I sold a Trek 2100 and bought the R3 this spring. It is a joy to ride. It took me awhile to get used to it - it is so efficient at transfering energy forward that you feel like you have to hold onto the bars when you hit the pedal or it could jerk right out from your grasp. Kind of like the feeling of driving a fast sports car that takes off with a minimal touch of the gas pedal..

The back roads that I ride on can get a little rough (older blacktop) and the R3 is very forgiving compared to the Trek. I swore that sometimes I would be close to breaking a tooth off on the Trek but the R3 is much more comfortable. A century ride on the R3 on rougher roads would be no problem at all. I haven't ridden alot of other nice bikes so I don't have much else to compare it with though. I do know that I have bought my last bike for a long time (my wife agrees) .