Muirenn, I looked at the bike you posted, I think that might be the model after mine (mine has a lovely yellow/silver colour scheme ) but it definitely has a scandium/aluminium frame like that the one you linked to, so I think it's probably pretty stiff. I had it measured at the LBS at the weekend, and they told me it was a 52 frame size which is probably very slightly on the big side for me - I'm 5ft5. I've not found the stiffness to be a problem, which maybe indicates that it suits me quite well. I'm not experienced enough to know if I ride hard - how do you know? I can generally keep up with the guys I ride with (hockey thighs come in useful sometimes) and I probably average around 30km/h on the flat/rolling stuff, and my average speed on a mountain outing with some decent climbing comes in around 25km/h if I'm on my own, both a bit faster if I'm with a group. I've not noticed any issues with my riding position on this bike (which I'm supposing, being a team issue is relatively agresstive?)

I hadn't thought about taking the frame stiffness into consideration, but they want to try me on a 51 frame Ruby Comp (the one with the Ultegra triple) this weekend, so I'll see how that goes. I might ask if they have a Tarmac in in the same size (or smaller) just to get a feel as I know they don't have an Amira in stock. After reading all the replies though I'm wondering if out of the two I might not be better off with an Amira... although I think that was only the 30, not the 32 option for the 2014 model.

I'm now looking to see if any of the shops in my area carry Pinarello - I don't see so many of them being ridden around here, but given they're Italian, they can't be too far away I've also lined up looking at Kuota and potentially Merida over the new weekend too.

Thanks for all the advice so far, it's been really helpful - it's not easy buying a bike, but searching is proving fun! I've never spent so much money on any single item other than my car, so I want to make sure I make the right choice! Then I'll have to work out whether I want to keep my MTB pedals, or if I should get road pedals and new shoes (but that's a different topic).