Thanks for the advice everybody. I suspected all replies would be go with whatever fits best and to test ride them. I agree... But like I mentioned, it's pretty hard finding shops that have bikes small enough for me to test ride. I will try a bit harder next week and call around.

Quote Originally Posted by Owlie View Post
Unless you're planning on racing, see if you can find a Jamis Quest Femme (the other bike on my list). Steel, 105 components, and a pretty reasonable price. I don't know that they have a distributor in Australia, though.

I checked the Australian distributors site and they don't bring it in which is a shame, the Jamis steel frames look really nice but I don't think there's a market for it here.

I'm not opposed to steel but if I did go that way I think I would fork out the extra money and go custom with 650c wheels (I'm 5'2"). I didn't mention but I have a custom 26 inch Gunnar Crosshairs with Rival which I've mainly only used for CX and riding trails, plus one weekend of credit card touring. It's a nice bike, but it's not a fast bike. Then I have my old steel roadie and two steel track bikes. I feel like I'm leaning towards carbon since it felt so good riding it up hills when I test rode an Amira, but it's my budget that is preventing me from getting something nice.

I guess it's back to dreaming about a new bike for me until I can test-ride some bikes... That or I should just buy the Amira before it's gone