I need help deciding between three bicycles.

[Jo-n-NY]

Just to jump in here on Specialized. There ethics are not much different than Trek, but also your comments do not hold true in my area. My husband a bike shop owner for 30 years (now selling his interest in the business) sold Specialized, Cannondale, Trek, GT, Schwinn, Lemond and some others. Specialized never tried to make them sell their bikes only. They have different tiers that gave you different deals depending on how much you spend. The only biggie was to be able to sell their S-Works line where you had to order I believe 5 in a year. We were not at that status.

My husband now works as an employee in another bike shop, she also carries Specialized, Cannondale, Schwinn, GT, Giant etc. She also does not have a problem with Specialized bullying her into primarily selling their bike.

My son wanted the S-Works Tarmac a couple of years ago, and even though we did not qualify to carry it, we were able to buy it on a dealers discount from them anyway. They by passed their rule for him.

That being said, we all ride Specialized in our house. The company stands behind their product 100%, they do intense testing and just make awesome quality bikes.

Just my 2 cents as I believe here and in our instance, there is another side of the story concerning ethics of the company.

~ JoAnn

[lb317]

This past month I did a big bike search and ended up with the Bianchi Iseo. I love it. It's absolutely perfect for what I do - commuting, riding on paved bike trails around my city, etc.

Honestly, though, I would not even consider purchasing a bike without a test-ride. I had my heart set on one of the Trek FX models, and when I finally got around to riding one, I really hated it. Nice bike, but it just didn't fit my body and style of riding. The Bianchi was perfect from moment one, and I couldn't be more satisfied.

Best of luck!