I just invested in a new bike and, as a lady, thought I’d offer two things that helped make a difference for my search:
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Try Craiglist. I know this is heavily dependent on where you live, but there are SO many great women’s bike options for much cheaper than new on Craigslist - a lot of well-meaning partners, I found, built or bought their lady partners really nice bikes that never were used, and they were selling them for cheap just to get the bikes out of the house. That’s how I stumbled on my new (to me) road bike and I’m so glad. It will help you save money over buying new and then you have more cash to play with for kits and bags and other fun accessories.
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On men’s vs. women’s fitting, I went in very stubborn, thinking that I would try any bike, men’s or women’s, gendered colors be damned! For my mountain bike I did get a men’s Trek, but not without realizing that men’s standover height versus women’s standover height is very different in a lot of bike models, a lesson I learned the painful way. D’oh. Additionally, I found that reach was very different in some men’s models vs. women’s models in road bikes, and for my road bike, I just found the woman-specific geometry more comfortable for my body. So you can go either way, as long as she’s comfortable on it. Are you able to test drive any of the models you’re looking at with her? You could test ride a lot of men’s and women’s bikes at your LBS and then search on CL for older, used versions to save cash.
I hope that helps!