reach levers. I bought the frameset on Ebay and put on the components that I knew I wanted. That way was much less expensive than a brand new factory-spec'd bike.

Check out http://www.rideblue.com/rc4.html and also http://www.rideblue.jp/product/rc4.html

That second site is in Japanese, but it has better pictures and geometry charts.

Blues are hard to find, but worth a long drive if necessary to try one out.

I, too, have a Blue, and I absolutely adore her! Light, fast, responsive. I got mine on eBay, too!

[tulip]

All nice bikes referenced here.

Any reason you are not looking at going custom? My Luna Eclipse is fantastic. It's steel (Columbus Ultrafoco) with carbon fork and seat stays , very light, extremely comfortable (like riding a cloud). Nothing like having a bike that no one else has, not to mention one that is made just for you.

[Natasha]

I have a Trek WSD 5200 from a few years ago. It has a carbon frame with ultegra components. My inseam is 28" and ended up with the 47 and it fits well. All the bike shop guys recommended the 50, but it always felt too big. The 650 wheels should not be an issue. They will have more rolling resistance, but less wind drag. Many tri bikes have 650 wheels and triathletes like to go fast.