Thanks for the answers.

My MTB is over 15 years old and cheap - shifters, for instance, are 'Shimano SIS'. The only adjustments I ever made to it was raising the seatpost constantly as I kept growing.

Expatriate - thanks for the crank advice especially. At the moment I'm even thinking of spending extra on the Chambery over the Tourmalet, simply because it's full Ultegra with better wheels and that means no Bontrager cranks and no more 'upgrading' post purchase to worry about :/ It sounds like unless their pedals are significantly reduced I'll shop around on eBay.

HDTVKSS - assuming you were really wanting a Lemond for your next bike, who would you buy from next time around? Unfortunately, I think the discounting of Clarence St will probably mean that they'll be the most inviting shop to buy from, even with the possibility of 'bad staff'.

As for test riding - well, I'll hopefully get them to set me up on a trainer or something. I'd actually *prefer* that over a proper test ride as I know whatever road bike I get will take time to adjust to (drop bars and the different posture feel weird to me still) and test riding in the city would be as nerve-wracking for me as taking a first driving lesson on the Pacific Hwy.