Road Bike Advice for Short People

[psu_el]

Hello,

I'm a beginning cyclist wanting to purchase a road bike. I've come to realize that based on my needs, I don't have much of a choice. Here are the main things I'm looking for:


Small frame (I'm only 4' 11" :( )
Very Entry-Level (less than $700)
Plan on going on Century rides


Since I'm a female, I'm not sure whether the Women's Specific bikes are a requirement, but it looks like if I want anything that works for my height, the Women's Specific are the only ones I can find that fits.

Any advice on what kind of bike and good bike stores in Portland to check out? I went to The Bike Gallery and the closes thing I've found so far is the Trek 1000 WSD.

Thanks in advance!

[elljay]

Try the Giant OCR-W series. The OCR 3-w is about $650 and is frequently cited as a "best buy" in Bicycling mag. They also offer the OCR 1-w for about $1100. Bike'n'hike is our local Giant dealer. Several family members have the men's/generic OCR 3 and they have proven to be decent entry-level road bikes. You may need to swap out the seat, and several folks recommend a brake upgrade.

Recently, I recall that Sellwood had a used Terry in a small size.

[psu_el]

That's very helpful. Thanks!