I just went through this with my wife…she finally agreed that I could get a bike…I wasn’t sure how to tell her that I want to buy a bike this year, then next year get a better one…I thought it would be a hard sell, but it wasn’t bad…I just explained to her that I wanted to get a smaller used bike so that I could practice riding and get my skills built up before buying the nice bike that I really want. Plus I explained that I would hate to drop my fancy new bike due to inexperience…much better to do that to a used, cheaper and smaller bike…if it happened…the smaller the bike, the easier it will be to “catch it” before it hits the ground…I almost dumped mine during my BRC…slowing to a stop and grabbed a handful of front brake with the front tire slightly turned…thank god the bike was only about 200lbs, I was able to hold on to it and kind of one legged hopp…if it was the Gladius (about 420lbs), down it would have gone…
Anyway, good luck…but I would recommend talking to her about the above mentioned reasons for a “starter bike”…