Trek 7700 purchase advise please.
 

I am looking at a used '06 Trek 7700 Multi-Trac Hybrid offered for $800. Bike is in near new condition with very low miles- probably less than 300 miles. Currently owned by a friend that has switched to a recumbant. It has the Alpha SL frame, Bontrager (sp?) wheels and crankset, Deore XT derailers. He added a velo plush seat and a rack for the rear. I just started back into biking with my wife. We do local trails and multi use paths with short commute to work of 8 miles round trip thrown in. We are in the late 50's age group so will probably always do this sort of casual riding. She has a new Raleigh hybrid and loves it, although I find it a little slow. We are biking primarily to shed pounds and have re-discovered how much fun it is. I have an older Fisher Kaitai MTB that I need to replace for this type of riding. We will probably get into the rail roadbed trail riding popular here in SW Wisconsin and continue to grow the cross town/commuting/fun ride stuff.

So, is this a good deal? I really like the way it rides and the "brifters" are awsome. I get some wrist numbness from the forward weight position of the MTB and really like the upright position. It's a 17.5 inch bike and I am 5'11" so it fits well. Thanks!

Checked it out at RoadBikeReviews (http://www.roadbikereview.com/cat/20...6_4222crx.aspx). It looks like a good bike to me.

OTOH, Tom Bom has probably ridden one several times, so he would probably have good information.

It has brifters? You sure?

I believe the Deore LX are indeed brifters. I borrowed a friend's dualie once (a GF Sugar, I think) with that on it. Absolutely hated it on the trail. Give me trigger shifters any day for MTBing.

Yeah, I agree. I love trigger shifters.

I have this bike and use it all the time on a limestone rail to trail.
It is not a low weight bike but it is very durable and has absorbed tough conditions. I use it with 700 x 28 and 700 x 38 tires and wheels.

I own a Trek 7600 and like it very much. It is an excellent bike trail bike. The components on the 7700 are of very good quality.

17.5" is on the small side for someone who is 5'11". That height would normally use the 20" frame, and possibly even the 22.5" if one had long legs. I'm only 5' 7.5", with shorter than normal legs for my height and the 17.5" fits me almost perfectly. Doesn't mean you can't use a 17.5", but the top tube is going to be pretty short for your size. And you would probably need to put the seat post up a lot to have it fit your leg length. It likely has 170mm cranks, which are also on the small side for someone who is 5'11".

The 7x00 hybrid series does not use brifters. They take mountain bike bar components. It should have thumb shifters.

The list price for a new 7700 is $1649. Even on sale they tend to run around $1300. So $800 for one with 300 miles on it is a good price.

Brifters are not an exclusive road equipment term. They do indeed come in MTB flavors. They look like a thumb (trigger) shifter bolted on to an MTB brake lever. In the MTB world you can have either integrated shift/brake levers or individual levers in the same equipment family.

Maybe that is not the right shifter term. There are thumb levers on the brake handle that determine the direction of the shift. Moving the brake handle sideways performs the shift. What is the term for that style of shifter?

If they look like the attached then they are Shimano "Dual Control" levers. They come in Deore, LX, XT and XTR flavors and they are similar to road brifters in that the shifting is accomplished by pushing the shift lever sideways (up or down) while braking is still accomplished by pulling on the lever in the traditional manner.

They work very nicely and when coupled with the Shimano reverse action rear derailleur (spring loaded in toward larger cogs instead of out toward smaller cogs) and become very intuitive for novice riders. This is because pushing the shift levers the same direction will result in similar shifts (more speed/ more climb). The reverse action derailleur is however more finicky of its adjustments and requires more frequent tuneups. This requires that the rider learn more about the actions of the rear derailleur and the barrel adjusters on the rear adjuster cable.

The upside is that they will also work well with normal action derailleurs (although traditional shift direction will prevail) if so equipped.

edit:sorry, for some reason this picture upload generates an error (not size related)

For picture go to Shimano pages (or elsewhere) and look at M580 levers.

Yup, that's what they are Maddmaxx, thanks. I liked the way they worked although the bike is very new and still in great adjutment.

Let me try.

http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com...ano%20m580.jpg

Thats the stuff. Why is it that my work computer is decades out of date. Thankyou.

Oops! Just realized that I was thinking about the 7.7 FX, not the 7700. The 7.7 FX used to go by the moniker of 7700 FX.

The 2006 7700 listed for $1199. I've seen new 2006 models on sale at $960 in the last month. This price included a free tuneup and an extended warranty on various components. So with that in mind, $800 is a good price, but not stunningly good. And I think that is a fair price for the person to ask, as he probably paid closer to $1200 than $1000.