Buying a new bike

prostiak said:

I'm buying a new bike this spring and have had my heart set on a Trek 520 because I mostly do touring. I've recently wanted to get into Triathlon so I'm curious if there is another option that is good for both. I'm not looking to break records in a triathlon, but still want something quick. Is the 520 still a good bike for that, being heavier?

Do you mean the Trek 5200?

prostiak said:

I'm buying a new bike this spring and have had my heart set on a Trek 520 because I mostly do touring. I've recently wanted to get into Triathlon so I'm curious if there is another option that is good for both. I'm not looking to break records in a triathlon, but still want something quick. Is the 520 still a good bike for that, being heavier?

A trek 520 is a pure tourer - long wheelbase, shallow seat and steering angles, generous fork rake, long chain-stay. You need the opposite of these for TTs.

hd reynolds said:

A trek 520 is a pure tourer - long wheelbase, shallow seat and steering angles, generous fork rake, long chain-stay. You need the opposite of these for TTs.

It might work. You could turn the seat post around to get a steeper effective seat tube angle. Getting enough drop from saddle to bars could be a problem, and depending on the course the extra weight and slow handling might not be an issue.

artmichalek said:

It might work. You could turn the seat post around to get a steeper effective seat tube angle. Getting enough drop from saddle to bars could be a problem, and depending on the course the extra weight and slow handling might not be an issue.

Get the 520 and ride the heck out of it for pleasure, training and touring. If you do a triathlon and do relatively well on the bike and want to do better, then spend some money on a TT bike that is appropriate to give you that extra edge. From what I have read in the forums, unless you can be in the ball park on whatever bike you can find at a thrift store, you are wasting your money on a bike based on the time improvements you will get. Having a set of tires for the tri and another set for loaded touring seems to be a reasonable step.

I forget what the gearing is like on a 520, but that may be an issue for you too. Again, probably not a show stopper at entry level.

I have read (and it makes sense) that the major issue is the engine...

dgregory57 said:

I forget what the gearing is like on a 520, but that may be an issue for you too. Again, probably not a show stopper at entry level.

It comes with a 52/42/30 crank set and an 11-32 cassette. You can do just about anything with that kind of range.

prostiak said:

I'm buying a new bike this spring and have had my heart set on a Trek 520 because I mostly do touring. I've recently wanted to get into Triathlon so I'm curious if there is another option that is good for both. I'm not looking to break records in a triathlon, but still want something quick. Is the 520 still a good bike for that, being heavier?

All the featured hd listed for the Trek 520 are designed for loaded touring, eg, to carry 50 lbs of camping gear and clothes distributed in panniers on both the front and back wheels. For the kind of supported tours many of us do, this bike is overkill.

A standard road bike will work fine for supported tours, and be better suited to TT or any time you just want to ride "something quick".

Thanks for all the info guys, I'll hafta think about it. It's more fully loaded touring than triathlons so I'm still leaning towards the 520.