Do I need to be talked into or out of a new-to-me bike?

[indysteel]

I would take the cash, add it to the tax refund and buy the best road bike I could afford.

This^^^^ more or less. I, personally, would take a look at the road bike and touring bike offerings to get a handle on what you get for your money. And keep it mind that you rarely just buy a bike. There's always a few accessories that you want/need. If it looks like there will be extra money from that, then get the 7300. Otherwise, don't.

[Cataboo]

I'm with everyone that says get a road or touring bike with the cash.

Unless your friend is going to sell you the trek at a price that you know you can sell it for and get your money back later. You're in a good area for doing that, bikes sell for a lot on the DC craigslist.

Basically, once you get a road or a touring bike, you're maybe going to want a beater bike to run errands on that you won't worry too much if it gets stolen - and your giant sedona sounds like a better bike than the trek for that. So I think when you get a better bike, you're going to want to keep your sedona and sell the trek. IF you're confident you can get most of the money you invested in the trek out of it when you're ready to do that - then sure, buy it with the idea you're selling it when you can afford to buy the bike you really want.

But with $1,000 for a budget - you could do fairly well on the used market or craigslist. For a little bit more than that, you can get a surly at REI (I know, everyone's gonna clobber me for saying go to a chain store, maybe the price of surly's at bike shops are the same. rei'll let you return it whenever no problem though and I know you live near one)
http://www.rei.com/search?query=surl...x=0&button.y=0

The long haul trucker is $1049, the pacer is $1179. The long haul trucker's not a bad touring bike.