Gents, thanks for the advice. So i decided to go with the fuji cross comp. I am buying an 2009 fuji cross for 827 + tax. There is an awesome discount going on at performance cycle right now. 10% off + 20% off friends and family. This deal is hard to pass up for a decent quality bike and the non-headache of bikes direct. I do like the bianchi, but i figure the component group set is far to inferior to pay for a bianchi name. Thanks a lot for all your contributions!! I love this forum