Quote Originally Posted by liza View Post
Hey, KFergos, is that a Poprad? How do you like it??? I was THIS close to buying that bike (well, the 2006 version in pumpkin orange) instead of the Bianchi pictured on this thread. Actually had a deposit on it. Really hard decision -- the Bianchi ultimately felt snappier to me and I liked that -- but the Poprad steel is sooooo smooth...

I think the Lemond is actually much prettier than my Bianchi too ...

Be curious to hear what you think of it...
Your Bianchi looks pretty sweet, seriously... Do you feel minty fresh when you ride on it?

Now that you mention it, yes, it IS a Poprad. I don't see many other people on LeMonds at all, and I've never seen anybody out on a Poprad, so it's exciting somebody else at least thought about it! I picked it because it seemed like a good compromise between the comfortable-yet-tough bike I wanted commuting and the somewhat zippier bike I thought I might want for longer rides. Things I like about it:

1. It has a very smooth ride, thanks to the steel frame and the carbon fork, but it's super tough too. I've hit some tremendous potholes without any trouble.
2. It serves very well as both a commuter and training for longer charity/club rides (STP, here I come!).
3. It's amazingly comfortable even over long distances.
4. My model also has disc brakes, which are totally unnecessary on a road bike, but that do stop outrageously well in wet or yucky weather and they're easier to clean than regular brakes -- less to wipe off. Plus mine lasted 3500 miles or so. (Although the pads cost a fortune to replace, which I didn't know when I went with this one, and I don't know how to do the replacement myself, so having my LBS do it also was expensive. I don't expect to pay in the $100-range every time I need new brakes!)
5. It handles alright; I don't have the best-ever sharp-turning skills, but I've had a few times where I had to swerve sharply to avoid a pothole or something and it took those types of maneuvers well.
6. It's pretty! I admit, I really love having a red bike. It just FEELS faster.

My only complaint with it is that the frame is actually a little too big for me. This isn't the bike's fault, of course I'm on the shorter side (~5'3"), and although I got the smallest size frame, when I got it fitted we still had to make some compromises to get it close to the right fit. For that reason I'd probably go with a women's-specific or smaller-size bike if I was doing it again, just so the fit would be perfect rather than simply good enough. But if it was the right size, I'd highly recommend it for commuting. It's zippy enough but doesn't give up toughness you want.