MaryEllen, I'm in exactly the place you are right now. Switching from hybrid to road. I'm shopping, and I haven't found a bike that makes me shout "this is the one!" I, too, feel very uncomfortable on some of the bikes I've tried. The very first road bike I tried was the Trek Pilot WSD. I'm 5' 3.5" tall with shortish arms and very small hands. I felt SO unsafe on that bike! "Squirrely" was the best way I could describe it -- like the bike had a mind of it's own, and if I were to sneeze I'd crash for sure! The dealer thought I was nuts. I've asked a few people why the bike felt like that, and have gotten different answers: narrow handbars? Shorter wheelbase? Skinny tires? Nobody can tell me why. Since then, I've ridden about 8 different road bikes and can say that every single one of them felt different. Too long of a reach (several bikes), handlebars too low, or shifting too hard. That has come to be my biggest problem now -- the STI shifters for the front derailleur are very difficult for me to push up to the big ring, and nobody seems to know why. Also, nobody has an answer for me! I can't spend $1000 on a bike that I cannot shift up to the big ring! The last dealer suggested I get the bike that's most comfortable and change all the components over to something brand new and supposedly easier (basically, a SRAM version of STI). Hello? And spend a couple hundred more dollars on the brand new bike I just got??

Also, I love the "cheater" brakes. Because I'm used to hybrid, I expect I'll find myself at least occasionally hanging out on the bar when I'm riding along easy. I would appreciate having cheater brakes available to me. And, yes, you can have them added to any bike, I believe.

I'd appreciate knowing how you progress through this process. I think it's going to be a long haul for me. I'm just going to keep riding until I either find the bike that shouts "I'm the one" or until I find a bike dealer who can answer my questions and set me up with what I need.

By the way, so far, the most comfortable bike I've ridden is the Raleigh Cadent. I may check out more of the Raleigh line.

Good luck!