Road Bike Suggestions for Short Female?

[indysteel]

Congrats on your new bike! How fun!

[emily_in_nc]

Love the color scheme, and Terry is a GREAT company. I have some regrets about selling a great 2001 Terry Isis (steel, made in USA) I used to own!

Hope you love your new Symmetry!

[MyRightFoot]

Update- I decided not to get the Terry after I discovered the new ready to ride bikes are now made in China (only her custom are made in the USA). The 2012 Terry frames are made in China and assembled in Taiwan, the 2013 Terrys will be made and assembled in China. With China's abusive labor and environmental track record, my conscience tells me I need to seek a bike that has better karma.

[Catrin]

It is my understanding that Terry no longer owns the company, though I could be mistaken.

If you are looking at custom, you might want to check into Gunnar. Made in Wisconsin, this is the more affordable line from Waterford bikes. I think of Gunnars to be the "ala carte" version Regardless I am very happy with mine and I had a great experience having it built. There was a point when I even got to speak directly to the woman designing my frame (I've a full custom, for various reasons none of their stock sizes worked for me). They DO have a wide range of stock sizes as well. Waterford is large enough they have their own custom steel tubing manufactured for them.

Gunnar Bikes

[Owlie]

I think that unless you go custom (or with one of the small companies), you'll be hard-pressed to get a new, off-the-shelf bike made in the US. Cannondale did until a couple years ago, when they were bought by some large company and manufacturing shifted to Taiwan (I think).

[Artista]

Update- I decided not to get the Terry after I discovered the new ready to ride bikes are now made in China (only her custom are made in the USA). The 2012 Terry frames are made in China and assembled in Taiwan, the 2013 Terrys will be made and assembled in China. With China's abusive labor and environmental track record, my conscience tells me I need to seek a bike that has better karma.

Maybe you should call Terry to talk with them about their bike production. It's possible that they've chosen a more equitable manufacturing facility in China.

Georgena sold Terry to another woman a few years ago. Georgena still does the semi-custom bike designs and I think that she has some input into the overall direction that the company takes. I believe that Georgena is not involved in the day-to-day operations, though.

Terry is still a great company.

[MyRightFoot]

Thanks all for the input. I was originally hoping to stay around $1500, but now plan to wait on the bike to save up for possibly custom, US made. In the meantime, I plan to keep my eyes on the used bike options.

Here's a partial list of where bikes are made, with the caveat that this is the info I could gather for current bicycles (many of the locations have changed especially in this decade), but the accuracy can only be confirmed thru the honesty of the companies. You will find many of them have deceptive or elliptical explanations on their websites.

Made in USA:
Gunnar/Waterford.
Sweetpea
Georgena Terry Custom (built by Waterford)
Hampsten
Rodriguez
DeSalvo
Strong
Moots
Lynskey
Ira Ryan
Kirk
Davidson
Steelman
Seven
Co-Motion
Independent Fabrication
Kish
Vanilla

along with components & parts from...
Chris King
Paul
Enve forks
LH Thomson
White Industries

Made in Italy:
DeRosa
Pegoretti
Formigli
Ciocc
Pelizzoli
Torelli
Mondonico
along with gruppo from Campagnolo

Made in UK
Pashley
Brompton

Made in Taiwan
Bianchi
Surly
Salsa
Soma
along with gruppo from Sram and Shimano (also made in Japan and Malaysia)

Made in China
Terry
Felt
Breezer
Kona (assembled in Taiwan)
Specialized
Huffy
Schwinn
Fuji
Mongoose
Motobecane
Mercier
Windsor

[Kathi]

Serotta, made in New York.

[laura*]

Some additional details:

Made in USA:
Georgena Terry Custom (steel frames by Waterford) (titanium by Lynskey)

Made in Taiwan
gruppo from Sram and Shimano (also made in Japan and Malaysia) (SRAM chains from Portugal)

Made in China
Motobecane (except some in Taiwan, notably titanium frames)

[Trek420]

One word.... Cannondale and a good portion of the 2012's are on sale!!

But that's 11 words