bike shopping woes...

Full carbon is lighter, less vibrations and a more comforatable ride because it isn't bumping around as much.

Better crank set and all that makes for less weight and chaning gears easier.

Tri bike vs road with clip ons has better geometry, so you will work better muscles depending that you have to run after, it's probably also a bit more comfortable (particularly the saddle area).

You will be slightly faster on the full tri bike, plus it will be slightly easier to run afterwards.

Also they look pretty cool.

I'm glad you went the road with clip ons 1st, that's what I'm doing, then you understand more about cycling and your needs when buying a tri bike.

If you can wait until the end of the season LBS's are looking to offload inventory in Jan/Feb before buying for the new year starts. You can usually find a good bargain then.

I wouldn't bother renting a bike as it won't fit you well and think of the money you spent on rental instead of your new bike. Get a fit and test ride a lot of bikes. Some places will let you do a pretty long ride as a test ride..one place offered to let me take it home for the weekend.

Hard to say gains from tri bike from road bike...does your current bike fit you well? Had a fit done?

I like carbon bikes best but my cross bike is steel and I like that as well. I think fit trumphs material. Carbon is sexy too.

Its a c'dale r1000  (alum frame/cf fork) with my mtb spd pedals and PD carbon stryke aerobars... its a fun bike but i want more. I've caught the bug and i want a sweet tri bike...*drool*