Road bike recommendations - tough fit situation, creative ideas appreciated!

[BodhiTree]

I have a 54 cm Soma Buena Vista mixte. The actual "top tube" height (from the floor) is 21 1/2 inches. http://www.somafab.com/archives/product/buena-vista

If you are thinking less than 24 inches would work for you, this might be a direction to look.

It is a fast road-worthy bike. I find it to be a stiffer and faster ride than my Surly with identical parts.

The frame set (frame and fork) is about $550. The cheapest way to get the pieces and parts you need to build it up is to buy a used bike and swap everything onto the Soma frame. That's what I did. And that's how I know the Soma is faster than my Surly. They truly have identical parts (except for the brakes). Only the frames are different.

My hips have good days and bad days. When I'm not in the mood to swing my right leg over the rear wheel and saddle, doing the step-through routine on the Soma Buena Vista works nicely. It also saves some grief when the rear rack is fully loaded and awkward to swing a leg around.

[Wahine]

Welcome to TE.

Oakleaf makes an important point. Is the problem that you can't swing your leg over the back wheel and saddle so you want to try to step through? There are some tricks to get around this (to a certain degree) if that's the case.

Once you are straddling the bike are there any issues with flexing the hips while pedaling? If there are, it will effect how upright you will need to be on the bike.

Havign said that, the foldable bikes like the Bike Friday and Dahon mentioned above are good work arounds.

[Sky King]

With your budget, I like the idea of a soma buena vista. the Betty Foy by Rivendell is going to be over your budget. Another nice one is the She Devil by Handsome cycles but in looking at their site they are currently out of stock