Originally Posted by
longbeachgary
I'd buy it for commuting. What I wouldn't do is buy it for four or five hundred dollars and then start sinking money into it with a triple crank, new shifters, new long cage rear derailure. You could buy a new bike for that. Buy it and change the cassette as someone suggested and ride the heck out of it. Also, height has little to do with how that bike will fit you. What matters more is your cycling inseam. I'm the same height as you and ride a 54 but a 52 could be adjusted to fit.
Good advice ... I originally thought 54cm as well, but an avid cyclist neighbor of mine suggested 52 based on my height compared to his daughter's. As far as I can tell, my inseam with bike shoes on is 31 - 31.5".
I assume, but maybe I'm wrong, that the lower weight (by almost half) and the improved gear ratio (11:53 vs. my current 13:48) would make commuting a little quicker ... my trip is 6.5 miles each way with some pretty long hills en route - typically takes me about 24-29 minutes door to door with stoplights and all that ...
So next question ... should I perhaps be considering something like a brand new Motobecane Fantom Cross Trail from bikesdirect? Should the new Sora shifters perform comparably to the 15 yr. old Ultegra on the Cannondale R1000D? I understand the tradeoff with buying online vs. from a LBS - it's more a question of whether or not the new frame and new components (inferior at least in name) are comparable to the old mid-to-upper level componentry of the older bike ... I assume stuff has come a long way in 15 years, but maybe not.