Carbon or Alu for Wife?

[zoom-zoom]

I agree 100%.

If she wanted to buy the first road bike on the spot - then she's likely going to love this sport. I fell in love in one short ride and I do wish I'd gone with better (and better fitting) bike the first time around instead of 'upgrading' twice in the first two years (all three were road bikes, so it's not like I couldn't have bought my last bike the first time around!). This is particularly important for people who might be a hard fit (like me) because bike shopping can be very frustrating. I say, go with the best fit on the best bike you can afford. She'll thank you for it!

Ditto. And if she even has 1% of her brain that thinks racing might be fun, then definitely don't rule out a more performance/aggressive geometry frame. I ended up on a women's "comfort" bike, instead of the men's/unisex performance frame that I realized after only a few months would have been a more ideal fit with my body type and interest. Only a year after receiving my first road bike I am ready for an upgrade. This time to carbon (from aluminum...which really sucks on our rough, chip-sealed rural roads) and this time with better components (from Shimano 105 to SRAM Rival and lighter wheels and better brakes).

[Pip]

Just adding my two cents. I started out with a heavy aluminium-framed road bike, upgraded two years later to a 2kg lighter aluminium bike, then two years later upgraded to carbon (losing another 2kg again). if your wife's a confident cyclist then she may be fine going straight from a mountain bike to carbon. I personally would have found it too much of an adjustment. My carbon bike rides completely differently to my last two, and it's taken me more than I'd realised to get used to it. I love it though, don't get me wrong!