2012 Trek 1.5 - any good?

MarksMintness

Hi guys,

I've been yearning for a proper drop bar road bike as I'm a bit fed up of my Trek 7.5 FX hybrid. Ideally I was going to go for a Giant Defy 2 as it's the right price and has the right gearing for the cycling I do, it's also a great frame and gets great reviews. £700-£800 is my realistic budget so the Defy 1 is out of it unfortunately! I go out for a couple of hours and generally cover between 20-30 miles on the road.

As many of you know though, the Defy's are very popular and are not in stock until at least May (so my local Giant dealer tells me)... They did have a 2011 Defy 1 in my size (with the different frame design) although this only has the 9 speed Tiagra with a 25T rear cog and I think I may struggle with this on the Staffordshire hills. Their cost on this bike was £699, any thoughts on this bike?

The same shop has a nice looking 2012 Trek 1.5 for £720 (good price) in my size and this has 2012 Tiagra with the 30T rear sprocket, so same as the Giant. Seems to get decentish reviews, Bike Radar reckon it's a bit flexy though, although I'm not sure this will be an issue as I'm not a 'powerful' rider.

My question is has anyone got one, or got any opinions on the frame/components etc?
http://www.trekbikes.com/uk/en/bikes/road/sport/2_and_1_series/1_5#
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/road/product/review-trek-bikes-15-12-44273

Any comments appreciated!

bobones

This blog has some stuff on the Trek 1.5 2012. I have a 2011 1.5 frameset built up to with a mix of components to 20 speed that I use as a winter bike. It's nice enough and I have no complaints. I got the frameset for £150 new and the shop I bought it from was selling the complete bike for £575. The 2011 is only 9 speed tiagra though. It might also be worth looking at the Felt F85 as a well spec'd bike in your price range.

MarksMintness

bobones wrote:

This blog has some stuff on the Trek 1.5 2012. I have a 2011 1.5 frameset built up to with a mix of components to 20 speed that I use as a winter bike. It's nice enough and I have no complaints. I got the frameset for £150 new and the shop I bought it from was selling the complete bike for £575. The 2011 is only 9 speed tiagra though. It might also be worth looking at the Felt F85 as a well spec'd bike in your price range.

Thanks for that, I've checked out that blog and its interesting and helpful. I am wondering if the defy 2 just gives the better frame and overall value for money but at least its worth bearing the trek in mind! Cheers