I'm looking at getting a road bike. I have to say I'm interested primarily for recreation/exercise. However, I'm not interested in casual touring around town. I would like to break a sweat. On the otherhand, although I wouldn't mind going fast, being the fastest on the block isn't my goal either.
That said I'm trying to find an entry level road bike and for all my looking and reading, I'm only slowly getting smarter on the subject. For instance, the only thing I've decided on so far is that I want to be above sora level components because I don't want to lock myself out of an upgrade path. When I look at bikes that fit that description, I roughly get things around my price point too.
Anyway, the next thing that's got me puzzled are the fact I see bike frame geometries come in basically two flavors. Essentially flat top tubes and sloping top tubes.
Here are some bikes that show the difference:
http://www.trekbikes.com/bikes/2005/road/1200.jsp
http://www.trekbikes.com/bikes/2005/road/1200c.jsp
I figure the higher handlebars give you a more upright (comfortable) position in the example of the 1200C. But is that all that's going on with the sloping top tube frames?
Based on what I described above as my interest, which one is better suited for me?
Can I add a stem with an adjustable rise and give myself some degree of flexibility between the two styles?
[edit] spelling.