I got rid of my Felt Cyclocross bike today at a bike swap, and overall I have about $1200 to spend on a bike. I converted the Felt into a road bike, but didn't like the geometry, and the 53cm frame was a bit small.

I'm not at all against finding something used. A co-worker of mine got really lucky and bought a 2006 Specialized Tarmac full ultegra for $1000 not too long ago off craigslist. I probably won't be as lucky. But I've scoured craigslist, and haven't found anything to my liking.

I really want a full carbon bike though. All I've ever had is aluminum bikes, so it would be nice to upgrade. It seems to me road bikes have soared in prices. At my LBS a full 105 carbon Giant or Specialized would cost around $2600, and I think that's insane.

Like many people with a tighter budget, I've toyed with going with a bikesdirect.com bike. I really like the Kestrel with full Sram Rival that they have for $2000. It would take me a while to save up the rest of that though. I could always get one of the Motobecane Immortals for a little less than that.

Another bike I'm curious about is the $1600 Cavalo bike on Nashbar with full rival, I will have to do more research on that model.

Any other ideas? I'm going to call a few bike shops tomorrow to try to find something used. I'm not sure if that avenue will work with my said criteria for the $1200 price range I'm stuck with. I hope to find something fast, because I've been racing in a weekly crit series. I raced my felt this morning, and sold it at the bike swap right after.

That does sound crazy. I got a brand new 2008 Specialized Tarmac on sale for $1450 last year with full 105. Although the Kestrel with Rival does sound pretty reasonable.

I would not go the cheap route with Nashbar or Bikesdirect. The shop I got my bike from offers very good service, 2 years of free tune up, 10% off merchandise with bike purchase, offer to swap stem/seat within a couple weeks of buying the bike if I want to change position, and they're very friendly.

Just go shop around. Ride some bikes and find what you want. Bikes are going to be at their highest price soon because summer/spring is just starting. In October/November there will be some good sales.