Questions BEFORE the LBS trip...

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Kelly, as a new rider, you will find that test riding bikes at the bike stores will be a huge help to you.
The more bikes to test ride, the more you will start to get a feel for which bikes feel comfortable and which bikes make you feel not well balanced or distributed on.
Take notes- after test riding 4 or 5 bikes, you will likely NOT be able to keep the details all straight in your head! You might have to go back to try the few couple of bikes again after you start getting a feel. Bike shops expect people to do test rides.
By the time you have test ridden quite a few different bikes, you'll start to actually feel when you are comfortable and well balanced and when you are not.
That's way better than just hearing each LBS guy tell you what bike they are convinced you need and what size you should be on and then accepting that as the absolute truth. Everyone's body is different, and 3 people who are the same height and weight might feel very differently on the very same bike.
I would not recommend buying any bike that you have not test ridden a couple of times.

Keep in mind that most bike store salespeople will naturally want to sell you a bike that they have on the floor already, but that they sometimes are willing to order another size for you to try out (still without a firm sale commitment) if the one in stock seems a bit large or small for you. You might need to ask this, as a smaller woman with fewer bikes on hand to try.
Also, when you finally make up your mind and commit to buying a certain bike, you can usually get parts swapped out before the sale with no labor charge, and get the total price adjusted higher or lower just by the dollar difference in parts. If you request a pedal you like for instance, and it's cheaper then the pedal that comes standard on the bike, then you can ask to have the price adjusted down by the difference.
You might have to spend more to swap parts if you come back later on after the sale is over -after the part you are swapping is 'used', and also you will understandably have to pay the labor charge then. These after-sale policies vary between stores.
One more thing- when you do buy a bike you are also in effect buying the support of that store- if all else is equal and two bikes are just as good from two diff stores, buy from the store that treats you well and was willing to patiently and cheerfully spend time helping you when you were shopping for your bike. That's the store you may be taking your bike back to if problems arise or when you need help with your bike down the road. If you are unhappy with your new bike, the last thing you need is to have to bring it back to some guys who couldn't care less about you after they got your check.

Have fun...bike shopping is so exciting!!