Hey girls! So I typed in Google, "Women's Road Bike Forum" and this was the first one that came up. I checked some posts before registering and everyone seems really friendly here so I thought I'd join.

So here's my situation/dilemma, and I'm hoping to get some details to steer me in the right direction so I don't get so influenced by my boyfriend.

My boyfriend just recently bought a Specialized Allez road bike. I wanted to join him in his new found interest. Actually he's been into bikes for awhile but he just recently bought his first really nice bike for himself.

So I shopped at this place called Performance Bicycles which is located in Southern Cali. I kind of felt pressured by this shop but that's beside the point.

I went on two test rides. I was introduced to Fuji bicycles. The sales guy showed me the Absolute 2.0 and the Absolute 3.0 road bike/comfort. I definitely was attracted to the 2.0 because it had so much bells and whistles and it had that carbon form. Just the technicalities of it looked better than the 3.0. However, I don't have $650 to spend. So I opted for the 3.0 because I wasn't sure if I would ride enough to justify my spending of $650. Mind you, the 3.0 is HALF the cost of that. Well, two days later.... I ended up returning it because I just really thought about it when I got home. And I wasn't happy with the look and the feel of it despite having pretty good test rides.

I just wanted to get some feedback on any other suggestions for road/comfort bikes where I don't have to spend an arm and a leg but still have a quality beginner bike to get around with my boyfriend.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much!