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My wife is buying a new road bike and looking at the Trek 1500 and Pilot 2.1. We have a 20% discount at the LBS and they are exclusively trek, thus the Trek decision. She competes in duathlon and rides about 150 miles a week in training - interested in road bike with clip on aerobars (like she has now) and not a full blown tribike. She is 5'9" (but lightweight) with the wingspan of an ape (her words), so the WSD frames are all too small. She is a pretty strong cyclist and fairly competitive (in both spirit and ability). We are looking at the <$1200 price range.
A few questions:
Is the Pilot a lower performance bike? It seems to be more comfort oriented with the extra vibration control carbon in the frame. The headset also appears to be more upright than the 1500, and 105 vs ultegra. The difference in seatpost angle (73.4 vs 73.8 seems negligible)
What's with the angled top tube on the Pilot. Is that strictly for comfort?
Which of the two (or other treks in the similar price range) would you recommend and why?
Thanks alot for your input.
Jude
"Race day is a celebration of your training"
Hi Jude,
If you truly love your wife, as I am sure you do, the first thing you will buy her is a good bike fitting.
Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com
"Is the Pilot a lower performance bike?"
Don't know if you could call it lower performance but it's a different geometry that has a taller head tube and sits you up a bit more. There are a number of these style road bikes recently arriving on the market that are performance orientated but take into account comfort. These bikes are supposedly designed for those who are getting older and/or have flexibility issues and can't or don't want to ride with a big seat to handle bar drop any more. The Specialized Roubaix or Giant OCR composite is another example of this geometry.
For many people these bikes make a lot of sense. You'll perform better if you're comfortable and the manufacturers realize that if you can reduce fatique you'll enjoy your longer rides more.
I see a lot of people on road or tri bikes with many spacers under their handlbars or upward pointing stems. There is no point in buying an aggressive geometry if you can't ride it as such.
There is no doubt the Pilot is the more comfortable bike, especially if she plans any long century rides, etc. A lot depends upon your wife's age, fitness, flexibility and what she finds comfortable whether or not to go this route..
I have a 2005 Pilot 2.0. I LOVE it!! I got the women's version.
I am 5'8" between 130-140lbs. A few things I like about this bike are...the responsiveness, the ease on hills, the comfort for sure, and it really screams down hill. Granted before this bike I only had a tri bike.
I am not sure what pilot you are looking at...the one I got was on sale but was retail around $3,000.
I can't say enough great things about this bike...
BTW-I got this bike over the Roubaix (sp?) purely for the better fit and better customer service Trek of San Diego offered me. I have a fused spine and this bike allows me to ride longer with little to no pain...
-Trisha
Last edited by:
lajollaseal: May 24, 05 10:59
Tom
After wading through numerous formulas (mostly from your editorial) and measuring body and seat angles in Photoshop, I finally decided that a professional bike fit is the best option.
Besides, we kept getting sidetracked with that whole measuring of the inseam thing...
Thanks
"Race day is a celebration of your training"
Thanks for all the input. She ended up testriding the 2100 and we bought that. The Pilot was a little too upright and the 2100 has all the integrated carbon features of the Pilot. The 1500 was a little too entry level on the components.
Thanks.
Jude
"Race day is a celebration of your training"
The 2100 is an excellent bike- actually one of the very best bikes in the entire Trek line when compared to other companies. Good job, that is a very nice bike. Well done. I don't happen to sell them, but I like Treks a lot. I have sold them in the past. They're good. Good company too.
Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com