Thanks for all your replies! Excellent! You're all keen beans. I don't consider myself a serious cyclist (yet?) - I'm not a drop handlebar, hardcore dedicated road cyclist just yet, but having been travelling around Holland and Germany I agree with chas58 - I've seen lots of (mostly) urban city sit-up bikes dominating the cities and perhaps not so many aggressive bikes where you ride a little lower. I ride a little 3-speed Raleigh Caprice at the moment and I'd probably appear a bit wimpy if you overtook me in the street so not too confident about stepping right up to anything resembling a sleek and skinny road bike.

So I want to fit in and I don't want to look like a plonker in Hamburg, or attract too much attention....is the kind of model below reasonable? And this bike can double as a touring bike on weekends to see the rest of the beautiful country, I guess?

http://www.fahrradmanufaktur.de/bikes/trekking/2013-t-100-shimano-nexus-8-gang-fl/

Am I spending too much and is the bike above excessive? Or will I get thrown off a Lidl bike? Sorry for seeming so fussy.

I think I've been convinced otherwise that the initial 2 bikes I was looking at are not great bang-for-the-buck.

Happy Halloween, Katy