Need help on bike size!!!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Yep...just got back from LBS and rode a Trek 54 WSD and a Giant and a Felt and another Giant, and she was really comfortable (and the plumb line from the knee was spot on) with the Trek WSD 54cm except that she felt just a bit too upright. Since the 53 Diva has almost exactly the same seat and head angles, a 5mm shorter top tube (to her advantage) and a 1.5cm shorter head tube (due mainly to the fact that the frame size is 1cm shorter), it looks like it's a winner. Her amount of seat post showing should be about 16.5 cm and the head tube is 14, so that's a good correlation. SOOOOO long story short, I just ordered the 53 Diva frame and Campy Chorus group with a Record UT Crank and Record Skeleton Brakes, told her about it, and she is BEYOND excited. I'm actually going to have HER put it together (with my help) so she can feel really connected to the new bike. THANKS FOR EVERYONE's HELP! I will let you all know how it ends up fitting her after all (should be fine judging by the Trek she rode) and will certainly post pics once it's built.

That sounds terrific! I know she will be beside herself with excitement and being part of putting the bike together is the way to go too. A real treat to get the Campy too. Sounds like a great choice for her.
It's always best by far to ride a bike before buying it. Congratulations!

One bit of extra advice- she should ride the bike a bunch before making any adjustments aside from saddle adjustments. I amazes me how our bodies take their sweet time to adjust to every slightly new position. Make only one small change or tweak at a time, and ride the bike a lot between changes. Took me 250 miles before my body 'melted' into my new custom bike and finally reported back to me that it was indeed a perfect fit. I was so glad that I practiced extreme patience and had resisted changing anything all that time- I left everything just as the custom builder/fitter had set it up for me, and in the end I found she had indeed set it all up perfectly for me.
Often a small change will seem 'wrong' at first, simply because it's new to our body. If your GF was switching to a slightly more aero position, she'd at first feel like she was leaning down too far, it would feel 'wrong'. But she's switching to a slightly more upright position, and so that feels 'wrong' right now. It's good to ride a week or two on a new bike without making changes, and then again between every small change or tweak.
But getting the saddle height, tilt, and fore/aft is good to try to do right away, and easily fine tuned later as well.

[mountainpics]

That sounds terrific! I know she will be beside herself with excitement and being part of putting the bike together is the way to go too. A real treat to get the Campy too. Sounds like a great choice for her.
It's always best by far to ride a bike before buying it. Congratulations!

One bit of extra advice- she should ride the bike a bunch before making any adjustments aside from saddle adjustments.

Really good advice - thanks!