Steven,

You and I are the same height, so I expect your experiences might be
similar to mine.

You'll want to hold your seat height to 25" or less if you can. You
need a seat height about 3 inches less than your inseam to be able
to manage the bike easily when it's not in motion, and to start off
easily in traffic.

Most of the frames you've linked to will have a fairly high seat
height because of the top tube configurations, which some of the
manufacturers have decided are great for making eye-catching frames.

If I had to characterize one thing to look for, it would be a top
tube that is low near the steering head tube.

Unfortunately fewer and fewer manufacturers are making classic "Y-
Frame" bikes these days.

The Walmart Tiara is one of them (I've started to sound like a
broken record) and has geometry surprisingly similar to the Sofrider
frame. These can still be had for about $80. At the prices of some
of the bikes you've listed, you could almost by the Tiara for the
frame and another bike for the 26" parts and come out at about the
same cost.

For example, I think you could use the Tiara frame and bottom
bracket, combined with the 26" wheels, fork and swing arm from this
other bike, and build a reasonable frame assembly/bike with less han
$200 in the donor.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5412095

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4698937

Of course you could also get the Tiara frame and pick up the other
parts at goodwill, auctions, flea markets, etc.

Once you break about $300 for a donor bike, you start to get into
the range where it starts to make sense to buy a Sofrider or
Freerider, because you'll invest some time in engineering the
conversion...

Let us know what you need, and welcome to the group!

Best,

Doug

--- In Cruzbike@yahoogroups.com, "Steven Sashen" <steven@...> wrote:
>
> I'm poking around on eBay for some bikes to use with the
conversion kit.
>
> Any opinions?
>
> BTW, if it matters, I'm 5'6"
>
> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140151951923
>
> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120155227188
>
> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170143261783
>
> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250159526032
>
> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190148320924
>
> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140153044032
>
> THANKS for your help!
>