Do you know where your LBS's are? I'm asuming ones a TREK store? Everything TREK makes is quality (compared to big box stores). The one issue I see is that they only make Aluminum or Carbon bikes now. For a guy your size, steel would be prefered (tends to last longer).
Looking at the 7000 on the TREK site, it looks like a nice starter bike. Just make sure you get one that fits.
JMHO
Billy
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Master Guns Crittle, You out there??
"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." -Robert A. Heinlein