Bike recommendations (Trek, Specialized, Cannondale)
Looking into doing some serious road biking soon. Familiar, but pretty new to the sport and I hope to be doing some races in the future. Anyway, a friend of mine just bought an 07 Specialized Allez elite that he will be riding and I will be riding with him or alone mostly.
I am a pretty athletic guy, normal height/weight, so biking would not be much of a "beginner's" challenge for me. I've looked at several bikes and I am looking to spend in the $900-1200 range at most. Wish I could afford more now, but I think a first bike I shouldn't go too crazy. I realize that most in these range are very similar components wise but just wanted some input.
Right now the 3 I'm looking at are:
Specialized Allez or Allez Elite
Cannondale CAAD9
Trek 2.1
I really like the paddle shifters on the higher models but that isn't a necessity and I want a double as well. Everything else I'm pretty open about. Any tips/recommendations are GREATLY appreciated! Thanks.
Kyle