Originally Posted by Maelochs

I;d say buy the $500 1.2 and see what you think.

Huge benefits: the price is right, the bike is new, and it is high enough in quality that you'd get to fully experience owning and riding a road bike for a decent price. Likely the $1200 bike you'd buy, this year's model, wouldn't be much different than the older Trek 1.2, and would cost more than twice as much. Then, if you decided you wanted a different style of bike, or wanted to do a serious upgrade because you loved,road riding so much, you'd be out all that extra money and have no added value form the bike, which would still sell as an entry-level used bike.