Bikes: Good topic, even though I haven't raced in 10 years I still love bikes and the sport, especially track racing. I used to be a big T-town trackie in my day. I also spent several years working in a bike shop (building/repairing/selling).
I love steel bike and my personal opinion is that bike tech and development should have stoped with Columbus SL/SLX, TSX and MAX (my all-time fav tube set). I also like "stiff" titanium and for the most part consider that steel. My personal fav steel "production bike" is the Gios (pronounced like your saying plural joe: "joes" but with more of an italian G at the start)
www.gios.it
the Compact Pro in a 52 or 53 would be perfect. If this republic thing works out I plan on picking up a frame this fall then building it "old school" with Campagnolo Neuvo Record collected from old shops and ebay.
Funny thing I like steel but spent most of my racing years on 3 Cannondales. My current road bike is a 2003 Bianchi Giro. Al frame with a carbon rear and 105/ultegra. Great looking blue color and 4.5/5 stars for a mid to high level all round racing bike. My first racing bike I got in the summer of 88 was a Cannondale I built up with Suntour Sprint components. I raced it for 2 seasons before being picked up by a team that was sponsored by Cannondale where they gave me a 3.0 crit frame that i built up with DA/ultegra. Back in thoes days c-dale were great because you could pick up a frame for 400 bucks and build it up and have a good stiff crit machine for 1000-1200 bucks. In the past 5-10 years c-dale has become so popular and the price had gone up I don't think they are worth the quality anymore. Plus this year c-dale sold out and is going to product bike outside the US. Not that that is bad from a quality standpoint just a c-dale PA state job point. The Foreign plant produce some very quality AL welded frames, all done by computer welding machines now, no wonder why.
Speaking of foreign steel, the 2005 Bianchi Pista track bike is one of the, if not the best buy out there right now. 550 bucks gets you an awsome welded steel frame with bullit proof wheels and components. even if you don't do track I'd recommend picking one up and tooling around the neighborhood, it will greatly improve you handeling and pedeling skills or it just looks beautiful hanging on the wall.
http://www.bianchiusa.com/569.html
www.bianchiusa.com
I bought one back in April and the shop I went to said they are going thru them faster than anyother track bike they have ever sold. selling about 6/week. If you do pick up a track bike remember that they have a higher bottom bracket height than a regular road bike thus you need to size one down from your normal size. I ride a 52/53 road and got a 51 and it fits perfect.
I see some of you guys are road guy looking for a mtb. If you don't want to go full mtb try a cross bike. Kona has an awsome cross bike called the Jake. The Jake the Snake cross bike is a step up and a great all round do anything bike. I have a 2005 one that bought the same time I got the track bike. Of my 4 bikes i've put the most miles this year on the cross bike. Mostly riding while on reserve in DC since I keep it in the crashpad.
I also have a 2004 Gary fisher Big Sur disk. I'm not a big fan of suspension anything and plan on replacing the Rock Shox Duke with a steel fork this fall depending on if I have $$ and a job or am furloughed.
For thoes of you interested in Trek remember that Trek, gary Fisher and lemond are all the same company now and there is alot of overlap in the product line.
For guys with some $$$ to blow and want a good all round racing road bike try
the Felt F2C
www.feltracing.com
2600 out the door gets you a high end race ready bike.