Definitely - if your avail 3 doesn't fit or fits so badly that it makes you miserable and you don't ride because of that.. Then sell it and get another bike. But you shouldn't be considering other versions of the avail if that is the case.

One thing you may want to do is go for a professional fitting - and basically get told what the ideal geometry is for you. You of course are going to have to be able to tell the fitter whether you want to ride aggressively or in a more touring fashion, and that's probably something that you need to build up your core and get a lot more miles on the bike before you really know.

But once you get your fitting and know what geometry you need, then go find a bike that has that geometry. You seem focused on the cannondales and they are pretty and they're great bikes... but if they don't have a frame that works for you, it doesn't matter.

After my year or two of fiddling with bikes - I can look at a geometry table on a bike and tell whether or not I want it and if I'll like it. That's pretty much what you need to be able to do for your next bike before any of us can really help you decide which bike you want, and part of that is going to be test riding, but a professional fitting will also help. I know bikes that feel fine after 10 miles of riding can cause agony after 20-30 miles of riding...

So start thinking about - how do you want to ride? what distances do you want to ride? what material do you want to ride on?

And once you get to know what geometry or frame fits you, that really opens up the used or ebay market. I know you're going to be starting grad school soon, so money is going to be tight. Assuming you paid full price on your giant avail 3, I paid less for my full ultegra titanium litespeed that was barely used on ebay. I also paid less for my full 105 full carbon road bike on craigslist (it was an unused frame). I did luck out on both, and the litespeed took maybe almost a year of watching ebay - but it's definitely possible. Zen got her steel jamis aurora for less than full price of a giant avail 3 on ebay, and that gave her spare spending money for upgrading shifters, etc. I have a friend in idaho that just bought his wife a full dura ace 10 speed felt off of craigslist for $500. The frame is not exactly what she wants, but he'll either move the parts on her steel frame she loves or get her a full carbon frame off ebay. Even if he spends $500-1000 on the frame, she's going to have a full dura ace bike for about $1000-1500.


What part of your bike feels scrunched up? Top tube length or? you can try putting a longer stem on it, a setback seatpost might help. If you're having trouble finding the right gear - how much time do you spend in your little chain ring on hills? I usually barely use mine, so I switched the cassette on my surly to a 12-23 sram 8 speed cassette which gives me nice tight shifting, and I just shift my chain ring up front if I need more gears for a hill...

Triple vs. double.... I have 2 road bikes, and I have kept one as a triple just in case, and in some ways I really regret that... I love my compact double. As I've learned to spin,legs are stronger, I can get up pretty much anything with it, and I have a set of wheels with an 11-28 cassette on it for days that I know are really going to be hilly... But then, I don't live somewhere with big mountains. My compact double shifts so much better than the triple does. But I guess I know I can always put the 11-28 on my triple if I'm going somewhere with mountains.