I'm pondering a similar question, though on a longer time span. I am absolutely in love with my Bridgestone RB-1 and plan to keep riding it as my main bike for years to come. I'm also having a lot of fun fixing up older lugged steel bikes for various uses or to sell. For the next few years, I'll stick with what I have, making a few upgrades here and there. But in 5 or 6 years I'll be retiring from the main gig and I want to reward myself with a new, high(ish) end bike. Something around 3 grand, give or take. Part of me wants to go for a custom Rivendell, and that may be just what I do. But another part of me wants to get a more modern, lightweight, go-fast bike.
Aluminum bikes are probably a good value, but I'm not interested. High quality steel, titanium and carbon are the things I'm considering. Steel is my sentimental favorite, but titanium has a lot going for it. Carbon is the dark horse. I'm not sure I could ever pull the trigger on spending big bucks for a plastic bike, long term durability and repairability being the main concern.

[QUOTE=BluesDawg]wants to get a more modern, lightweight, go-fast bike.
QUOTE]

Gosh, we couldn't be more alike. Since I had a couple of the 80s lugged steel bikes that Rivendells are (to some extent) modeled after, I ended up going for the modern go-fast bike. While I still ride all of my bikes, I really, really love the newer one a lot. 'Course you'll never go wrong with Rivendell. I admire the hell out of Grant Peterson.

My best equipped LBS has Trek, Klein, Le Mond, Gary Fisher. If I do not go with that, I will need to drive 100++ miles to Chicago area where I can get anything I want.
Can anyone comment on these brands? Trek Madone looks great but how does it compare?
I hear many good comments about Speciallized Roubaix, but no dealer here.
Same with Colnago, great reputation and no dealer.
I can buy from Performancebike.com but how big a gamble is that compared to a LBS?

DG punked out because he really doesn't want to plunk down the $. He just likes talking about it. You should find what you want, then decide if it is overkill. If not, buy it. An investment in better health is not as expensive as it appears at first glance. A good bike, well cared for lssats a long time and gets you in shape. What more could you ask for?

Details at: http://www.sourwalled.com/html/mooney.html

The frame was built by Peter Mooney - www.peter-mooney.com, mostly Campy Chorus running gear, except for the FSA carbon crankset.

Thanks Sauerwald. Those artfully cut lugs are awesome....right down to the falcon/hawk/dove where the seat stay joins. And I'm left wondering how long you had to wait for the bike, how detailed was the custom fitting, and what geometry you inclined toward.

That is a nice frame!! I even like th position of your computer on the stem rather than the bar.

Ahh...were it so easy. Some of us have more than one priority. Especially single parents. Let's see, utilities, taxes, college tuition, and then there's retirement, various payments, kid needs, etc. Perhaps DG, like others no doubt, has much to consider. It seems adult, even cool, to take one's time with those alluring, expensive, carbon hussies. As for fitness, I'll bet you can drive your heart to perfection, indefinitely and if need be, on a Schwinn Varsity. Admittedly, not the slickest, but it works.

I do a long charity ride each year - 450 miles over 4 1/2 days, with a lot of hills (we traverse the green mountains in VT, see charitytreks.org for details on the ride). I had done the ride for a couple of years on my everyday commuter bike - which is great for what it is, but is 36lbs, and not geared right for long hills. When I went to Peter, I told him that what I was looking for was something to do centuries on - that I wanted light weight, but that comfort was a priority over speed. We talked a long time about what sort of riding I did, what physical shape I was in etc. He then made a bunch of measurements of my body. For the fitting session he asked me to come to his shop with my commuting bike, and he put me on the bike on a trainer in the basement, he sat in an easy chair drinking a soda and chatting while he had me pedalling. After about an hour, he started to make small adjustments to my bike - he explained that since I wanted something for long rides, he wanted to adjust the fit for the way I rode when I was tired :). After that he moved me to a fully adjustable bike thing - Serotta? - and made further adjustments on that before arriving at the geometry. It is shaped more like a touring bike than a racing bike, with longer chainstays, and the seat positioned a bit further behind the bottom bracket. Peter went a bit crazy with the lug work - the lugset was half cut when I came in for the fitting, and I loved it - he went further, and then the guy at the paint shop went further still, doing a lot of stuff that had not been specified (when I got to paint, I was already over budget).

Peter only builds frames in the winter time, the fitting session took place in December, and I picked up the finished bike in May. I rode it on the charity ride last year, and after 450 miles, I felt great, and could have turned around and ridden back.

There are ways to get repairs done on carbon. Here's one site that does this:

http://www.calfeedesign.com/howtosendrepair.htm

In the UK- of the Ti frames that are about and have a good reputation- Litespeed keeps coming to the fore. Have not ridden a Road frame- but rode a Litespeed MTB on one ride. (The mad fool of an owner and his partner both had Litespeed Mountain bikes and The reason they were fools was that they wanted to try the Tandem) I have an aluminium Bianchi MTB that works. I ride it aggressively but after a long ride it can hurt. Riding the Litespeed was an experience. Very lightweight, very reponsive and very easy on the body. I know this could be down to a great number of factors but for a bike to feel this good- it had to be a good bike in the first place. The components were not that good but this was a Cheap build from the owner just buying the frame. Then again, and not a frame I have ridden- One of my old riding partners has a Russian Built Ti frame that he built up into a Lightweight MTB. No front suspension and this thing works. The owner is as good as Crashing as me so it has had a rough time in the 10 years it has been about. Any scratches on the frame are taken out with wirewool and it looks as good as the day it was built. Incidentally- This Russian frame is no longer made as Apparantly it was made from tubing that was surplus to the Space project and when the source of cheap Ti dried up- it could not be made economicaly

Gran Premio?
 

Sour01,

Would you be interested in parting with your Gran Premio?
If it's my size, I'm intereseted.

Thanks,
Elroy

Sorry--but I am going to hang on to that bike. It is a big bike---63cm.

I have steel, aluminum, titanium and carbon bikes. Can't say that the difference is significant.

The carbon Look rides really smoothly. The carbon C40 rides rather rough though it has fine handling on fast downhill rough stuff. The steel Basso is a really great riding bike as is the Colnago Super and the Eddy Merckx Corsa 0.1. The titanium Eddy Merckx Ex is the best balance of everything but the differences hardly matter. The aluminum Fuji Newest rides almost perfectly.

Bikes that stunk - one of the original Colnago Masters. So stiff that your eyelids would roll on a rough road. My Colnago Super with the original steel fork. After changing to a carbon fork the bike was transformed from a mediocre bike to a top handler.

I have 3 CF bikes and 2 Ti bikes - my favorite - steel! :D

But between the two materials you've asked about, I am a bit partial to Ti, I think it offers a slightly better ride. My CF bikes are pretty stiff, and I've never really noticed the "vibration damping" that everyone claims is the marquee benefit of that material.

What's more important I think is geometry. Handling in particular. One of my Ti bikes is pretty steep - designed to race. The other is a custom that I spec'd for long haul comfort and easy handling. They both pretty darn nice though and I've done tough centuries on each. Be sure to pick a geometry that's consistent with the type of riding you intend to do.

As a point of reference, I'm currently spec'ing a rough road/ long haul bike for my upcoming relocation to Asia. I started with steel and now I've moved on to Ti. I've also had S&S couplers installed in one of my CF bikes to cover all the bases.

I think you'd probably be happy either way. Price-wise there are many CF options in the more reasonable price ranges, bikes by Trek and Giant are not priced in the stratosphere. Ti is a bit more difficult to find in the easier price ranges.