I agree, go for the best components you can afford. I got rid of my first road bike after a year because of the poor shifting of the Tiagra/Sora combo (which was then the lowest) and upgraded to Ultegra. It was worth it. I never could shift into the big ring on the triple of my first bike and it always was having issues jumping from cog to cog. That is not good for a fairly new rider. And yes, Trek does have it down for petite female riders. So does Specialized, but they do not have as many options.