C'mon, what more do you need to know to buy a bike other than if it's "stiff yet compliant"*? Oh yeah, the color.
FWIW, my local bike store has bound complete years of Bicycling and Bike World magazines from the early 70's to the early 80's that I've been going through at my leisure. The reviews and articles in general are absolutely as worthless as the current editorial fiasco that Bicycling offers. The pictures in the old mags are much cooler though.
Anyway, the original post was probably OT so please do not respond to my response on list and propagate another disaster like the fixie incident of last week (that I sat on my hands through).
Cheers, Jon Williams Grants Pass OR USA
* "stiff yet compliant" borrowed without permission from the genius at bikesnobnyc