Great post, just what I was looking for as these are the brands I'm contemplating. Because of your post, I learned that Orbea had other WSD models besides the Diva, which are more affordable too. Is it true the Orbea wants to climb up the hills by itself? That sounds like a good feature!

I just started looking for a road bike and I've only tried the Specialized Dolce (base model $850) and wasn't too thrilled with it. I figured out that I will probably need to spend about $1500 to $2000 for the bike I want and for my needs. I don't plan to race but I will ride about 100+ miles a week for fitness, with some hills.

My friend has the Giant TCR CW and love it. I hope to try it out soon. She is very petite and had a pro fitting done. They said according to her measurements, she should buy a Giant. Unfortunately she had the fitting done on the mainland as there are no fitters in Hawaii. I'm not gonna get fitted but so far Giant is a big contender. I learned that they make the frames for Specialized and Trek but save the best technology for their own brand. So my thinking is Giant should be better of the 3.

I want to ride all of them before trying, but I think I am almost comfortable buying one sight unseen with enough research, and getting my LBS to tweak it out to fit me.

Question: if you buy a bike from somewhere other than your LBS, can you ask for a discount because the seller won't have to service the bike for 1 year? Seems like the LBS always throws a 1 yr service plan in when you buy a bike from them, so if you are from out of town the selling shop should discount you for the unused service you will pay your LBS for.