Originally Posted by liquidzoo

I know most forums see these type of threads all the time (and this one is likely no different), but I'm totally clueless when it comes to road bikes, having ridden mostly mountain (or mountain-ish) bikes all my life.

My wife wants someone to road cycle with, as none of her friends own road bikes, so I decided I'm going to get one. I'd prefer to go the LBS route, though I'll consider Craigslist/Stevebay if something too good to pass up comes along.

Looking for a 56/58cm frame (I'm somewhere right in the middle).

Closest LBS carries Marin and Fuji, and is willing to give me a discount since he ordered too many road bikes and they aren't selling like he wants.

I'm willing to go further to look at Trek/Specialized and other brands, but based on what I can see I can get a comparable bike with better components if I buy from a smaller brand.

They have a Marin (I think he said Argenta, though it's black or blue/chartreuse rather than grey/chartreuse of the Argenta Comp, and he said it had Tiagra components where the Argenta Comp has Sora) that I really like the look of, though it was on the top of 3 racks and I didn't get to see it up close and ride it (riding any of my choices is at the top of my priority list this week). He also has a Fuji Sportif 1.3 Disc, but I didn't see that one. He said it was built up in the back, though (Fuji website says this one is red).

Is there anything in the road world I should look out for? Both of these bikes are aluminium with carbon forks. Budget is right around a grand not including shoes/pedals/tubes/bag.

Color is not super important to me. I like the look of the satin black bikes out there now, but I also like the aluminium look of the Marin Argenta (the bottom tier one), and my mountain bike is red. I'm not picky there. I want a bike that I'll be happy with and that will last me a while.