First, something I should have said in my first follow-up:thank you all for your considered responses!

Quote Originally Posted by withm View Post
If it's flat where you live, you probably have wind. I'd get a fully geared bike for a first bike. And if she is unused to riding much, or long distances, the more gears the better. I live at sea level, and use all 3 chain rings routinely.

If you want her to enjoy riding with you or other presumed roadies, she will never be happy with a fixie, nor able to keep up.
Surprisingly, wind generally isn't bad around here, though I'm told it gets worse later in the winter (we haven't spent a whole year here yet. I'm not sure how seriously to take the threat of wind though as this is coming from folks who think 40 is cold. ) She also wouldn't have to keep up with a pack of roadies as we generally ride by ourselves or with a very casual crew. I'm either on a 29'er MTB turned commuter or a fixed gear road bike myself so I'm not a speed demon. That said, this:

Later, if she wants another bike (and she probably will if you did well with the 1st one) then look for the other stuff - fixie, single speed, folders, or touring.
is dead on and is a point well taken.

What kind of bikes has she tried out so far? SHE MUST test ride them before you buy. And she should try a variety, from fixies to a couple high end carbon or aluminum road bikes just so she can appreciate the differences from one to the other and see what technology is available at different price points. Using the extremes will help her to narrow the type of bike she wants, then you can start looking in your price range.

Honestly the Trek FX series is a really good choice, and lots of TE members ride them for errands tricked out with panniers, or just as long distance road rides. I almost bought one myself a couple years ago but chose instead a bike with dropped bars.
There is the biggest problem. Because of her size and because of the limited selection at local bike stores, we have to drive an hour and a half to New Orleans to find anything that doesn't say Trek, Specialized or Sun on it (Well, aside from Next/Mongoose/Huffy/Magna/etc... but those don't count!) let alone anything that fits. Even in New Orleans, bikes her size are pretty rare.

We may end up at with the 7.5FX by default. It was one of the first I found and one of the only ones available locally and I know it is a solid bike. I just want to see what else is out there first!