You could check the big magazines for reviews, but a lot of them aren't really reviews.

I'd consider some of the smaller brands over the big ones ... Kona,Jamis, etc ... a lot of times you can get a better groupset for the money compared to the Treks and Specializeds. Also you're coming up to model year turnover ... so you may be able to save money by buying last year's bike instead of the new model that's coming out.