Trek Bike Question

It has been 5 or 6 years starting in 2000. Why? Trek as a bike company is not very good. Go with specialized.

Trek as a bike company is fine.

You over-pay with Trek compared to other bike companies just because Lance road it. Compare bikes, most other companies have nicer compents on then Trek for the same price. Better componets = faster times.

You over-pay with Trek compared to other bike companies just because Lance rode it. Compare bikes, most other companies have nicer compents on then Trek for the same price. Better componets = faster times.

You over-pay with Trek compared to other bike companies just because Lance rode it. Compare bikes, most other companies have nicer compents on then Trek for the same price. Better componets = faster times.

Do you know anything about bikes? Anything at all?

You do not overpay with Trek compared to any company. Trek is mostly a high-volume, low cost seller. The bulk of their sales come in their low-end models, just as with Specialized. Most of what you pay for with bikes is components anyway, not the frame. Trek, Specialized, Cannondale - until you go high end they are pretty much all the same. It all comes down to how you like the feel of what are pretty much identically priced frames.

yes I do know a lot about bikes, well mainly just road and triathlon bikes. That is why I said what I said. Plus, Trek has a deal with bontrager, so if your seat post fail or stems you have to buy bontrager which is not worth the money most of the time. With other bike companies you have Shimano products which are better compatable products and higher quality. So WHEN you do have bike problems trek is expensive.

SDman wrote:

yes I do know a lot about bikes, well mainly just road and triathlon bikes. That is why I said what I said. Plus, Trek has a deal with bontrager, so if your seat post fail or stems you have to buy bontrager which is not worth the money most of the time. With other bike companies you have Shimano products which are better compatable products and higher quality. So WHEN you do have bike problems trek is expensive.

No you do not "have to buy Bontrager". You can buy anything you want. Where did you come up with that fantasy? Incidentally, when the the last time your seat post or stem failed anyway.

Also Trek does not "have a deal" with Bontrager. Trek OWNS Bontrager.

Nobody expected you to be an expert but it is impressive how few words it took you to demonstrate that you know almost nothing (and that what you think you know is simply wrong). Please stop spreading misinformation. Post on something you actually know about. Bikes is not that subject

Trek uses Shimano components also.

Maybe you don't know anything about bikes after all.

Also only a few bikes are proprietary with their seatposts and those tend to be triathlon-specific frames with aero seatposts or some other non-circular seatposts.

SDman wrote:

yes I do know a lot about bikes, well mainly just road and triathlon bikes. That is why I said what I said. Plus, Trek has a deal with bontrager, so if your seat post fail or stems you have to buy bontrager which is not worth the money most of the time. With other bike companies you have Shimano products which are better compatable products and higher quality. So WHEN you do have bike problems trek is expensive.

Yes, the Shimano seatposts, saddles, forks, and stems are very nice on non-Trek bikes. That Bontrager crap that Trek uses sucks. I heard that Trek is trying to force all of it's users to buy only Bontrager which is why all the parts are proprietary and only fit Treks. If you have a Trek, you HAVE to use Bontrager. A Shimano seatpost or stem just wouldn't fit. Kinda' like what Microsoft is doing with Office 2007.

Man, why are ignorant people so arrogant?

The Z Man wrote:

Yes, the Shimano seatposts, saddles, forks, and stems are very nice on non-Trek bikes. That Bontrager crap that Trek uses sucks. I heard that Trek is trying to force all of it's users to buy only Bontrager which is why all the parts are proprietary and only fit Treks. If you have a Trek, you HAVE to use Bontrager. A Shimano seatpost or stem just wouldn't fit. Kinda' like what Microsoft is doing with Office 2007.

Man, why are ignorant people so arrogant?

Is this sarcasm? Please say yes.

I am going to be explicit, even though I'm hoping "Z-Man" actually was being sarcastic. I have no idea how much knowledge the original poster has on the subject so I am going to state this explicitly so there is no confusion.

Virtually ANY road seatpost, saddle, stem or fork will work just fine on any regular road bike, Trek included. (Actually you would be hard pressed to find any saddle in that would not fit)

As previously mentioned, except for the highest-end, tri-bikes and such there is no compatibility problem at all. I own several bikes, one of which is a middle-of-the-road (price-wise) Trek 2100 from a few years ago with a Felt Stem, Selle-italia saddle and Reynolds fork.

No major manufacturer like Trek, Specialized, Cannondale, Scott, etc or ANYONE is going to be stupid enough to try to limit you to proprietary components on any but their highest end bikes. And even there they are loathe to do it. Their sales would plummet.

Don't take my word for it. Go into a few bike shops. Talk to the mechanic. Tell him you OWN the Trek model you might have been looking at. Say you want to put in a different fork/stem/seatpost and see what he says. That should dispel the myths being spouted here by "SDMan"

The same goes for Specialized and pretty much all the others. There are a lot of great bikes out of there and with rare exceptions, the parts they use are basically interchangeble.

Buying a bike is tough enough without morons spreading misinformation.

The ignorance on letsrun sometimes just amazes me.

Specialized are awesome bikes. Never rode a Trek, but I can perssonally vouch for Specialized.

voice of reason wrote:

Is this sarcasm? Please say yes.

Sigh...it ruins it when I have to explain. Yes, it was sarcasm. I was trying to discredit SDman's claim to have a vast knowledge of bikes by poking fun. Shimano doesn't even make stems, seat posts, forks, or saddles and Bontrager doesn't make drivetrain components (well, maybe a few), so SDman's claim of not being able to switch parts is crap.

Besides that, Bontrager components are very well made and well worth the price in many peoples opinion. Heck, Bontrager crap won 8 Tours, didn't it? And have you ridden their new carbon wheels? I haven't either, but the independent reviews I have read (Pez) claim that they are awesome and just as good as Zipp's.

The point is, don't listen to SDman. He's obviously full of crap. Get a bike that is comfortable and is made by a respectable company. More important than the brand is the fit. DO NOT get a bike without getting properly fitted to it. An uncomfortable set up is never fun and will most likely result in injury (back/knee, butt) or you not even riding the dang thing because it is so uncomfortable.

Sorry. I did ruin it. My bad

voice of reason wrote:

Sorry. I did ruin it. My bad

That's alright. One only has to read one or two treads on LRC to know that my sarcastic post looks very similar to the ignorant babblings of the masses. No need to apologize for your comment. I need to do a better job of being obvious about my sarcasm. It's tough, though, with so many doofuses posting.

If you were going for sarcasm, you should have said that only Bontrager tubes and tires will work on Trek bikes. That would have sealed the deal.

So hopefully you got your answer that you were looking for? You will be hard pressed to find a new one but check roadbikereview.com sometimes you will luck out otherwise craigslist.

To the other grease monkeys my own two cents, too each their own on bikes, I however have had half a dozen high to mid range road bikes and by far and away Trek is the absolute worst. I was upgrading forever from seat post to fork, to wheel set on and on. I hoped on a Caad 8 Dura Ace Cannondale and have not changed one thing except the stem. You can get a hell of a lot out of Scott, Cannodale, Orbea, and Felt for less than or equal to the price. I will never ever buy a Trek bike again and whould hope that anyone who is looking at one take a long hard look at other brands. Bontrager is one of the worst brands around from what I have ridden the wheels are not even in the same ball park as zipps some are hed stingers with bontrager stickers plastered all over but I would not touch another wheelset of there's unless they payed me. How many tour teams ride Trek?