I think soon I will finally give in to temptation and buy a new bike. I will move from friction shifting and non-aero brakes into a new era of techie-goodness-- hopefully I will like it. I meant to buy a bike this fall, but we're buying a new house, so all discretionary spending got postponed.

I want to go light but not stupid-light, and I need a frame that I can attach a trailer to without worry, so carbon is out. I can fit either a 54 or 56 cm frame okay, and I think aluminum is too stiff in smaller sizes. That leaves me with steel and titanium. For the budget option, getting an 853 steel bike would make sense, but I'm leaning toward a Ti bike mostly because I've got a steel bike and want something different. Comfort will be key and I've been reading as much as I can about bike fit issues. Custom steel would make sense, but I'm of the opinion that the vast majority of riders can fit just fine on stock frame if they try to get a good fit and are willing to swap stems around a little.

Right now it looks like an Airborne Zeppelin-- reasonably priced for a Ti bike, although still expensive. I know what you mean Tom re. spending that much for a bike... I'm also going to go with a triple setup, as there are serious mountains where I live and I also do some trailer hauling. I took my 22-month old out last month for a ride and bottomed out in a 39X30 on some gentle hills-- that extra 50 lbs means only a few mph lost on the flats, but I was downshifting every ten yards on the climbs!

I've been experimenting with the fit of my current bike on the rollers. I've been measuring the tube lengths, trying to get a feel for the angles, etc. The bike came with a 39 cm handlebar, and it's a 57c-c frame! Mostly I'm tweaking to try and get rid of some shoulder pain, trying to lengthen the reach but it's not easy with a quill stem. Moved my seat back 2 cm from KOPS, so far no problems. I feel like I'm putting too much weight on my hands, and want to be more balanced, like Peter White recommends (able to lift hands off the bar without falling forward). Does anyone want to lend me an Ergostem for a couple of weeks?