Opinions on the following Trek bike...

[onelittlequest]

First of all, this will be my first "real" road bike. I'm on a budget of less than $1800 dollars (student) and am looking to buy a nice aluminum bike. It will be used for racing, particularly triathlons (including IMs). Any suitable options other than the one listed below I will entertain. An aluminum bike with all 105 would be nice. Anyway, I have been looking at the Madone 2 series from Trek. I'm wondering if anyone has any opinions to share. I like how the drivetrain is mostly 105 but the crank is a Shimano R565 and the cassette is a Tiagra 12-30. How do these latter two parts measure up in terms of performance? I am not too concerned with weight.

Cheers.

 

[vspa]

1800 dollars is not a student budget, its quite ok, considering that you are a young-adult rider and if you are gonna race Triathlons on it (ok trek triathlon bikes are in fact out of your budget) then you need a standard crankset (the 2 madones in the 2 series are equipped with compact cranksets). A standard crankset offers you a 53 or 52 big chainring and a 39 or 42 small chainring instead of the 50/34 compact crankset, so you will be producing more watts and power to transfer to your wheels and make you in fact faster, provided that you train enough to move that kind of energy. So, if the trek factory cannot sell you the Madone 2 series with a 53/39 for example crankset, then i would buy the Madone 2 series 2.1 and with the 390 dollars you save (comparing to the 2.3 model) buy a 105 (which was your initial question) standard crankset . If you decide to keep the original R565 compact crankset i also think it is good quality. The tiagra cassette is ok, only giving you a small weight penalty.

 

[alienator]

First the bike will be fine, but don't restrict yourself to just that bike. Look at others in local bike shops. Test ride bikes that interest you, then buy the bike that fits best, handles best, appeals to you, and fits within your budget. As for the crank and cassette, neither a standard crank nor a compact crank generates more power. Cranks generate zero power. They do however transfer forces and energy to the rear wheel. I'd not be too concerned about whether you get a standard or compact crank. Either will work, although the compact crank might better for your beginning efforts as a road rider. You can always change a crank or get a different cassette for the rear. Note that if you get a compact crank you can always upgrade to larger chainrings.

 

[mpre53]

Look beyond Trek. $1800 gets you into CAAD 10 or Allez Race territory, as well as similar offerings from others. Mostly 105 groups. The CAAD comes with a standard crank (53/39) and the Allez has a mid-compact (52/36). All 3 have upgraded aluminum frames. I'm not a huge fan of Specialized wheels, though. But if you get seriously into racing, you'll upgrade your wheels anyway.

You probably won't need an 11-30 cassette for racing, and you'll probably have some big jumps between gears, but cassettes are easy (and relatively cheap) to swap out.

Don't get hung up on standard vs compact. Gear ratios are what counts. A 53/12 gear combo on a standard, compared to a 50/11 on a compact---take a guess on which one is a higher gear ratio? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif

 

[alienator]

Look beyond Trek. $1800 gets you into CAAD 10 or Allez Race territory, as well as similar offerings from others. Mostly 105 groups. The CAAD comes with a standard crank (53/39) and the Allez has a mid-compact (52/36). All 3 have upgraded aluminum frames. I'm not a huge fan of Specialized wheels, though. But if you get seriously into racing, you'll upgrade your wheels anyway. You probably won't need an 11-30 cassette for racing, and you'll probably have some big jumps between gears, but cassettes are easy (and relatively cheap) to swap out. Don't get hung up on standard vs compact. Gear ratios are what counts. A 53/12 gear combo on a standard, compared to a 50/11 on a compact---take a guess on which one is a higher gear ratio?

To add to that, Cannondale's CAAD8 105 is only listed at $1450, and the CAAD10 105 is only listed at $1730. In both cases, you get a lot of bike for the money.