Man, I do have a deal for you. I've two tt bikes, only taking one with me to France (moving in July).
One's an Orbea chrono (road geometry) set-up with Hed integrated bars, easton aero fork, all DA, with a hed real disk and a Spinergy RevX 4-spoke front wheel. I'd sell this for $2,500 (but would probably rather keep, I'm not a tri guy). Center-to-center of 54cm. Euskaltel orange color.
The other is a Cannondale Caad4 (triathlon geometry), Cinelli angel integrated bars, slice aero fork, all DA including the wheelset. I'd sell this for $1,000. This was my old TT bike until two years ago, had maybe 1,500 km race/warm-up miles, wheelset a bit more. I got a 53 minute 40K out of this one, it's a tri bike though so it's more built for a runner in terms of geometry thus the bike above. Center-to-center of 53.5cm. Smoke grey color.
Also have a Cinelli Starlight road frame with all DA except the rims which are Mavic CXP33s. Muscle fork Compact frame, virtual 53cm. White with black. Used as trainer, never raced, lots of constant use. This one $750.
I live in Saint Paul, MN, and am quite used to shipping these things... Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
Where will you be living in France? I moved to DC just before Velib hit Paris, and had to content myself with terrorizing tourists with my rollerblades ... Washington streets and sidewalks just aren't up to snuff.
I hear you on bikes, though buying off craigslist isn't a bad thing to do. The important thing is to get properly fitted on your bike whichever it is, and a close second of course is the right size bike but this is second after a proper fitting.
Any proper professional bike shop, (I think there's revolution cycles and capitol hill cycles for two in DC) has someone on staff who can do this. But make sure the person doing it knows what they're doing. If they have a USCF coach license or have experience as an elite cyclist/currently licensed cat 1/2, they can do this.
Sorry you had to move to DC... Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
By the way, for the record, I like DC! I'd never been before flying in from Paris, and I expected to hate it. Maybe it's just the cool crowd I've fallen in with, my fun neighborhood, or the great organization I work for, but it's really not so bad.
