Buying my first road bike

[Owlie]

$2500 for carbon with full Ultegra's a tall order, and finding small sizes to test out is going to be hard--especially if you want to test out the specific bike you're looking for. You might be able to find the frame size, but not the components. (It's hard to find WSD bikes with better than 105 components on the floor, and those are usually going to be 48 and 51 cm). I would advise that you might want to spend less than that, especially if you're a student and won't have a lot of time to ride. (I would also advocate being financially responsible and stay below your budget. ). And Emily's right--this is not likely to be your "forever" bike. You are probably going to find that you might want to do things that it's not designed to do. You might find yourself looking longingly down gravel paths (cyclocross bike!), or you might find that you prefer long rides at a more leisurely pace (touring bike?). Or maybe you prefer a more upright posture. Or maybe you decide that you do want to go really fast or even race. But spending $2500 on a racing bike (because that's what the Amira is) when you don't know that that's what you want (or need) may not be the wisest decision.

My advice would be to stick to 105 or a Tiagra/105 mix (make sure the shifters and rear derailleur are 105, though--the front derailleur is relatively cheap to replace at a later point), since the current iteration of Shimano Tiagra is actually pretty nice. 105 will get you similar performance to Ultegra with a bit of a weight penalty. Find a good bike shop that will work with you. Try as many bikes as you can. Talk to the people at the shop. Be prepared to talk about what you want to do with the bike. And definitely read the threads on here about bikes for the petite.

[Eden]

Perhaps stay away from the biggest names, and look at bikes from Jamis, Kona, Surly, Scott, Fuji, to name a few. You'll get more bike for the money..

Not necessarily..... the big guys have greater access and greater buying power with the component manufacturers, so you can get *more* bang for your buck with them. Case in point Jamis Ventura Race (their top alu women's road bike) is MSRP $1350 and is largely Tiagra equipped. The Specialized Dolce Comp is MSRP $1500 and comes mostly 105 equipped. The cranksets are both FSA, but the Dolce's is a higher grade. You get a considerable upgrade for your $150.

Shop, compare, look for the bargains and most of all get a bike that fits you and you feel comfortable on. Which ever bike you decide on, don't pay MSRP....

[Owlie]

Perhaps stay away from the biggest names, and look at bikes from Jamis, Kona, Surly, Scott, Fuji, to name a few. You'll get more bike for the money.

For your budget, I'd look for 105 or Tiagra. Both are perfectly good. In fact, I'd go under budget and look at a nice Surly Pacer. Maybe a Surly Cross Check.

JMTC.

I think the OP would have a hard time with Surly. Those things run big.

[Koronin]

Welcome. At 5' 0", unfortunately it will be very tough to find many stores that have bikes you'll be able to test. I'm also 5'0". I was lucky to be able to test 2 bikes when I was looking. One was a Trek Lexa and the other a Specalized Dolce. The thing about this is I live on the NC coast, the Lexa I tested I was 5 hours away in Charlotte, the Dolce was over 2 hours away in Raleigh. (Happened to be in each city for other reasons so was lucky to be able test each one). What I learned was that I need a men's bike because I felt to cramped on the WSD bikes. I have shorter legs with a longer toros/arms. Definitely find a shop that is going to work with you and is concerned about what you need. Another brand to check out is Felt. Felt's WSD line is the WZ line. I bought an F series bike (which is a men's line that there is no WSD version of). I love the bike and it fits me wonderfully.

[Elphaba]

I think finding a good LBS is the first step and then find something you like that they carry. My guys (yes, they are ALL mine LOL) know my Giant's forwards and backwards and they practically drool when Dotty (the Inspire) comes in because she's the only one in Jacksonville, (that we know of). I went in before my first charity ride to replace a cap on the handlebars and walked out over an hour later because before I knew it, they had her wheels off, tuned her up (knew I had crashed her a few times ), polished her up and even reset my computer to standard time.. And didn't charge me a dime, so I felt obligated to by a Camelback bottle with their logo on it.