Road Cycling - Need recommendation for 1st road bike

I've been mountain biking for some time now, but have recently started road riding and have decided to purchase a bike. I'm looking to spend $800 to $1200.

I've looked at and test ridden the Giant OCR1 and the Fugi Roubaix. They felt different, but both felt good. I've also looked at the Jamis Quest, Specialized Allez Elite (I think?) and the Treks and Lemonds in my price range.

I still don't know a lot about road bikes and would like to hear some of your recommendations. As you can see by the bike's I've listed, I'm leaning towards an aluminum frame with composite fork and with at least 105 components. I'd be willing to move to toward a steel frame if your recommendations suggest it. Most of my riding is/will be done in Philly, so I think a triple chain ring would be the way to go.

Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks.

Wow, you're going through the exact same thing I did. I just got my new bike 2 days ago and love it. Luckily my LBS had some nice steel bikes in my price range (the same as yours) so I went with one of those. If you haven't ridden a steel bike yet, I suggest you do so and decide for yourself. Other than that you seem to have a pretty good grip on what you want. If you can, go with a lighter wheelset, but don't compromise durability for looks and speed.

Seems that a lot of us are shoppping for a bike this month. I bought one earlier this week. I would suggest that you ride the bikes you are considering on roads with both significant hills and poor pavement to see how each bike handles things. As far as the hills go, all the bikes I tried seemed light years easier than the hybrid I've been riding, but some seemed easier than others, and I learned a lot about how different gearings feel. The rough pavements brought out the differences in the bikes the most for me. Some bikes were very jarring and rough, others felt like they soaked up the bumps. To me, the differences were very obvious. I rode both aluminum and steel and, in the end, decided to buy a steel bike. Enjoy the shopping and good luck with your choice.

off: I went to school in baltimore (johns hopkins) and now i work in philly... and do a good portion of my riding there. small world...

Deliriu5,
I'm currently attending Hopkins (part-time grad) after work and will eventually be moving to Philly...even smaller world.

I'd buy steel over aluminum for the ride, but that's just my preference. I actually ended up getting a LeMond leftover Ti Victoire at dealer cost ($just under $2k) earlier this month - more than I was budgeting, but it's a bike I will have for many years!

Shop around for a left-over - 2004's will be out in a few months, dealers should be doing anything to clear the leftovers off their floor. Shoot for cost, or cost plus $100 to give them "something" ...

Check out feltracing.com. These bikes are very nice and a little less expensive, because it is a new company. There is a dealer link.

I am going to performance today to test ride a fuji marseille.A what do you say.853 frame,all ultegra with a ritchey crank and ritchey wheelsets for $1250.Thats a 2003.Not bad.

shokhead: Let me know how the test ride goes. I saw it at Performance the other day, but didn't get a chance to ride it. Thanks.

Wow,i just got back.It was real nice.I asked about the wheels for a 190 pounder and they said no problem.Lifetime warr. on frame and 1 year on componets and they give lifetime tuneups as often as you need or want and they said,heck if the rims get untrued,thats part of the lifetime.1249 plus tax and if you belong to team performance,20 bucks,you can use what you earned buying the bike towards a helment,pedals or whatever you need to buy.I found a place in Washington state who has a new 2002 cervelo prodigy for 1500 and no tax so i'm not sure but probally the fuji.Lifetime warr and its reg. price is anyway for 1699 to 1999.