I'm still on the fence about which bike to get. my original plan was to get a SS/FG, but people have warned me against it as a main form of transportation due to knee isues. and as much as I want to be trendy, I plan on riding for the rest of my life, I dont want broken knees. I was looking at the dawes lightning 1200 or 1500 but was wondering if anyone had any opinions or recommendations. i'm also a pretty big guy (275, 5"11'). so I didn't want to get a bad frame or components that couldn't handle my weight. (not sure if any components are weight related). while I'm a college student and am not very rich. I didn't set the $500 limit because of lack of funds. it is because I plan on using this bike as a commuter as well back and forth from campus and would hate for it to get stolen ($400 trek 1400 was stolen last year) and have wasted more then $500. In other words, if there is an amazing deal for a little over $500 dollars I could go for it.

sorry for the long post and for my second "help me choose..." post, but I'm lost otherwise,
AKA