Yet another "which bike post" - please indulge me

Having got back into the saddle last year on an old Raleigh hybrid I'm now looking to buy my first road bike. As I'm not especially fit and I dont intend racing anyone, I need comfort rather than out and out speed. Always fancied an Italian bike but a bit of research suggests Cannondale Synapse or Specialized Roubaix would suit me better. Budget is up to £1500. Any thoughts please?
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I ended up buying a Bianchi 928 C2C and it is a great bike and I would recommend it
In that price bracket you are really spoilt for choice though.
The best advice I could give based on my experiences, is firstly, make sure you can test ride any of the bikes you are seriously considering. Secondly, buy it from a shop that will spend the time doing a proper fitting session with you.
Where abouts are you in the country?
Hope this helps,
Gary.
Thanks for your advice.
I live on Lancs/Chesh border if thats relevant?
Think theres a LBS fairly close that sells Bianchi.
Also, I'm spending a few days up in the Lake District next month and I know of a couple of dealers up there who between them stock Spesh/Cannondale/Trek/Scott so I might have a closer look then
Steve
The best advice I could possibly give is to go along to Paul Hewitts in Leyland and have a proper fitting session. It costs £50 but is refundable against a new bike if you have it from there - however, it is not mandatory that you do. You will get a copy of a chart with all of the relevant dimensions written on that you could compare with the frame geometry on any bike. You could easily save yourself a lot more than that by not having to experiment with stem length and seatposts etc.
Trust me, if you are spending that sort of money on a bike, then another £50 is well worth it. You will not regret it at all. I wish I had done it!
Good luck. Let us know how you get on.
Gary.