Bicycle search

I was wearing my Pedal Pittsburgh T-shirt (yes, from 2001!!) this Tuesday while attending a lab supply vendor show when one of the sales reps asked me how long the ride was and if I still biked. Can't believe it has been 11 years since we did the Pedal Pittsburgh, and I haven't gotten back into riding since then (unless you count the one summer I rode across St. Louis every day for work back in 2002). And I still don't have a bike!

Mandy and I have been talking about getting bikes forever, but other things kept pushing it back (bikes are rather pricey these days). So I decided to start the bicycle hunt now so that when we decide to actually take the plunge and get them, I'll be totally ready.

I've been looking mostly at the Hybrid/Commuter/Urban/whatever-you-want-to-call-it style of bike.  Figure we're not looking to do any road-racing, but want it to be comfortable enough to do a 20-30 mile ride if we really want to.  My bike back in college was a mountain bike and although I loved it, any ride longer longer than 10 miles left my back sore and my butt hurting. I was actually considering one of those recumbant bicycles, but good lord, they're in the $1500 and up range and I think we're more in the $400-600 range (which doesn't go nearly as far as it used to).

Consumer reports has been pretty much useless as they review like 20 bikes...total. That's like reviewing one car from each manufacturer for Car & Driver. Retahded.

The main models I've been looking at recently are the

Giant '12 Escape City
Electra Townie 21D
Jamis Commuter 3
or maybe the Trek Allant (very European looking)

The main features that I would like...
- no fixed gear bikes (lots of hills in San Diego and hell if i'm going to do them all in one gear)
- disc brakes (although cantilever would be ok)
- ?trigger gear shift (hated the last one, but maybe things have improved)
- fenders already on or fender ready
- potential rear rack for carrying stuff
- relaxed fork angle for a nice ride (no more mountain bike stiffness)

I think I need to start going to the actual stores and just get on the bike and take a test ride.
http://trekbicyclesuperstore.com/  San Diego, 4240 Kearny Mesa Road
http://www.bicyclewarehouse.com/   Kearny Mesa Location, 5710 Kearny Villa Road, Suite D
http://www.rei.com/stores/san-diego.html  San Diego REI Store, 5556 Copley Dr, San Diego, CA 92111

Guess I've got my next few weekends planned out!