Margaret & I went road bike shopping today. We first went to American Cyclery that carries brands such as Specialized, Bianchi and Waterford bikes. The store was quite small and they didn't have a wide selection of sizes. They don't even have the 2004 Specialized bikes available yet.
I'm torn about Bianchi. Plenty of people ride them, so I assume they're great steel bikes. But I can't get over the fact that they're hideous. That mint-green color just doesn't do it for me. I know it's superficial, and has nothing to do with anything, but I just know that I would be annoyed riding one. Every time I looked it, I would be distracted and think, "man this is an ugly bike". Apologies to all Bianchi riders there whom I must have thoroughly offended.
Afterwards we went to Avenue Cyclery down the street to look at some Treks. For various reasons, I've been leaning towards a Trek, especially since some models come in WSDs (Women Specific Designs). For 2004, they have 1500 WSD, 2200 WSD and 5200 WSD. Much as I'd love another carbon composite bike, I've been leaning towards a 2200 WSD which is aluminum/carbon with a carbon fork and mostly Ultegra components (Shimano 105 brakes, cassette and front derailleur). They had one built up in our size and it was a gorgeous shade of blue. I was ready to buy it for the pretty, pretty, color alone!
Margaret & I didn't actually test ride that day, but we did poke and prod the 2200 WSD for a while. One of the employees there showed us her personal 5200 WSD for comparison. I'm not exactly a gram geek, but I did want to know the weight difference between the two bikes: the 5200 WSD weighed 18.7 lbs and the 2200 WSD weighed 19.4 lbs. Less than a pound difference. That's negligible to me.
Looks like I'm leaning towards a 2200 WSD.
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