I was talking to dh this past week and said in passing that I would love to have a new bike if I continue to be so re-dedicated to riding. He said, "Sure, save the money and get yourself one." It's been a long time since I bought a new bike!

So, I have a little money in the bank that is not earmarked and will save some more over the next several months/year. I will likely buy around this time next year because I'd like to have a fairly significant budget.

congrats!!

I'm probably going to look mostly at carbon fiber bikes, but I would consider titanium. I love my steel LeMond, so not really looking that direction. I want Campagnolo components (it's what I'm used to). Will shops be at all willing to order in bikes with a certain set up for me to test?


No, I don't think so. Especially if you're not a common size.


Some of the bikes I will be looking at have campy as an option, others don't. I don't expect shops that don't carry campy to let me test a bike with it. If I find a bike I want and it doesn't have a campy build option, I assume I'd have to order just the frameset or frame and fork and have it built up like I did my Klein. Is this correct or am I off on that point?
It depends on the bike. You probably will want to build the bike, especially since you want Campy.



When should I start really looking?
Now.

I feel like it will take me a while to test everything I want to. Within an hour's drive, I have probably 20 shops that carry almost everything I want to test ride. I'll have to drive 2 hours to test ride a Colnago. If I find "the" bike, I'll have no problem waiting to buy it, as I'm not a "have to have it now" kind of person and we finance nothing. I'm open to layaway, though. How does that work?
If you decide to buy a bike that is sitting in the shop you might do layaway. But if you order a top of the line something or other in size 44, they probably won't .

What is the process these days of testing bikes? Will they switch out the seat and let you ride it with your pedals and shoes?
yes!

How far will they go to adjust it to fit for testing?
They'll go as far as you want (at a good LBS) And that's the bottom line, find a shop who will work with you