Thanks for the help and support everyone! Really, even just hearing the encouragement that I'm steering in the right direction really helps a lot as I'm trying my best to avoid blind ignorance in getting into this thing.

I'll try and see if the bike shops around have the models you guys are bringing up.

Yeah, I'll be riding in NYC.

I think I'm going to keep my LBS prospects limited to just Manhattan. Richard4993, you bring up such a great point. There's lots of other bike spots that I should probably check out in BK and other boroughs. However, since I live in Manhattan, and if an issue ever came up with my potential future bike, it would make sense to buy from a place close by that will help me out.

SlimRider, is there a reason why a person shouldn't directly spray paint the bike? I really really really just want a very plain (no stickers or brand names or anything flashy) solid color black bike, which was one of the reasons I liked the Felt Brougham so much, it just looked simple and plain. But I figured if I ended up with something kinda flashy looking, I would just spray paint it.