Wow. Thanks for all the awesome and quick responses!

Owlie: I think you are setting me straight again on the geometry. I was getting starstruck by how high end the components are and forgetting how important the geometry is for comfort (I ride a fairly relaxed bike specifically because I didn't like how twitchy the higher end bikes seemed). That's what happens when you shop craigslist at 2 am. Bad me.

OakLeaf: Thanks for the extensive research you did. I couldn't figure out what year the bike was and just assumed it would have shifters integrated into the brake levers. Now that I think of it, the price is very low for it to be a recent bike with that level of components (again, I use the 2 am excuse to try to shift blame away from me ). I'm not really against an older bike as long as it is of high quality with the exception of the shifters. I think she should have integrated shifters to make the experience more enjoyable. One of the most common complaints I have heard regarding biking from other people (luckily not my gf) is that they hated "10 speeds" because it was hard to shift. I suspect they are still thinking of friction shifting on the downtube. But all the info you have given me, especially reminding me that tires get old, is excellent. With regard to the size of the brake levers, luckily that shouldn't be an issue. She is 1 foot shorter than me but has almost the same sized hands! She's embarrassed about it but I think it's pretty cool.

Thanks again for all the replies, and I will post back with my results. And who knows, with any luck she will get so into it that she becomes a regular on this forum herself, eh?