Road Cycling - please which is best!!!!

Hi im about to buy a new bike and i want it for riding large distances quickly - not racing. I have narrowed my choices down to 4 major contenders The Saracen Ventoux £379 and Morzine £429, the Allez £499 and the Trek 1000 £449, i have a price limit of £500 and which of these bikes gives best value for money keeping in mind that i woul rather pay less than more. The specs for the bikes are as follows:

Ventoux:Alu frame with aero downtube,chromoly areo fork, Zero stack headset, Ofmega`s "Vantage" double chain set, Shimano Sora 14 speed with sti shifters, Promax pivot alloy brakes with shimano Sora levers, Rigida`s Nova rims and Miche hubs with Vittoria Zafiaro 25c tyres, ITM Europa bars and Zero stack system stem, Alloy seat post with Selle Italia Nitrox saddle.
For extra £80: Shmano Sora gearset and Shimano Sora STI shifters/brake levers.

Morzine:Alu frame with aero down tube and profiled seat tube,chromoly aero fork, Zero stack headset, Ofmega`s "Vantage" double chain set, Shimano Sora 16 speed gearing with Sti shifters, Promax dual pivot alloy brakes with Shimano Sora levers, Ridigas DPX Hi wall aero rims and Miche hubs with Vittoria Zafiro TT 25c tyres, ITM Europa bars and Zero Stack system stem, Selle Italia Octavia saddle.
For extra £50:Aero profiled frame tubes Shimano Sora 16 speed gearset Rigida DPX rims

Allez: A1 double butted alloy frame, carbo blade fork, doublewall rim wheelset with Mondo sport tyres and Flat Jacket,Full Shimano Tiagra/Sora transmission with STI levers, Body Geometry Comp saddle.
Double and triple chainsets are also availible for this bike

1000: Alpha alu frame, Alloy w/alloy steerer fork, Alloy hubs; Alex AT450, Shimano Sora Rear derailleur, Bontrager Sport 53/39 or 52/42/30 crank.
Double and triple crank availible

As you can guess i got the spec out of a brochuer so i could give no clarification on any other part of the spec,
please reply with your suggestions
thanks Oli

all bikes in that price range are going to be of basically the same quality. i have never seen a saracen, but i worked at a bike shop that sold specialized and trek. the specialized allezz was a far more popular seller -- by a ratio of 4 to 1 -- than the trek 1000. that's about all i can say.

what do you mean by that is it because the bike is generally more popular or better. If the bikes are about the same quality should asthetics be a bigger part of the isue.

no... only that it was more popular.

the first thing you should look for is the fit. the trek and the specialized have quite different geometries, so they will fit quite differently, and you might find one more comfortable than the other. the specialized has a longer top tube and slacker head angle, while the trek has a shorter top tube and a steeper head angle. what does this mean? well... you should try both bikes out [and the saracens] to see how they ride.

in terms of quality, they're all basically similar, though the higher-end saracen and the specialized give you cf forks and the specialized gives you a slightly better rd. but all of this is secondary if the bike doesn't fit and if you think it's butt-ugly.

if you narrow your choice down to two bikes that fit about the same and have about the same spec, then choose the colour.