Trek 820

My husband and I are planning on buying Mountain bikes for Christmas. We will be riding mostly on gravel roads with a lot of hills. Would the Trek 820 be a good choice? I am sure anything will be a improvement over my daughters Wal Mart bike that I have been riding. I want something that changes gears easily and will be durable. Thanks!

I presume you are talking about the 2004 model, which is listed here

It is Trek's low-end hardtail mountain offering, but that's not such a bad thing. Trek don't make rubbish. That being said, though, spending a little bit more will yield significant benefits in parts quality. There are a lot of other quality bike brands that you might also want to take a look at (e.g. Giant, Specialized, etc.), I recommend you look around and see which ones you find more comfortable.

The 820 is a steel-framed bike, which has some gotchas in terms of weight and susceptibility to rust (though this will only happen if the paint gets scratched to the metal or dinged about a bit.) If you take care of the bike, this shouldn't be much of an issue. The Trek 3700 is the same bike spec-wise as the 820 but with an aluminium frame. (Its RRP is US$60 higher)

As for shifting, Altus is fine enough for paved or gravel trail riding. It won't like you much if you try to shift under load (when applying power to the cranks, and especially when going up hills) -- you'll need to back off the power when using the shifters. Shifter cables will stretch early in their lives; the bike will start to shift really sloppily after the first 50-100km. (All bikes do this, just yesterday I was riding alongside someone with a bike that easily cost over $8k with the same thing ) The good thing is that all it needs is a one-off minor adjustment that your bike shop should do for free as part of a 'break-in service'. Once it's all set up and dialed in, it should shift fine for a long time, provided you keep the drivetrain reasonably clean.

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Peter
Cannondale Synapse Carbon Scalpel Cyclocross Ultra

Look at the Gary Fisher Advance. I bought an 03 and I am very happy with its performance.

Go Gary!!! www.fisherbikes.com

trek 820


They are nice bikes. I bought one about 5 or 6 years ago back when they were still aluminum frames, and its still my main bike. I'm currently in the process of replacing a lot of the components. Many years of hard riding and poor maintaince have caught up with me.

if your not sure if your gonna be mtb biking a lot in the future, the 820 is a fine choice, it will serve you well for many years. If you think you want to be a bit more serious with the sport, I would look into something from cannondale or specialized... having a nicer bike off the bat will save money down the road.