BLUEJAYDATA

I've been reading a lot of the threads and you guys give opinions about cf bikes and aluminum bikes and steel bikes all separately. Can anyone list the top Road bikes. And order them if you can. I don't know if we should say top bike brands as terms for sale which means nothing to me unless the quality is amazing. So we should aim for a list with top quality for each material made for a bike.

puddin' legs

www.wrenchscience.com

Everything on their list looks pretty good.

BLUEJAYDATA

they don't have trek on this site. i googled the same page before i started this thread.

Eatadonut

you're looking for the top road bikes, but the place someone pointed you to with the top road bikes doesn't have trek listed.

I don't see a conflict

55/Rad

What you are asking for is subject to a LOT of opinion. Ask yourself this - can you name the top cars in each respective category based on sales? How about based on performance or price? JD Power reports?

Kind of hard isn't it?

Narrow the parameters - like "top bikes in the $1500 range" - and you will get lots of answers.

55/Rad

johnny99

Trek makes some good bikes and some mediocre bikes. I think that makes them an average company, not a "top company".

biker7

Many reputable bike manufactures make a lower end bike to satisfy/expand their market demographic.
This in no way undermines their higher end bikes...just cultivates more revenue for more R&D to elevate their entire brand and ingratiate future customers as they move up. BMW does this with their 3 series cars...lol.
That so called average bike company won the Tour de France this year. Trek makes excellent bikes.
George

johnny99

Depends on your defintion of "Top Brand". Is Ferrari a better brand than BMW? If you were buying a car for me, I would prefer that you bought me a Ferrari than a BMW. The question "Top Brand", not "Top Model".

H20.1

"Depends on your defintion of "Top Brand". Is Ferrari a better brand than BMW? If you were buying a car for me, I would prefer that you bought me a Ferrari than a BMW. The question "Top Brand", not "Top Model"."


This makes no sense. Ferrari is not a "better" brand than BMW. They just have a different mission and focus. They make sports cars that contain a good amount of racing technology. THey dont make 4 door sedans.

BMW is a "top" brand. They dont make near racecars, but how many drive a Ferrari on a daily basis? In fact Ferraris are notoriously unreliable. Compaines like Trek offer lower end models and thats fine, but it in no way devalues the brand.

Is Colnago a better brand than Bianchi simply because they make all high end racing frames? If you asked me, Id pick Bianchi simply because it offers a more diverse product line and its mid and top end product is pretty equivalent to what Colnago offers.

ViperZ

Trek is at the top of the game when it comes to design engineering it's high end bikes like the Madone and TTX (Same Bikes Lance and Team Discovery rides)

The "F1 Consortium", Lance's Support Team comprised of Top Bio-mechanical Specialist, Aerodynamic specialists, Coaches, Trainers, Bicycle industry specialists, Trek, Nike, Giro..etc, probably pours more in to sports science and Bicycle design than most other bicycle makers combined. They would be the McLaren of Bicycles. Make no mistake, the top tiered bikes by Trek have the top design technologies applied.

Does this make it the best bike? Not necessarily, but it would be "One of the Top designed" bikes in spite of what some people want to think.


As it was said, your question is a tough one to answer with out limits or confines, in the end it really comes down to personal preference anyway.


My advice would be to do the research yourself and come to your own conclusions as to the top list of bikes, for there is too many factors to create a "List" that is the end all be all.

I know what 10 bike makers would be at the tops of my list, however that would probably be very different than somebody else's

biker7

Exactly. In addition, Ferrari has been known to stoop to offering a modest level car like the ill fated Dino named after Enzo's son who unfortunately died young and the mid engined 308 which was anemic by even contemporary muscle car standards at 3X's the cost. I love Ferrari's but they are highly irrelevant for 99.9% of the motoring public. Porshe's are more relevant but still high priced. The question wasn't what bike manfacturer makes the most exotic bikes...but what the top brands are...Trek is a top brand among a long list of others.
George

BLUEJAYDATA

Well look at the bikes in cervello, giant, cannondale, etc....which one would you ride if you were riding in the TDF? this question is a little more narrow for you guys to handle.

BLUEJAYDATA

If someone wanted to buy a top end comfortable car they would get a royles rocye, if they wanted speed they would get a ferrari. If they wanted something with power but more redneckish they would get a musclecar hemi cuda. But in road bikes comfort doesn't really go well together. I would say what are the top brands that you would buy. A bike that you would use in the tour de france. In any race.

biker7

man...now you have totally upset the apple cart You won't get any consensus there as brand loyalty abounds for all brands mentioned and BTW they are all top brands. My answer is whichever manufacturer or sponsor paid the most to ride...lol.
George...OK Cervello because I like Italian bikes with Campy of course

ViperZ

There you go, there is the start of your list

If I was good enough to ride the TdF, I would ride what whoever's bike was paying my ride.


If I had a Choice in the matter, and it was to be Carbon, I would love a Cervelo R2.5 Team or Bayonne with Record, or a Trek Madone SLX and TTX.....

If it was to be Titanium, I would love a Lightspeed Ghisalo, or a Seven Elium SG....

If Aluminum, a Cervelo Soloist, Klein Q-Pro, Bianchi FC /1885...

If it was to be standard Cromo Steel, a Serrotta, Pinnerello, Rossin Ghibli.....




Even the choices there could go on forever for me. In the end it really doesn't matter because it if I was a slug, I would get dropped by a fit person on a Huffy, Gas Pipe Special anyway, so having a "Top" bike is a small part of the equation.

BLUEJAYDATA

^ then why do people hate TREK so much?

Elvish Legion

Trek didn't win the tour, Lance could have done it on any bike, it isn't the bike, its the rider.

ViperZ

It's human nature to hate evil empires, IE: Microsoft.

It's almost like Jazz aficionados, they poo-poo most jazz. For them the only real jazz is played by musicians no one has ever heard of, or has an elite small (club) following.


Just because people may hate Trek, in my eyes it takes nothing away from Trek's accomplishments of industry leading designs and bicycles.

It's up to you to siff through the signal to noise ratio and dertermine your own conclusions.

biker7

Hate's a strong word...how about why do so-called purist's...American's mostly...not find a Trek bike particularly desireable?...because they are common. It has been often said that a Bianchi is the Schwinn of Europe and likely akin to a Trek in its reputation on the other side of the pond. My view is the Italians have a certain flair for design...and that includes their component gruppo's. But this view can easily be explained as what is rare or uncommon. One man's rare or esoteric stuff is another man's commodity...Mercedes and Bimmers are taxicabs in Europe.
George

RiDE

Did you just say Cervelo is Italian?

ViperZ

I would not say that is entirely true... Lance's chances of winning the Tours are greatly increased by his Team of riders and support group. There is a lot of behind the scenes preparations and designs to help Lance win... He would have a much harder time doing it himself.

I think part of the reason why he annihilate the field in the stage 20 ITT is because of his own conditioning, and preparation as well as due to no small part to his bike preparation. It was superbly set up as he carved through the time trials at speeds that had most other competitors cornering as if they had steel rimed tires on pavement.


Cycling in the Tour is a team sport contrary to popular belief

biker7

hehehe....Sir-veeeelloo.

ViperZ

Sonofagun, he did too...

RiDE

Most, if not all, big name bike companies would have given Lance the same technical support Trek did. I honestly believe that Cannondale, Specialized, Giant, etc. would invest the same amount of resources if Lance were riding their bikes. That would be a very profitable endorsement.

ViperZ

That maybe true, however it was Trek that signed him when he could have been considered an unknown commodity. When he won his first tour even he said his equipment was considered run of the mill stuff. However due to his popularity, fame of winning and all the success that comes with victory, I feel it started a freight train rolling with increased sales to Trek. This injected a lot of capital and more commitment in to Trek's, R&D program, forming of the "F1 consortium" to help Lance continue to win, and on and on... Trek certainly gain an advantage having Lance as their "Winning" rider in many ways.


Now this is all my own opinon and may be misguided, as I'm sure any other team could have launched Lance to 7 wins as well, however at the end of the day it was Trek, and I contend that Lance's entire team was pivitol to his 7 consecutive wins. Taking nothing away from how great Lance is, but his team certainly helped.