Newbie as of May this year. Bought Cannondale Synapse Alloy5 with 105 components. I have put 400 very comfortable miles on it so far (been way too hot recently to do more). Yesterday was cruising @ avg speed of 15mph on my 25 mile ride. May not sound like much, but for a overweight, close to 60yr old lady, I am delighted with my progress and my Synapse! My hubby has a 7year old Synapse that he has put 8000 miles on! He has done several GOBAs (350-400mile week ride in Ohio), and numerous 75mile rides over the last 7 years. Recently he did One Helluva Ride in Chelsea, Michigan with a small group of older guys like him. After the ride, one of the guys asked him how he likes his new Synapse!
We were at LBS yesterday and comparing CAAD 10 with Madone 5.2. For about $1000 less, the CAAD10 is extremely comparable. We both test rode CAADs and loved them. It is much stiffer and therefore more aggressive than our Synapses, and I could tell just on the test ride.
Of course, it is all personal preference. Definitely find a LBS that will do fitting both before and after purchase. My shop spent at least an hour with me both before and after and that was included in the price-I paid $1299 for my Synapse, which is the price quoted on Cannondale website. From what I have read on this forum, some shop charge extra for the fitting. Check out Bikeworks in Sylvania, Ohio ~ http://thebikeworks.com/. Ask for Heather~she is a wonderful person to work with~
They also sell fun stuff, like the pink Cateye computer that was asked about in another thread! ENJOY!