The new winter commuter :-)
 

http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/urban/pdx/pdx/

Trashcanning the calipers for BB7's and switching the wheels out of the gate. Just ordered, supposed to be here Friday/Early next week....

Very sharp bike. Seems priced pretty well too. Congrats!

Very nice!!! Congrats!!!!!

(what happened to your old bike?)

I still have them. I had to sell the reasoning to the CFO somehow, didn't I? LOL

Actually I have a whole bin of nice parts and was getting away with it until my dear loving son mentioned it in front of my wife. So I started shopping for a cheap base bike that I liked so it could be a transplant recipient.

It was that or kill the boy for letting the cat out of the bag :P

What's the max tire size on that?

Nice call on switching the brakes. I upgraded from BB5 to BB7 on my Muirwoods 29er and couldn't believe the difference.

Don't honestly know. From what I understand it's the old FX disc frame design, so it should take 35's at least easily. I'll update when it gets here, no local LBS has, or has seen one. They won't pay shipping out of Wisconsin, and the NJ warehouse has yet to get one. Mine's coming out of Wisconsin (I love my LBS :) )

We don't even know the actual color, we're thinking it's satin black, but the Trek site graphics almost look like pink on black. That said, that pictured bike has the wrong wheels and tires even vs spec.

Hawt! Looking forward to some pics when ya get it...

Wow, congrats. That's quite a machine!

So Trek now has a Portland and a PDX? Plus the PDX is more like their FX than their Portland? That's not confusing at all. :rolleyes:

Well, bike arrived yesterday morning, picked it up last night. LBS gave me a smoking deal on it, $450 out the door. Have pics, will post in a bit. First impressions are positive, it has some issues as far as I'm concerned, but easily remedied. We put it on the scale at the LBS, and in full out of the box trim with pedals and reflectors it weighs 26.4lbs. I ride the 20" frame.

Just some observations..

Pic on Trek's website shows it with Bontrager Nebula rims, but the spec says Bontrager Rangers. It came with Nebulas. 32 spoke, actually farly stout rims, albeit a bit heavy. I've already changed it to Bontrager Select Disc rims.

It has HUGE clearance in all the stays and the front fork. So much so you could possibly run 29'er tires. It comes with Bontrager Race All Terrains in 700cx28, which seem decent. I'm going to run them for a bit to see how they do. Due to the fact that it's a disc bike, I guarantee that you could run 26" MTB wheels and tires if you chose to.

Bike's Satin Black with champagne graphics. Pretty understated, I like the way it looks. Polished aluminum stem, handlebars and seatpost. Swept back handlebars, didn't think I'd like them but I'll try them. Riding position is a bit more upright than I anticipated, but very comfortable.

Brakes absolutely suck. The Promax calipers belong in the trash can. I'm 175 and the rear alone won't stop me. I planned to switch it to BB7's and that's the first upgrade for sure. Rear uses the MTB adapter plate for mounting the disc caliper, front is a CroMo fork with IS caliper mounting.

It's set up for racks front and back. It actually has one thing I hadn't seen in a while, and that's the chainstay plate for a kickstand. Fenders will be a cinch.

Components are Meh. Match the price point of the bike. All Shimano with a Sunrace rear cassette. Crank is the typical low end steel riveted ring. I have a mixed XT\XTR Grouppo here, it may find it's way on. Swapping the crankset/BB would prolly shave 2lbs off the bike. I'm thinking that with the wheel change, and swapping some of the low end stuff off can probably have the bike in the 23-24lb range with racks and lights and the rest of the commuter gear. Topeak Explorer rack is mounted, and it does need a disc specific rack in the rear.

Just initial thoughts, I'll post pics in a while. For the price point it's a solid comfortable commuter that for most would serve great duty.

Wait - you mean the rear can't even skid the bike? I've seen crappy brakes, but I've never seen anything that bad.

Well, you should see this then. No, rear brakes can't stop the bike. They are literally that bad. Front or back, I can pull the lever for all I have and still roll the bike against the brakes. They are *junk*

So are your winter commutes still 45-50 miles round trip? That is, are you planning to do that distance on this bike every day?

sounds like my brakes. :(

I encountered a set of Promax brakes this summer while rebuilding a friend's bike. I agree. Totally junk. The phrase "brake-shaped object" comes to mind.

Yup, I'm a glutton for punishment :P It won't be the same bike when I'm done.

Wow, that certainly is ambitious. I have no doubt you'll do it, though.

Really? That makes my decision as to which brakes to put on my Winter bike easier anyway, thanks.

Yeah, it was a great upgrade. I switched from some unbranded alloy levers to Avid Speed Dials at the same time. Those are pretty nice too, and you can get them for about $20 at Blue Sky.

Pictures as promised. A little dark, sorry!

http://www.tsplace.com/jeep/pdx1.jpg

An idea of tire clearance. Theres a lot! (hard to tell tho based on this angle

http://www.tsplace.com/jeep/pdx3.jpg

Here's current trim, wheels switched, ready for the commute tomorrow..

http://www.tsplace.com/jeep/pdx4.jpg

http://www.tsplace.com/jeep/pdx5.jpg

That is a sharp bike. And at the price you paid, seems like a steal (though I don't know msrp).

Do you think you'll add fenders? Bar ends?

I'll add fenders, haven't quite decided which ones. I kind of like the blacked out urban look to the bike, and haven't quite settled on what fenders I want. I've historically run SKS's. I took the Nebula wheels I pulled and put 35's on them for when the weather gets crappier, also have a set of 38mm WTB Interwolf's if need be. Don't really get enough snow/ice around here to justify studs. Which fenders I run may ultimately be decided by which tires stay on it the most.

Bar ends I don't know. I don't think they'll work well with the handlebars on the bike, but if I decide the existing bars won't cut it I'll prolly go with a low rise carbon MTB bar like the Easton in which case I'll prolly go to the Ergon GC3. I'm pretty partial to the Ergon grips. The bars that are on it don't seem to lend themselves well to standing and climbing, so the jury is still out on them.

MSRP was $559, I paid $430 + tax which took me to $451 out the door. MAP on the bike is $499, which is what most should be able to buy it for. I'll have another $90 in the BB7's to give it brakes that work.

I've never had fenders before, but I just ordered a set of SKS Commuter 45s for my 1 month old Felt x:city D. BTW, it also has bars with some sweep in them, and I put bar ends on it. So far I like it. I can't really tell how similar your handlebars are to mine.

I've never commuted by bike yet, but I might have to give it a try.

Yeah, the promaxes do suck. Try assembling low end mountain bikes for a summer, you'll really grow to hate them. There are some tricks though, in case anyone is interested. First of all, a big problem is the rotors getting warped, so carefully truing them is a big part of adjustment. And then you want the inboard pad as close as possible to the rotor, otherwise the rotor will warp when braking power is applied by the outboard pad.

But it sounds like you've got it covered with BB7s, good call.