It's Time To Buy a New Bicycle...

[Pbartender]

Update...

For those who might have been wondering, I just put in an order through my local bike shop for a Fuji Silhouette. A nice tough little road bike with stright handle bars. They're going to swap out the tires for something just a little wider than the standard road tires, and put on a rack and a set of panniers for me. I got a great deal on it for about $520 (half of which is paid for by the money I saved in gasoline last year)! It should arrive within the week. I'm very excited.

In the mean time, I picked up some new tubes and tires (1.5 inch slicks) for my MTB. I'm going to fix it up a little and keep it around as a backup beater bike.

 

[IronWolf]

Looks like that will meet your needs quite nicely! Back when I used to race mountain bikes I had a friend racing in the expert class on a Fuji Mountain Bike and he did quite well on it!

 

[The Shaman]

On grip shifters: Ugh. I never understood why these things ever got on the market. They annoy the heck out of me.

I know a couple of racers prefer them because it's easier to dump gears in a hurry compared to rapid-fire, such as when making the transition from a downhill to an uphill. Also, a friend of mine with CTS finds them easier on his hands and wrists than rapid-fire shifters.

I've tried 'em - didn't care for 'em. I've got Shimano rapid-fire on my mtb and beater (XT and Deore respectively) and Campy on my road bike.

For those who might have been wondering, I just put in an order through my local bike shop for a Fuji Silhouette. A nice tough little road bike with stright handle bars. They're going to swap out the tires for something just a little wider than the standard road tires, and put on a rack and a set of panniers for me. I got a great deal on it for about $520 (half of which is paid for by the money I saved in gasoline last year)! It should arrive within the week. I'm very excited.

In the mean time, I picked up some new tubes and tires (1.5 inch slicks) for my MTB. I'm going to fix it up a little and keep it around as a backup beater bike.

Sounds great!