Hey, all—

I'm looking to make a lateral move to a more spine-friendly ride. Once-dormant spinal arthritis has reared its ugly head in the years since I bought my (non-WSD) 50 cm Trek 5200, and I just can't any longer bear the dagger-in-the-neck sensation I get after about an hour in the saddle on a race-geometry bike. And as a woman in my 40th year, I've pretty much come to peace with the idea that I'll never make the U.S. national team anyway.

I've already made a couple of switch-outs to try and salvage a bike I otherwise love—super short reach Salsa Poco handlebars, a smaller stem with a bit of rake—and I've made the fit better, but it's not quite there.

In poking around, these are the bikes I want to take a hard look at:

Cannondale Synapse Carbon Feminine
Specialized Ruby (or Roubaix)
Orbea Diva or Onix Dama
Lemond Buenos Aires Women's
Trek Pilot 5.2 WSD

I'm not terribly fond of Giant's aesthetic, though I know they make fab bikes for the buck, but we like what we like, eh? Litespeed's Bella doesn't inspire me either, though I'm very open to TI. For that matter, I'm not thrilled with the Trek's one-color-fits-all approach to WSDs, so I'm probably leaning away from the Pilot as well. Oh, and I don't do pink. Not that I'm picky or anything. But, hey, if I'm shelling out a few grand, I want comfort, performance, and romance!

So, gals, which bikes am I missing? Most boutique brands cater more to racers than those of us without on-call masseuses, but I'd love to hear about other bikes that deserve consideration—as well as negative/positive experiences with the bikes I've mentioned.

I probably can't afford to go custom.

Oh, component-wise, I currently ride an Ultegra drive train, so I'd probably lateral over to that, but I'm really intrigued by SRAM's Rival group, so bikes with that option would be neat-o too.