I have a Kinesis (XC120 rather than that frame) Can thoroughly reccomend them and yes the stretch for a similar sized frame was shorter than my on-one.

http://www.islabikes.co.uk/bike_pages/beinn20lrg.html

5'3"……bless

One of these should be perfect

Thanks Smurf, but I've just passed up on an incredibly lovely Superlight because my future coach reckons a hardtail is the only way to go for me… 🙁

Oh and as far as the spreadsheet is concerned, I'm such a geek – I'm loving it! 😀

Maxray – that's good to hear! The longer I look the more I think the Kinesis is the one.

Mcboo – ha, thanks! If I was a bloke I might be offended! 😉

Just out of interest why only the hardtail?

I'd say you know more about your riding style than any coach, and should choose a bike based on that. If you're a technical god who lives in the big ring and always climbs out of the saddle there's a lot to be said for it.

But if you like a bit more comfort, prefer staying in the saddle, like to spin and/or need a bit of skills compensation (that's why I ride FS!) then that's the better option!

Yeah njee – that's pretty much what I was thinking to begin with, but he put forward some good arguments about power to weight and learning some good skills on a ht. He did admit that once power is up and skills learnt moving me onto full suss might be a good move – just not to begin with.

I'm not totally convinced (I like full suss!), but there's not much point in me having a coach if I'm not going to listen to him! And he is very good at what he does so I'm very lucky that he's even agreed to take me on!

Plus in fairness, when I was fit I did spend a lot of time in bigger rings and out of the saddle. (I'm still sad about the Superlight though!)

According to Liz McColgan, if I remember correctly, she marvelled at how strong and powerful she was on returning to running after giving birth.
I think there's more testosterone in the body – for whatever reason – and this can make female athletes recover and post surprisingly quick times very soon after the birth of a child.

PS – MM, you have mail.