I need to upgrade my 6 year old Claud Butler Levante…

Looking for an commuter/audax type bike that can take a rack and guards.
so far i have come up with
Kona Jake
Tifosi CK7

need to budget around the 6-700 mark. any other ideas?

Nick

Giant TCX? Really light and really smart looking bike.

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Giant-TCX-2-2009-Road-Bike_20234.htm

Specialized Tricross Sport.

Ubiquitous Ribble (or similar frame badged as a Dolan, Surosa, Aeron…)?

You might manage a Kinesis Racelight T for that money – mine's (a Tk) very good.

Just got a Kona Dew Drop. I suppose it offers similar things to the Jake, but slightly lesser components. The main difference though is that it has disc brakes, which may or may not appeal to you.
I'm very happy with mine.

Genesis Aether

Good deal on the Kona Honky tonk at the moment, would have a downtube shifter be annoying? i like idea of a steel frame though.

If you can stretch the budget, the Thorn Audax is a cracking bike. Perfect for your commuting needs, and takes light touring or even club runs in its stride.

Thorn is unfortunateky not in my budget.