Opinions On Three Bikes



GDB

New Member
Aug 24, 2004
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Hello

I am intending to buy my first road bike and are interested in anyones opinions on the following bikes - Scott Elite , Lemond Reno or Trek 1200 all of the bikes are 2004 models and are a similar price. The group sets are all similar - Tiagra and both have carbon forks except the Scott. Any help wouls be appreciated.

Regards GDB
 
Have you ridden them to see which one feels better? Are they all from the same shop or are there differences in warranty, service policies, etc.?
 
I havent ridden any of them however as this is my first bike I would probbably have no idear what is good or bad. Unfortunately all three bikes are from different stores however all offer similar warranties/service arrangements. I have short listed the three bikes based on the amount of money I can afford to spend ie they appear the best available for the money. thanks for the feedback



Regards GDB
 
I think you are shortchanging your own ability. Sure you may not be able to detect all of the subtle differences between them, but I'll bet you can tell which feels best and works best.

In addition, when you test ride them, you get a pretty good idea of how good the dealer is with customer service, e.g. does he just pull it off the rack and let you ride out the door, or does he try to set it up so it is reasonably correct for your size?
 
honestly when it comes to low end road bikes, going off experience, just go with something comparable to the Trek 1000 or Giant OCR3. They will have Sora components and be almost $300 less than the Trek 1200 or Giant OCR2. Then if you really get tons of use out of the bike and really want to upgrade, then you go get a $1200 + bike such as the Trek 2100 or better.

If you get the Trek 1200 and then really enjoy riding you'll still more than likely be in that boat of needing/wanting a Trek 2100 or better. So the way I see it is either do $800 now plus $1,200 later = $2,000. Or $550 now plus $1,200 later = $1,750. Or if you don't continue with cycling you'll at least save the $250 from the first cost of the bikes. The Trek 1200 won't hold up more than the Trek 1000 nor will you see any real difference in the ride other than the Tiagra shifters are designed like the 105, Ultegra etc whereas the Sora's are kinda different.

That is just my opinion though. If you are certain about one of those 3 I would do what gruppo said and test ride all of them and give your business to whomever is the nicest.
 
I agree with smnw10. The Trek 1000 would be a good choice. You will have a lower overall investment if you stick with it and move up in a year or two; or you will save yourself some money if its not your thing and give it up. The other thing to think about is that the 2005 bikes are coming out now. They just had a big show about two weekends ago and dealers have placed orders for the 2005's (They want to move the 2004's). I did the late year purchase and got a 2300 for just over a 2100 cost. I like supporting the LBS with the most firendly service, but you can allways say you are going to see what the other guy has if both shops are nice and you will be happy supporting either after the purchase ("Stick with the one that brung ya").
 
unicos said:
I agree with smnw10. The Trek 1000 would be a good choice. You will have a lower overall investment if you stick with it and move up in a year or two; or you will save yourself some money if its not your thing and give it up. The other thing to think about is that the 2005 bikes are coming out now. They just had a big show about two weekends ago and dealers have placed orders for the 2005's (They want to move the 2004's). I did the late year purchase and got a 2300 for just over a 2100 cost. I like supporting the LBS with the most firendly service, but you can allways say you are going to see what the other guy has if both shops are nice and you will be happy supporting either after the purchase ("Stick with the one that brung ya").

I agree as well. I started with the Trek 1000 about a year ago, and I was happy on it for about 7 or 8 months.
I then upgraded to a custom frame with an Ultegra group, but I still have the 1000 as a backup.
If I had it to do over, I would again start with the 1000.