haha no i'm pretty sure those comments were taken out of context. and personally, i don't even like trek bikes and would never buy from such a washed-up and over-marketed brand.

When taken out of context they seem ignorant; however, when you read them in the original post they make perfect sense and I agree with them. If you took a Hardrock XC out racing it would have just as many problems as a 3700 would. A cheap bike is a cheap bike regardless of the name on the side. As well, I used to work in a shop and saw people try to fix stuff all the time and make it worse. Not everyone's brilliant or mechanically inclined! Customers can screw stuff up.

And your rant about the BBs on the new Madones? It sounds like an awful lot like they made a miscalculation at the beginning of production, and like a good company, they fixed it. So I don't see the need to bash them. There are companies out there that would deny that they have problems and ignore it. So Trek's better than some.

And I'm not a shill; I own a very nice GF mountain bike that I like a lot, but I'm sure I could be plenty happy with a Specialized or Giant too. They're all about the same when you really look closely.

I would go with Giant. I don't own one. We have Specialized, Cdale, Trek, Cervelo, GT and one of the last family-made Schwinns, all great bikes, but I see a lot of people riding Giants, and among the Big 4, Giant has the best component-grade / price ratios I've seen (correct me if this is wrong, but because they're the biggest buyer ((and because they're Asian?)) they get rock-bottom component prices) and their design and fabrication are top notch.

Of the major bicycle manufacturers Giant is the least original and most inclined to copy the intellectual property of other manufacturers. The current TCR is a blatant copy of the Cervelo R3. Trek on the other hand has down a lot of very original and innovative research and development on the 2010 Madone. It has to be the most advanced bicycle made today. For what ever reason here on bicycle forums Trek does not get the respect that they richly deserve. However the Tour de France winning 2010 Madones are changing a lot of opinions about Trek.

Fixed.

I said I own a Trek. Talk about original, it was their first MTB, 950 1984. Real American made, real steel.
Of course Trek was jumping on Specialized's bandwagon, who totally stole from Tom Ritchey and Gary Fisher...

You think Trek invented carbon? Assos' founder claims that honor, and Klein was surely making CF frames when Trek was aluminizing.

IF OP tries a Madone and it fits him, he won't be unhappy. If there's a defect, Trek will make it right. As will every other mainline mfr and respectable boutique brand.

Oh please. Could you be a bigger poser?

Well, OK, you could be me, but besides that.

nah. i own two treks.

Wow what a great discussion I got going, I had no clue i'd get this much passionate response. Thanks to all. I have a question. Eclectus mentioned the 'big four.' Are the big four trek, specialized, cannondale, and giant?

Nope. Motobecane, Dawes, Windsor, and Mercier.

Cervelo, Pcad, botto and bongo.

been lurking on this forum for a while...
 

I've been lurking on here for a while now... and this thread finally got me to register as a member. I ordered my first road bike, a 2010 Trek Madone 5.2, through Project One from my LBS. It's been exactly one month since I took delivery and I absolutely LOVE it. No complaints about it or the 2010 Ultegra gruppo it came with! In my opinion, you can not go wrong with this bike. Also, Trek's huge presence everywhere means you'll never have trouble finding customer support.

In 1989 I purchased a Trek 2500 aluminum lugged CF road bike. It completely changed my notion of what a racing bicycle could be, and was instrumental in getting me into the daily cycling addiction I still enjoy 20 years later.

HUH? i think you might have that backwards.

I loved my '05 2100, still handbuilt in the USA. I put ~12,000 miles on that bike and recently sold it to a person who will have many more miles of enjoyment out of it. I also had a '07 Fuel EX7. Beat the hell out of that bike in Albuquerque. Bontrager wheels took all the abuse and never came out of true or round. Frame had a few dings, which was amazing for how many spills I took. The road kept calling me, so I sold that bike a couple years ago.

My girlfriend is starting into cycling and picked up a 2009 2.1 WSD. Another fantastic bike, although built in Taiwan... c'mon, whether or not it's built in another country doesn't affect quality - look at the past 30 years of Ford. She loves her new bike.

Trek gives a lifetime warranty on all their frames to the original owner. Their goal is to keep people riding... on Trek bikes.

Now, with that said, I love my new Scott. It is lighter and faster than the Madone 5.2 (comparable modle). The Madone is more comfortable, but when I purchased it, both were more comfortable than the 2100. I got the best of both worlds.

Scott only offers a 5-year warranty on the frame. That's fine, because anyone expecting a lifetime of use out of a carbon-fiber frame is fooling themselves. Stick with steel or titanium for that one.

Anyway, Trek makes a great bike, across the board.

Pray you don't need that Scott warranty. You'll go back to appreciating Trek :P. LBS here dropped them because they kept digging into their own pocket to replace frames that Scott should have (and didn't).

Fingers crossed :thumb:

So far it's a great bike, fits me a little better than Trek too. I can see how there is some worry on the frames, at only 790g including a 330g fork. Wreck it and it's gone. I haven't heard of the Addict frames having much issue though, just the CR1... well, there was the Hincapie issue with the Al steertube, but mine is carbon.

I'm going to shoot for 20K miles on the frame, then might become a pretentious Cervelo snob :D

I'm not ruling Trek out, however. In 3-4 years, when I hit 20K-25K miles, they may have changed the Madone again.

Trek have the same advantage/inconvenient as the other large brands: they have a high resell value (an advantage when you resell, an inconvenient when you buy used). So on the used market they tend to be over-priced. But as new bikes, just like all the large brands, you can't really go wrong, and it gets to be a matter of personal opinion (as the thread above easily demonstrates).

Right you are. I was thinking of the Seattle company that pioneered CF, and it began with a K, but it was Kestrel, not Klein, a respected metal-frame specialist.

I know...I posted it earlier. Trek is now putting lower end components in the same model from earlier years... It will be clear you look at this link:
http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/2008/archive/

putting 105, where they had ultegra in earlier years...

putting SRAM.... replacing Shimano....!!!

^^^
Please indicate where SRAM is 'replacing' Shimano. From what I have seen SRAM is NOT replacing Shimano. They are in fact adding new models equipped with SRAM. The only real 'swap' is now the 5.5 comes with SRAM Force rather than Dura-Ace. This is most likely in response to Shimano's introduction of the 7900 series and the fact that it is a lot more expensive than an effort downgrade components. The 6.9 Madone still comes with Dura-Ace and now an option for Red if you want. A few minor tweeks here and there to try to make profits at a certain price point is not a wholesale installation of 'lower end components'.

My new 6.5's seatmast/cap is most definitely round!

I have two, a '00 5200, which I raced hard for years; and a '89 660 which I commuted hard for years. Both handmade in Waterloo, both tough as nails, both ride like a dream.

If the made in the USA thing is important to you, they have that. If the won a bunch of grand tours thing is important to you, they have that too.

Yes, Trek and almost all companies are doing the same thing. If they don't, the MSRP of the price is jumping considerably.

What do you expect in this economy? And FWIW, take a look at a full Ultegra bike in 2001. The Trek 2300 (aluminum with carbon fork) was full Ultegra and the MSRP was $1999.

No one is understanding your rant against Trek.

I've got an '07 1500. Great bike. It would probably fall towards the upper part of the low end road bikes. Bought it late in the season and I've put over 3,000 miles on it. I'm currently looking to upgrade parts. Nothing wrong with the old ones, just want something different. No problems and I intend to ride this frameset for a very long time.