Thanks for all of the good advice so far!

I've thought a little bit about the whole steel v. alumninum thing. My hesitancy with steel is that bike transportation in my area necessarily involves a lot of carrying the bike up and down stairs (and lifting it onto vertical racks on the train). I'm not out of shape, but I'm definitley not considered a strong person, so the added weight concerns me.

That being said, I took a look at the Jamis Coda on their website- I'm a little smitten with it (especially in the red ). I definitley want to find one and try it out.

As for drop handlebars... eh. I don't like them enough that I feel like I would get the functionality out of them that they deserve. I always feel guilty for not liking them more though, so maybe I should look at some of those bikes too.