Well, that went quicker than I expected. After having ridden the bikes on Sunday, I had pretty much made up my mind that I wanted the Jamis Quest, so yesterday night I went out , rode it one more time and then did the deed. I'll post some Old Bike/New Bike pictures later.
The reason I decided to go ahead and pull the trigger was that the other bikes on my list of "to ride" are all more expensive than the Quest and, at least in some way, less what I want. The Salsa Casseroll seems like a good, similar bike, but the fenders come on it and will be harder to get off than my SKS fenders and the bike is also $200 more... plus the Quest has more speed capability. The Trek offerings would also be fine, but there we're back to the Aluminum or Aluminum/Carbon frames, and I really liked the steel ride.
There was a little miscommunication about the price. On Sunday, the salesguy told me that the "end of season" sales were on and I could get the price knocked down a bit. Last night, that wasn't an option... apparently those sales start when the new model year arrives in the store... another month or two. A little frustrating, but I think the bike was still worth MSRP. I'll go in for my full fitting either Thursday or Sunday (if they can reschedule me, I think Sunday will work better... then I can take the new bike on a nice long ride on Saturday to get my sea legs).
