A New Road Bike
Friday, October 10th, 2008Living in North Boston, NY, I’m surrounded by hills. Big hills. Lots of them. They beg to be explored, run up & ridden on. Already being a distance runner & semi-secretly harboring a crazy thought that I might some day get into triathlons, I recently picked up a 2008 Trek 1.5 road bike.
It’s pretty much the stock bike, with the exception of the components having been switched out for Shimano 105s. Of the two cranks, it’s got the compact 53/39. Prior to looking into this bike, I didn’t know much about road bikes, but with a lot of help from a handful of friends, I ended up deciding I’d like something with a carbon fiber front fork / seat post, low-spoke count wheels & at least 105 components. After getting over the initial price shock, I set a goal to see if I could pick up a 2008 model for ~$1000 as the 2009s were coming out.
While at first I had shyed away from Handlebars (what many consider the premiere bike shop in the area), for fear of them focusing on catering to a higher level customer than I, I headed there one day after work when I hadn’t carpooled & told them exactly what they were looking for. The salesperson simply said “we can do that for you”. I was very happy with their service - the amount of time they spent with me, the salesman (Will) & the number of bikes I rode & the fact that they went out of their way to get me what I wanted. They gave me drinks while I test rode, include a formal fitting with the purchase of a bike from them & offered to switch out components - while I’m sure a lot of the other shops would have done this as well, there wasn’t even a need for me to ask.
Since I’ve been training for a marathon, I haven’t gotten out on the bike as much as I’d like - I doubt I’ve cracked 100 miles. I was a little afraid of getting in & out of the SPD (clip in) pedals, but haven’t had any problems since my very first ride. Compared to running, I don’t like facing away from traffic as I ride, but love being able to go 30+ miles per hour. Now that the cables have stretched, some minor adjustments are needed, but I’ve been very happy with the bike so far. I’ve hit some big hills & look forward to more.