I don't have too much time to spend rooting around the limited options we get in Canada for bikes. Let alone shopping for best price when I live so close to the American border that I can get a bike shipped to PO box then go pick it up myself.

So Vancouver seems to have Trek and Specialized disease. Other options are Pinarello and MEC bikes. Call me fussy but I'm just not interested in a lot of "brands". I'm looking for resale when I upgrade, I'm looking for double or triple butting, minimum of Tiagra and sub 20 pounds.

Looking at this range I was heading to the LBSs and not feeling it. The Trek 1.5 is straight gauge tubing, tiagra, price is ok. Looks "good". Then I looked into Bianchi again since there are no direct dealers locally and figure I'll import the bike myself.

I was really impressed with the Via Nirone 7. Carbons stays, triple butting blah blah for $100 more than a trek 1.5. Sure, I'd have to drive 50 miles to go get one and take it across the border but I'm an old pro at that stuff.

The only thing that I wish was reversed (in the Bianchi's favour) is the gearing. 50/36 and 12/25 for the Nirone and then we have 50/34 and 11/26 on the Trek 1.5. 36/25 and 34/26 work out to 37.8 and 34.4 gear inches respectively. I'm certain living in Vancouver and looking at some of the mountain climbs I want to try out this 3.4 gear inches could come in handy. Swapping a 34 on the front of the Bianchi might be in order.

So anyone out there with a Nirone that has any input on if you were happy with the bike? It's a rare machine around here and the online reviews are akin to "It's fast!" "It's light!".

The bikes in question for comparision:

http://www.bianchiusa.com/bikes/coas...rone-7-tiagra/
http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/road/1_series/15/

I assume someone will pipe in with another brand/model to look into. I looked at maybe getting a cube but the price point isn't worth the rarity/cachet.