timtak

My Look is still going strong but there is another UPS Trek 5200 for sale at 630 (inc tax and delivery within Japan) it has been re-equipped with 3x10 speed Tiagra and I keep looking at it. I like its straight top tube.

Trek 52000 Postal Service Paintwork
If I removed the spacers it would look like this with the drops about level with the tops of the tires.

Trek 5200 Slammed by Timothy Takemoto, on Flickr

I hardly use my relaxed geometry bikes any more because I want rear offset on my saddle and low bars, which is a bit difficult to achieve with a short stem, which I need to use to balance the rear saddle offset. Perhaps instead of purchasing another old, straight-top-tube carbon bike, I could use an adjustable stem as a sort of quill stem upside down.

up side down adjustable stem
This method seems fairly popular in Japan.

A relaxed geometry made old-school

Cross bike made roadie

Position Adjustment

Closeups if you click on image above

Only the last of these will put the bars as low as the Trek UPS though.

Old school carbon is precious.

tempocyclist

That's a cool looking Trek 5200 and in good condition, technically not US POSTAL paint scheme and decals though.

I use a -10 degree stem on my 5200 to get the front end a little lower. You could go a -17 degree stem to go even more slammed and get that "level stem" look.

Those way down low adjustable stems look awful... 🤢🤮

cxwrench

What Bontrager wheels? The bike in question has Mavic Ksyriums.

mstateglfr 

Timmy is no longer on the board. And the post is from 2 years ago. And the bike he was referring to has Bontrager wheels where 2 spokes are right next to one another then there is a big gap and 2 more spokes next to one another.
This is the pic from earlier in the thread.

bamboobike4

Don’t be so vague….

9-speed did not suck. 7700 STI still shifts as good or better than most 11-speed rigs. 6500 was extremely durable. For the era, decent.

maartendc

Nice looking bike, I own a 2001 Trek USPS (white) with a Campagnolo groupset 10 speed.

Great bike, great frame and I like the color scheme. Ive got a red saddle and red bar tape on it, which makes it really pop. Mine doesn't fit me properly unfortunately, so I will probably sell it this spring.

I cannot explain other than the bike feels 'fast'. It feels like all the power you put into the pedals really makes the bike go. Stiff frame I guess.

I would buy one if you find one you like and it fits.

tempocyclist

Definitely fast for it's time that's for sure. I still ride mine a LOT and love it. When the pace gets red hot though, it suffers compared to my more modern aero bike.

Camilo

I've got a full 6503 group that is going strong. Third or fourth bike all of part of it has been on. I take that back, I did have to replace the right shifter about 12 years ago, I broke a cable inside it and didn't have the chops to fix it. At the time, it was a sweet spot for finding NOS and used 6500 so it wasn't tragically expensive.

bamboobike4

6503 was the last solid all-around classic-looking triple stuff from Shimano.
Anytime anywhere go-to group.

7703 was too funky with the chainring setup and the RD was not as wide.
5503 was a good backup, but the shifters were less durable.

Racing T was a good competitor at twice the price, though.
I won’t bring Veloce and Mirage into the same conversation.

I just set a 6503 group up with 50/39/28 and the 11T gaps shift nicely.

rubiksoval

So vague? Were my comments from 3 years ago somehow difficult to understand? I was fairly descriptive.

And yeah, 9 speed sucked. All the way around, for all the reasons I mentioned, plus more (exposed front housings, ha!) If you think 7700 shifts better than 11 speed, I'd take the issue up with whoever tuned your 11 speed.

Any top offering from any era could be called "decent" for it's point in time. Doesn't mean it didn't suck compared to offerings today.

bamboobike4

I see sarcasm is over your head.

The exposed front housings contributed to smooth shifting only recently anywhere close with DA 9000/9100, but I’ll let the shop know you not only think they’re incompetent, but you disagree with them thinking the same of 7700 as I do. You know those ex-pros, they just get everything wrong.

I guess that’s the reason that many fast young riders hoard 7700 and 7800, because they somehow missed your memo. I only have 3 sets of DA 9000/9100, and 3 sets of 7700, so I wouldn’t know.

So far the only difference between 7700 and 9000/9100 is the gaps between cogs. Put a straight block on both and the only difference is the shape of the shifter.

timtak

It is still for sale, here in Japan.
https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp...on/g1032379287
I have some 10 speed 105's and 11 speed 105s. I do not need the extra cog at all, but the 11s shift more easily, without so much clunk.
Rumour has it that the Tiagra ST4700 shift better than older 10s 105 shifters, and the extra front cog might allow me to ride up to my home on a steep incline. One can put a 24t granny ring on it apparently.

Tim

Calsun

I have a similar Trek 5200 carbon frame bike I bought twenty years ago. It has 53/39 chainrings, frame set up for 9 speed cassette (12-25) and the integrated brake gear shifters. The only shortcoming is that is have the Rolf Vector rims that preclude using road tires wider than 25mm. Ideally I would have rims that would allow for 28mm width tires but not worth the expense for me to make the change. At 17 lbs it is light enough and the frame is very stiff when climbing so no real gains if I spent $5,000 for a new road bike.

With my 50+ years of riding high end road bikes the only significant advance was the introduction of brake gear shifters on bikes. Many innovations with mountain and gravel bikes but nothing of comparable significance with road bike technology over the past 20 years for non racers. With road bikes the innovation is with the e-bikes such as the Specialized Turbo Creo Class III road bikes.

timtak

I can't say I have noticed anything else myself. Clincher tyres?

For me there have been a couple of retreats: aluminium and relaxed (upward sloping top tube/long head tube) geometry. It is possible to avoid the aluminium with carbon, but non-relaxed bikes tend to cost a lot if new these days so I seem to be tied into purchasing bikes of about 20 or more years old.

Trakhak

Bought my first high-end racing bike in 1964, and I rode a lot of miles on a dozen or more Reynolds 531 and 853 and Columbus SL and SP bikes over the decades. But after I bought my first high-end aluminum racng bike, all of my remaining steel bikes eventually went into storage in the basement. Now it's all aluminum for me, including my track, road, TT, and hybrid bikes.

Maybe I'm more sensitive than most with respect to subtleties of bike behavior, but I immediately fell in love with the immediacy of response and torsional rigidity of that first aluminum bike. My all-time favorite bike, hands down, is my Specialized Langster track bike, which I bought the first year it was available. Aluminum frame, aluminum straight-blade fork. Handles and tracks like a dream. And it, like my other current bikes, is every bit as "comfortable," whatever that means, as any steel bike I've ever ridden.

As for sloping versus horizontal top tubes: the first frame measurement I look at these days is head tube length. I look for a head tube of around 120 to 140 mm in length. Much longer or shorter than that, and I'll take a pass on the bike. Wheelbase around 37 cm is where I'm happiest. My one carbon bike has a wheelbase a couple of centimeters longer, giving a ride that slightly annoyed me every time I rode it, so it's been relegated to indoor trainer use for the last couple of years.

timtak

Are you thin? I have not ridden aluminium for a long time. When I did ride aluminium I was fat. Carrying pounds, I did not like the road rattle and the move to carbon was wonderful. I am not so fat now. Perhaps I would be happy with aluminium these days.

One of my carbon bike frames has cracked (due to a fall) and is falling apart, and I broke the carbon seatpost of my main bike today. My love of carbon is tempered.

Trakhak

Good guess---I'm around 115 lbs these days, and about 5'8" tall.

That said, I'm still unconvinced that the shock absorption differences between steel and aluminum frames of comparable quality are significant beyond confirmation bias levels. There's a young materials engineer on YouTube---his channel is called Peak Torque, I think---who presented an analysis (in pie chart form) a while ago of the relative contributions of various aspects of a road bike to shock absorption. He found that the seat post represented the greatest factor in comfort, followed by the tires. The frame and fork were shown to be much more minor contributors to shock absorption.

In fact, in the before times pre-Internet, I don't remember many people talking or worrying about differences in comfort between bikes. What I do remember is the phenomenon, in the mid-1980s, of significant numbers of riders graduating from a sport touring frame to their first true racing geometry bike. Losing two or three centimeters of wheelbase made a big difference in responsiveness---but also in the perception of "comfort," with the short-wheelbase racing bike transmitting road shock more abruptly. Compare to going from a family sedan to a racy sports car.

That period in the mid-to-late '80s was also the time when Cannondales began selling in great numbers around the US, and also, later in the decade, when Cannondale's designers decided that people would happily buy criterium-geometry road bikes---their Crit series---that handled just like the cutting-edge Italian crit bikes that were fashionable at the time. My hypothesis is that many purchasers of the Cannondale crit bikes incorrectly attributed the sports-car-like behavior of the bikes to the frame material. Those of us who were used to riding Italian short-wheelbase bikes---I rode a Bianchi Specialissima Super Corsa at the time---had no problem with the Cannondale version.

Love it! That quote made my day.

I commiserate with you on your carbon bike woes. The first time I set up my one carbon bike on my new Saris H3 smart trainer, I almost, but not quite, got the left rear dropout fully seated in the trainer mount. Closed the quick-release lever, sat on the bike, heard a loud "crack." Oops. So that bike has been relegated to permanent indoor use.

Dominae

More Timtak? Yes please!

thehammerdog

it is very ugly.
no other and price...

timtak

I need to try an aluminium bike. I can get them for about the same sort of money as the Trek 5200 or a bit less. I can't remember steel to be honest but changing from a heavy Trek F7.3 cross bike to a carbon (Azzuri Primo > Felt Z5 > Look KG 386) was a big difference to me. One of the reviews of the Trek 5200 by bikerx68 says

"I absolutely love the carbon frame for the chip and seal roads in Western PA. The carbon frame removes all of the harshness from the ride and still has the stiffness of aluminum. I came from riding an all aluminum Cannondale and I can't believe the difference in ride quality."

And I felt the same way. But here is my cracked carbon

Cracked Seatpost Repair Attempt by Timothy Takemoto, on Flickr


Cracked Carbon Frame by Timothy Takemoto, on Flickr

The price of the Trek is still 73000 JPY including postage within Japan or 590 USD and I don't think the Trek is ugly, though I prefer my yellow Look.

Chrisyang

Indeed, the tires on this bike are eye-catching

Chrisyang

It's just that it's an older style.

timtak

There are at least 2 Trek bikes mentioned on this thread, and the comment
was about the first Trek from 2018 with nice blue tyres.

The important thing for me is the the headtube is 10cm, the same as my Look, as opposed to e.g.16cm Felt Z5.
My felt with a solid steel steatpost is still flexible and dump dampening.


The Trek has now sold.

timtak

There is a Blue RC6 with Shimano 105 10s at about 450USD with no wheels currently. I will put in a bid I think. It is beautiful.

Look at the height of that head tube

Blue still make bikes but even they have 14cm head tubes these days in the medium size.

My bid was insufficient.

timtak

There is an 1980s TVT 92 with 9 speed Dura ace and a Holotech Ultegra crank converted to a triathlon bike to a for 500 usd delivered. No brakes nor front derailleur.


It is strange how far back one has to go to find horizontal bikes.