I had a cannondale r700 with downtube shifters as my first bike...then bought a Trek 1.2 as my first "serious" bike. Its a great first bike...but you might get a bit tired of it after you get going. for the price point...I bought from my LBS at $850 ... you could go the bikes direct route and get something with better components. I would also say search craigslist and ebay.