How are short people supposed to find bikes?

As a short guy who had no luck at your run of the mill LBS, I eventually found a bike shop that catered to competitive cyclists.  They performed a fitting for me, ordered the frame and built the bike I was interested in owning, with no obligation to actually buy the bike they built if it didnt feel right to me.  It fits like a glove - the rest is history.

I had a similar experience.  After determining from an initial fitting session that I needed a 53cm frame, my LBS ordered my Cannondale R700 from the factory - had it in about 10 days.  They did a fitting session at delivery, then another one about thirty days later to double check everything.

Good Luck,

Mark

The bike shop should order whatever you need. Or find another shop.

It won't be hard to find a bike to fit someone of your wife's height.

I actually had the opposite problem, because I am tall I wasn't able to find a bike that fit.  The womens specific frames were all too small and the mens frames weren't the right set up. 

I ended up with a custom made Guru road bike.  One of the local Tri shops fit me, fit me again, then double checked the measurments sent them off to Guru (which is in Canada) and 6 weeks later I had a custom fit road bike.  My original price goal was $1,000 and I went a few hundred over that but I got a bike that fits (I paid extra for personalized paint and decal choice)!  Check out their web site to see if there is a store near you that carries Gurus.

Good luck! 

   I'm 5'4" and I have the Specialized dolce vita multisport in a 54 cm. I was suprised to fit on a (sort of ) big bike. Maybe because its a womens specific design....it fits differently.

At this LBS they had a few smaller bikes in stock and they also ordered 2 other bikes for me to try.    I only test rode the WSD..  Trek and Specialized.

That pretty much sums up my experience with a regular LBS.  That's why - in the end - none of them got my business.  I've found that the bike shops were all jazzed to help my friend get fitted on a bike, and he's 5'8" and fits on bikes that shops typically carry a lot of.  When it came to me the response was "Ohhh, yeah - y-o-u - well, you know it's the end of the year, and our new models will be in stock soon.  Maybe check back in a couple of weeks."   I got so sick of hearing that excuse.

Back when I was shopping for a bike, I couldn't even find a 48cm in stock in order to test ride, and most stores tried to push a 50 or 51 cm frame on me - for example,  the 50cm Lemond that was on "clearance" which I'm sure they were dying to get it off the showroom floor.  They were willing to swap out everything imaginable to make that bike fit. 

At this time of the year, the small frames tend to be sold out at bike shops.  Try looking early in the spring or talk to a store that you want to deal with and have them order something for her to come in with their spring shipments

Good luck!!