Thanks to you all for your thoughts! Mimi - impressive knowledge of the materials! Nancy - thanks for the article, I can't wait to read it. That is exactly what I need. I'm learning so much!!

I'm in New England, so hills can be a bear. I'm staying away from carbon for the sheer matter of breakability. I don't care about flying down the hills (I shy away from speed), but I do care about ease of climbing. I'm not planning to tour, but my current goal is a metric century. After that, I'll see what comes. I also stood on my scale while holding my current bike -- a 10-year-old steel Diamondback mountain bike with hybrid tires and a little pouch with a few tools. 34 lbs! Ouch! ANYTHING will be a huge improvement! I'm sure today's steel is lighter than 1996's steel. I do find my bike very comfortable, but everytime I climb a hill on that thing my mantra is -- "this is great training! this is great training! this is great training! AAAAHHHRRRR!!!!"