For better or for worse, I made a purchase - but did not go with the Downtube Nova. I was going to but decided to wait a little, as the additional S&H pushed the overall cost a little too high for me to feel comfy about buying it right now but I did want it so I was just going to wait a few weeks (you may be wondering, "how is she this broke?" newlywed grad student who just had to replace her 16 year old car so I work with what I've got x.x). But this morning I decided to run a search for Downtube on CL and lo and behold, yesterday a Downtube 9NS was posted for $175 - this would save me just over $100, and the man had barely ridden it because he has other bikes. I don't know how I missed it before, maybe it was posted after I had run my initial search for bikes.

In any case, he was kind enough to run through putting it together and taking it apart multiple times with me and helped me determine the best way to load it into my car. It only has minor cosmetic scratches to the paint but, knowing me, that would have happened anyways so I'm not bothered. He was very particular about how his things were cared for and seemed to want to ensure that I could provide the same basic care, at least when assembling, disassembling, and loading it.

I know the "NS" portion of the name means no suspension so I did read a few articles on the pros and cons and it seems that for what I will be primarily riding, it'll be okay. I'll be sticking to roadways and flat bike trails. Notably, even this bike is heavy for me to carry because I'm way out of shape these days so I think adding extra weight, as someone further up pointed out, would have been a bad idea until I'm much stronger.

All in all, I'm ready to read up on maintenance, I'm happy with the price for a barely used bike I wasn't expecting to find, and I'm stubborn so I enjoy a challenge. I'll likely give riding it a shot today after work, I'm meeting up with a friend to walk but I think I'll bring my bike and suggest hitting a trail instead. =)