Thanks for the advice..

With a triple do you drop your chain a lot? My first road bike was a triple and the chain dropped all the time. I switched to compacts for all my bikes and I once a season drop my chain.

I have an '07 Tarmac with 105/ultegra parts I probably could use. Depends on what is the best deal.

My goal is to pay $0 for the bike as I'm trading in but then in a way you don't know what you are really paying as it is sort of fuzzy with the trade in values and such.

I'm going next week and ask for different options. Hard thing is they will order the bike so it makes it tough to test ride to make sure it is right.

I agree that I probably won't use my Zipps unless for some reason I become a competitive cross racer and it will make a difference..which I doubt.

If I had a cross bike I could ride it today as we had our first snow and as much as I want to ride outside it will be a trainer ride for me today.