a friend of mine has one of these (albeit a 2010 model), he absolutely adores it. a fine machine and nothing to turn your nose up at. he claims it rides as good (and handles better) than the Madone 3.1 he test rode before he bought the Fisher. according to him, the carbon seat/chain stays and the carbon fork make the ride quality phenomenal. definitely worth a test ride. I got a chance to test ride his and I agree its quite nice but I didn't get to put a long ride on it, so my impressions are limited, but I enjoyed it and it rode quite nicely.