I have a 44cm Coda Femme for my "second" bike. I am 5' 1" with a 28.5 inseam and I think it is on the edge of actually being too small for me, although it's fine, since I don't ride it that often. A flat bar road bike would be a good transition to a real road bike. It's smooth riding, but the components are kinda low level. And, it's heavy-ish. Not over the top, but heavy compared to carbon bikes.