I'm not sure if its any less weighty, though I suspect that it is - I remember picking up the Novara and thinking it weighed a ton, but Redline has a kids model too. The biggest disadvantage to it is that it has even smaller wheels - they are 24" rather than 26". My Redline weighs just a smidge under 22lbs, which while not being a feather isn't too much of a pig either.

I think that the initial build on the Redline may be better. The only things I felt the need to change were the stem and the brakes - for some weird reason it comes with mini V brakes.... they don't work! They don't stop the bike very well as they are paired with road levers and have no travel agent... I swapped them to cantis, much better.

It might actually be too little for you though.... I'm 5 even and I have short arms so I need something with a really short reach and even I had to put a longer stem on the bike. I think it came with something really tiny - a 70 or something and I ended up putting a 90 or 100 on it.