On To Happy Things!

So now that I'm tired of having deep philosophical discussions on this oh-so-popular blog, I thought I'd write about my current "illness": BIKE FEVER. Yes. Bike fever. I've got it bad.

Up until the last few months my 21 speed trek mountain bike has been everything I could ever want or need in a bike. However, in seeing the multiple 10k bikes at the King Tut tri back in April and struggling through the 33 mile redbud bike tour Jessica and I did, I've realized that if I ever want to get in to triathlons or cycling, I'm going to need something better.

Here's the problem: all the pretty/cool bikes cost waaay more than I can afford. I mean, let's face it, I'm a grad student. The good news is though that since I'm being super cool and living with my parents this summer :-/, I'm not paying rent. And before I got sick, I was working full time. So, that means I do have a little cash to spend on this venture.

So, here's what I've been looking at:

This is, price-wise my most viable option. It is the trek 1.2. The msrp is $879.99. It's got shimano sora components which I've heard aren't the best, but all the reviews I've read say that this bike is pretty solid.

This is the Cannondale CAAD9 7. It is a little more expensive ($899 at a local bike shop) but has slightly better components (shimano sora and shimano tiagra). Still though, the reviews all list "poor components" under the cons section while saying that it is a solid bike.

Then, even more expensive, is the Jamis Ventura Race which costs about $1,284.99. It has shimano 105 components. This is the part where I really wish I knew something about bike components. In reality, 1,300 is probably a little over my price range, especially considering I'll eventually want peddles and fancy shoes to go with it, but I MIGHT be willing to spend that kind of money if the product was that much better. The problem is that I have no idea what kind of difference components make. None. Zip. Zero.

Any advice???