Trek 1.2 Road Bike

Kissy Lips

Im going to buy this bike. What are your opinions on it?

Also what is the general concensus on Tiagra gears?

Thanks!

funkyjebus

Tiagra are a good starting out gear. your goona have to go up in price a good bit if you want to think about 105's. Trek seems good, i went for the felt f95 myself and would now highly recommend felt, great componants, great price. Got mine through the cycle to work and eurocycles gave me an extra 20% off the store price of the bike, ended up spending 500 on it, saving 41%. I didn't really give the trek much thought. it was always my felt or the allez

Lumen

AFAIK the Trek 1.2 comes with a Sora/Tiagra mix. The shifters, arguably the most important bit, are Sora (i.e. cheaper/lower spec).

Some recent discussion here.

blorg

Manufacturers often upgrade the rear derailleur as for some reason that is what people tend to look at. The 1.2 is effectively a Sora bike, with arguably a sub-Sora crankset. Should be decent all the same, I had a Trek 1000 as my first racer (discounting the 10 speed Raleigh I had as a kid) and it was a very nice bike to ride.

DirkVoodoo

If you are the right size (5'6"-5'9") then I have one for sale. If not then I would still look at second hand road bikes, personally I don't think buying a brand new bike with entry level parts for close to 800 euro is really worth it. If you like riding it, you can upgrade in a year and sell it on without making too much of a loss. Something I tried in vain to tell my sister.

Kissy Lips

Thanks for the feedback. It is the BTW scheme so I have to buy new. I road tested it and it feels good. Only one thing and this is something that seems to be reflected in the forums are the soft brakes. Whats the easiest way to improve braking? Changing the brake pads or do you need other new components?

DirkVoodoo

Some brakes use cheaper components or just have more flexible calipers than others, again from cheapness. The easiest and often best option is to upgrade the pads to something like Kool Stop Salmon, which have superior wet weather stopping power.

It's not something I would really worry about until you have ridden the bike for a few kilometres and see how you find it. You might also want to google a bit about proper braking technique. I have ultegra brakes on one bike, no name brakes with salmons on the other and the braking is more dependent on the weather, road surface and myself rather than the actual calipers.

EDIT: I hate to plug, but how much of a discount are you getting on CTW? If it costs more than what I am selling, it might be worth considering and saving the discount (once every 5 years I think) for when you buy a better, more expensive bike.

blorg

If the braking is sub-par you might want to replace the actual brakes. Salmons are only any good in wet weather, they are spongy in the dry where stock Shimano pads are better. In my own experience changing the pads didn't help much but in my case it ended up being the levers, you should not have this problem with Sora levers.

£27 for a pair of old 105s, I have the front of these and it works very well.

You might want to check that the drop on the 1.2 is not long drop though. If it IS long drop that might be the cause of the problematic braking- I am not 100% sure on this point.

DirkVoodoo

blorg wrote: »

If the braking is sub-par you might want to replace the actual brakes. Salmons are only any good in wet weather, they are spongy in the dry where stock Shimano pads are better.

I find Shimano pads adequate in both wet and dry, but nowhere as good as the salmons which, as I said, are on lesser calipers. Granted they are running on a bike with slightly wider tyres, but myself and several wiggle reviewers find them excellent in dry conditions.

blorg

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

I find Shimano pads adequate in both wet and dry, but nowhere as good as the salmons which, as I said, are on lesser calipers. Granted they are running on a bike with slightly wider tyres, but myself and several wiggle reviewers find them excellent in dry conditions.

I agree with the internet on this one.

Must say I have found them extraordinarily durable though, more so than standard pads, which is not their reputation at all IIRC.

DirkVoodoo

blorg wrote: »

I agree with the internet on this one.

Must say I have found them extraordinarily durable though, more so than standard pads, which is not their reputation at all IIRC.

Google can be misleading, one of the search results I randomly clicked on led me to this (bikeradar forum):

Evening all,

Going through 105 and ultegra brake pads so quickly, at 10 a pair for the ultegra costing a bit over the winter.

looking for a good alternative than the shimano blocks, that will last longer but still give good breaking

Thanks

Will

I use Kool Stop salmon on the Shimano brakes on my winter bike- stop well and are good for durability too.

+1 for the Kool Stop Salmons. I use them on my road bike with Dura Ace brakes as well as my commuter and they last for ages as well as having great stopping power.

++1 on the Koolstop Salmons - very good and are wearing well for me too - nearly 4000km on a set so far.

+3 For Kool Stop Salmon.

Another from me... think they are great

I find them a bit spongy compared to Shimano pads in dry conditions.

They do stop a bit better in the wet.

They are durable certainly.

Maybe go for Kool Stop Salmon in the winter and Shimano in the summer.

Oh, that last guy on the bikeradar forum, his name was Blorg and he was from Ireland. His avatar was a Brooks saddle. It couldn't possibly be you could it???

IM0

blorg wrote: »

Manufacturers often upgrade the rear derailleur as for some reason that is what people tend to look at.

because thats the biggest decal on the bike apart from the frame/fork, it usually has the biggest logo of the group, and when people see it they think the rest of the bike is the same group, scandalous marketing!

its the 'hook' in bike terms

ckeego

I had the 2008 model of this bike and as an entry level road bike, I found it to be superb. I was in the Wheel worx new store in Liffey Valley a few weeks back (great store..leave the Visa at home though) and they had quite a few in stock. If you spend a few quid more, you can get a lot more components wise for your money, BUT (and not too many people know this) the kind people at Trek have a lifetime frame warranty/replacement on all their bikes.

The Shimano mix on the bike is alittle below what you would expect on a bike in the 750 euro price range, but it is a very solid, well made bike and will last (like the 1000 and 1200 before it) for yonks.

I have stayed with Trek since, but when you step up to 105 or Ultegra gruppos, you feel a big difference from the lower range Sora/Tiagra.

One option I believe a lot of people look at in the BTW scheme is to look at the Boardman range (Halfords!) but there is one of the insurance companies give a 15% discount that can be put towards the bike. They also pricematch the bike prices from the UK. Very well built carbon bikes with SRAM components for approx 999 sterling which at todays rate is 1103.50 euro..Very well reviewed bikes.

Enjoy the ride! And be sure to shop around.