valygrl - me too! i hope she finds something that will keep her enthused about cycling.
Shemp - thanks for posting those questions. I think my wife and I need to figure out what she a would like to do with her bike and what we would like to do together with our bikes. These questions will help us get a beter idea of what we're looking for.
Right now she just wants something faster than what she's got, but I'm concerned that if she gets a road bike with a freewheel that's geared towards racing, she might get discouraged when she hits some of the hills here. We have some hills that climb 500+ feet in less than a mile, with a few really steep parts along these hills.
We would be most likely riding together, and NOT in a group. She's worried about not being fast enough but that's a non-issue for me. I just would like for us to have an opportunity to ride together. Another reason why I think the T800 might be a good choice is because we would be able to stick the tag-along bike or trailer on it. I'd be worried about towing either with a skinny tubed road bike.
Do you think an aluminum road bike would be strong enough to pull a tag along (attached to the seat post) or a trailer (attached to the chain stay)?