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Old 05-27-05, 11:48 AM
  #19  
K&M
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Central California
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The Burley's handling is not as light and crisp as the CoMo's, but (in our opinion) it is better than the Trek. I don't know whether this is due to differences in steering "trail" or not (there are differing claims out there about whether trail is really identical on Treks, Santanas and Burleys). It could be that the carbon fork and a better saddle position is the reason the Burley feels better. The Treks tended to give us kind of a "Queen Mary" feeling from time to time when cornering - like driving a big truck. The Burley does not seem to do this.

The biggest complaint we had with the Treks (and we rode two T2000's well over 1000 miles) was that the brakes were really not adequate for serious descents. We are an under 300 lb. team, but we found the brakes weak, loud (very loud!), hard to modulate and, worst of all, grabby. Check old threads on this forum and you will see that we are not the only ones to have this complaint!

We spent months trying to find a Burley to test ride, but finally gave up and just ordered one sight unseen. We did this because so many people recommended them so highly and because we couldn't believe the kind of components we could get for our money.

We got a Rivazza with the "Race" package (i.e. carbon fork, carbon cranks, Rolf wheels, rear disc brake, etc.). We love it. The disc brake is great and even the Single-Digit Seven on the front is a huge step up from the brakes on the Trek. If you buy the Trek, consider upgrading to SD 7's with Travel Agents.

Since our Burley arrived, back in February, we have been averaging over 100 miles per week on it. In doing two relatively quick (sub-eleven hour) double centuries on it, we have found that it stays comfortable over the long haul, even while we're maintaining a decent pace and not spending a lot of time off the bike. Not all bikes are comfortable enough to keep a double century fun from start to finish! The Burley is, without a doubt, a very high quality bike.

One thing I would note is that disc brakes can be a bit more complicated than other brakes (although, I think, their performance makes it well worth it). I have had to add some extra washers to the brake mounts to get the disc to line up perfectly when the wheel is fully seated in the top of the drop outs and getting sufficient braking power without having the brakes rub can take a lot of adjusting. Floating discs, like they have on motorcycles, would be a big improvement.
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