Many, many years ago a friend of mine and I returned to bicycling with the bikes we already had. Mine was the '81 RRA and his was an '82 or '83 Nishiki 12 speed. The two were nearly identical, even down to color. Both were low end, pretty and heavy.

When we became serious and decided to update I found Cannondale to be exactly what I wanted and he went with Bianchi. Both were the first bikes we rode that fit our personal ideal. As much as I like C'Dale road bikes, I prefer Trek mountain bikes. My friend initially went with a Rock Hopper and then switched to a Trek for the slightly different geometry.

Except for the possible exception with the Raleigh/Nishiki they're all at least just a little bit different, but different enough to matter... one would expect me to also like a Klein, but there's something that puts it behind the C'Dale for me.

Brad

PS A non bicycle difference can be found in electric guitars. I prefer Gibson, others prefer Fender... they're both just guitars, right? Well, not to those that play.