I reject the following:

. . . that raleigh is crap. Although, I didn't buy one.

I have been looking at road bicycles for a few weeks now and have visited two of the major shops in my town. The first carried Specialized, Trek and Cannondale, and was, for whatever this is worth, the source of my Specialized Sirrus.

Having ridden alll the Cannondales and Treks I could get my hands on, I decided on the Trek 2100, a "midlevel" machine with a mix of 105 and Ultegra parts (no-name calipers, I think). With a Carbon fork and seat-stays the 2100 struck me as the best coombination of confort and value in that price range (the Cannondale was just too unfriendly to my lower and mid-body).

After spending 2 hours in the shop, they inform me that no 52cm bikes in the 2100 are available anywhere in the US. And they have nothing else to show me. When I asked if they would move a bit on the 2200 (at $300 more than the $1300 2100) the answer was "absolutely not". That's it. "absolutely not". Not "oh, I wish I could, but the margins are so low" or "the boss would kill me if I did that". I'm willing to spend $1300 on a new bike (and lets face it, probably another $300 on shoes, a new helmet, pump, computer, etc.) and this shop let me walk out (almost begged me to walk out) but for a hundred bucks or so. Anyway . . .so I went to another shop.

And I am glad I did.

There I saw the full line of Raleigh and am convinced that objections to these bicycles are rooted in snobbiness and little else. For $1000 the Supercourse comes with carbon fork and FULL 105 with Selle Italia saddle. And it road like dream. Fast and solid and feeling every bit as twitchy as the Trek but quite frankly more comfortable all around (with a better allround group than the 2100 had). The fraim was guaranteed and felt fantastic. At $1500 the Competition had FULL Ultegra, Selle Italia seat, etc., and was just amazingly equipped. Anyway, I was all about to get the Supercourse when I decided I ought to have a go at one of the Giants.

I road the OCR1 and was simply blown away. I don't give a hoot about the theoretical advantages or disadvantages of compact versus traditional geometries (Cannondale rejects compact fraims while Cervelo embraces them - who am I to say), but this fraim simply felt right to me. And the rear triangle has a bit of "swoop" in it that really soaks up the road bumps. The OCR1 felt every bit as good to me as the Bianchis (another brand this shop carried) but the Bianchi simply didn't fit my strange body well (short legged, longer torso). The OCR 1 has Ultegra rear, 105 front and Ultegra shifter/brake handles. The brakes are no-names, so I ordered a set of Ultegra Calipers for $120 which the shop is putting on next week. Total with new calipers came to $1130, and worth every penny.

I took it out today for a 28 mile ride and it was like having an electric motor helping me. I couldn't believe how effortless and smooth this thing is. No pain in the butt whatsoever. I'm very happy with it.

Anyway, so, I'm on my way back in, doing about 20 (wow - I never knew how ill-suited my previous bike was to road running until I purchased this giant) and feeling tremendously good. I'm not even tired. And then two people wiz past me like I'm going backwards - and now I feel like shit. Oh well. I'll get faster.

BTW, down to 180 now. Started at 190 about 4 weeks ago (or so). Feeling good. Still look like a sausage in my riding jersey.

Judd