I have a '93 R600 2.8 that came equipped with Shimano 105. The frame is very light, stiff, yet still very comfortable to ride. Since it is a 60cm frame, comparing it to how your small frame rides is probably not the best comparison.

If the frame fits you, I'd encourage you to give it a try and ride it for at least a few hundred miles, before deciding to move it along to someone else. Since you live in a mountainous area, one of the great advantages of this frame is out of the saddle climbing. The stiffness works in your favor (at least for me at 230lbs), when compared to my Schwinn Paramounts, which do flex. I've never noticed my R600 flex when I need to "stick it to a hill!"

If it were mine, I'd clean and tune it, add 25-27mm tires, then ride it as much as possible, even go climbing in the Smokey Mountains, since they are so close by!



Mine at the top of a local mountain climb.