Trek 1.7 2008 or…

cframe

Hey guys and gals, I'm considering grabbing one of the new Trek 1.7's pretty soon as a first road bike after being an MTB-er for years.

Looking through all the specs etc the 1.7 seems to tick all of the boxes although to be honest I'd be happy with Tiagra mechs rather than going all the way for the 105's but the 1.5 drops down to Sora level which I don't really like the look of.

I'd heard in the past the older Trek's were sometimes a bit too harsh of a switch when coming from an MTB because of the angles of the top tube but the new range seems to have done away with that and is now a more tradional angle.

So I guess the question is, with a budget of no more than £800, should I go for the 1.7 or are there other bikes out there as good as or better I should be considering?

c.

atazoa

Cframe,

Hi, i am a complete newby and novice also looking to buy my first road bike, however i have spent days trolling the net and local dealers and found what i consider a pretty good buy! "Merida 904" carb forks, full 105's etc, merida manufacture the specialized and other main frame names and own 49% of specialized (So can't be that bad) Price £670.00 + pedals etc. I only found one review online and that was pretty positive (2005 Model) if your interested and want more info google the international Merida site (Not UK) which has the full Pdf and frame geometry etc.

Cheers, good luck with ur search.

ATAZOA

Adam Tranter

1.7s are nice.

I have the 1.2 for my winter bike and the geometry is spot on, a lot of our shop riders ride MTB most of the time but go for the Treks because of their comfortable, and slightly more upright geometry.

Adam

cframe

@atazoa - Cheers for the tip, I'll give them a check and see if anyone nearby might stock them.

@Adam - Cheers for the info on the geometry of the 1.x's. I'm gonna try and make it up to Alpine in Glasgow this weekend and see if they've got any in stock that I could have a wee shot on.

gkerr4

at that price I'd probably go for the specialized allez elite which has carbon stays and 105 for £799 - they do a lower tiagra model too (- think it is the sport but not sure of price)

the allez also has a slightly more upright geometry than the older trek 1000/1200/1400 - and is a fairly comfy road bike (IMO)

also wirth looking at is the giant SCR range - which I think stands for sport comfort road and it highly regarded on this forum

cframe

@gkerr - Cheers for the suggestion, I'd forgotten about the Allez.

It looks like the Trek actually has better componentry though, 105/ultegra rear vs. tiagra/105 rear

They're both sporting alu frames and carbon forks/seatstays.

I'm not so clued up on wheel specs though so I'm not sure if that's where the specialized makes up the value…