Quote Originally Posted by flashburner View Post
Hi,
I don't usually go to women's forums but came across this thread and couldn't resist. I was also trying to buy this bike. Wanted it for my girlfriend's birthday present. Took it up to $2000.00 and then went to $2500.00, but was about 3 seconds too slow. I recently got a Litespeed Vortex and I love it - thought it would be cool if we had matching brand bikes. Guess I'll have to go to LBS and buy it for her there. '06 models seem to be going for about $2599.00 now, was about $3500.00 not too long ago. Maybe will be less in another few months.
If you can find a LBS that has an older model that they are trying to move off the floor, you might be able to get it around 2400.00(I was told that price for a '05 that was still at my LBS when I was in albuquerque). But.. You probably won't get much less than that, because they still need to break even. The bike itself, for the '06, probably cost the store right around 2300.00, so they won't be dropping lower then that, (just a guess). I have an '07, but I bought only the frame, and I EPed it. I don't like saying what I paid for things, but I will tell you that I paid just under what you bid up to for that bike.

So, good luck on getting it! It is a great bike. I will tell you though, that if you get it for her- switch out the fork. It is one of the reasons, besides wanting to piece together my own baby, that I opted not to by the full bike. The full bike that I tested at my LBS, before I ordered my frame, was an '06 stock from Litespeed,(I think it is a real design fork). It has a lot of toe-overlap! I put a Reynolds Ouza Pro fork on mine, and I rarely get the overlap(only if I get lazy at a light and let my front wheel twist to much). But on the two test rides that I took the stock Bella out on(each around 20 miles) I had a lot of issues with the toe-overlap with the front wheel.