Both of those links got mangled.
I wouldn't worry about a women's bike if you can find a sufficiently small men's bike. WSD bikes are often "WSD" because they have a shorter top tube relative to the seat tube and head tube lengths. Sooner or later, frames hit a minimum head tube length, and I think that has already happened by the sizes you're looking at. So get the effective top tube right and you're about as close as you're going to get. That may still require buying WSD just because men's and unisex bikes may not come small enough.
If you can find used in the right size, awesome. There are a couple things that are important to climbing well - a reasonably lightweight bike, especially for a smaller rider, and efficient suspension. You don't really get either of those for $800 on a new bike, but could get them both on a pre-loved one. I was going to say something about upgrading, but everything on the 3700 would need to be upgraded, and that's usually not as efficient as just starting over.
Does her current bike fit her? If so, you can use it as a reference to figure out what you're doing with buying a new one, from geometry charts. If not, she needs to be more participant in this process. It's a lot like buying ski boots, in some ways.
I wouldn't worry about a women's bike if you can find a sufficiently small men's bike. WSD bikes are often "WSD" because they have a shorter top tube relative to the seat tube and head tube lengths. Sooner or later, frames hit a minimum head tube length, and I think that has already happened by the sizes you're looking at. So get the effective top tube right and you're about as close as you're going to get. That may still require buying WSD just because men's and unisex bikes may not come small enough.
If you can find used in the right size, awesome. There are a couple things that are important to climbing well - a reasonably lightweight bike, especially for a smaller rider, and efficient suspension. You don't really get either of those for $800 on a new bike, but could get them both on a pre-loved one. I was going to say something about upgrading, but everything on the 3700 would need to be upgraded, and that's usually not as efficient as just starting over.
Does her current bike fit her? If so, you can use it as a reference to figure out what you're doing with buying a new one, from geometry charts. If not, she needs to be more participant in this process. It's a lot like buying ski boots, in some ways.
