Hello all,

I am both new to the site and to the world of road biking. I am in the process of getting a new road bike, as my old wal-mart bike has met its end. After visiting a couple of the local bike shops, I've narrowed the choices down to a couple entry-level models.

1. Specialized Secteur Compact ('13)

2. Specialized Allez Compact ('13)

3. Trek 1.1 ('13)

4. Fuji Roubaix 3.0 LE (I think '13)

All of these are pretty much in the 800 price range (which would be about the extent of my budget) and seem to be pretty comparable. A couple of these bikes, though, have an aluminum fork as opposed to a carbon fork. The guy at the Specialized dealer here seemed to love carbon forks, but my question is whether a novice like myself would need that feature? Would I even notice a difference? My primary usage will be recreational exercise and maybe a century or two in the future.

Any and all advice from you knowledgeable folks would be appreciated.

Peace.


edit: I'm also open to suggestions for other models that I didn't mention in this price range. Thanks!