Trek 1.2

[garrilla]

My son has come into a little money and has decided he wants to buy a road bike.

I got him to look at a few web sites - wiggle, evans, etc - and becauses he's 14 so his preoccupation was to spend his max budget and find the bike he likes the 'look' of. He has mentally commited to this as a vision or white and red flashing by the girls and this has only strengthened his visceral desire for this particular ride.

http://www.sbrsports.com/1011/515-231210

I have compared it to many other machines in the same price bracket and it fares well, there are others I would have gone for but he's not so interested. It ticks some good boxes for me including it will take mudguards. He will use it for commuting to school, which he does daily on his full-sus MTB, and for joining me on my weekend jaunts.

Any one have any experience of this bike? Any other thoughts gratefully received.

 

[Ant]

I've no experince with those, unfortunately, so can't say anything from peronal knowledge; but Trek have a fairly good reputation so I can't see you going far wrong with one. And if that's the bike he's got his heart set on then no reason not to go for it. If you're enthusiastic about your bike then you're more likely to go out on it.

One of the most important things about choosing a bike is size, and it seems you might be in a bit of a conundrum here. At 14 I assume he hasn't stopped growing. Not sure if you'd buy it a bit too big, but still comfortable, in the expectation of 'growing in to it' or buy it the right size and just stick the saddle up and hope you can get a spacer or two for the headset.

I got my first 'racer' when I was 13. A red 5 geared 'Puch Pacemaker' Miles too big for me it was at first, but I still loved it

 

[STT]

I bought a Trek 1.2 2009 in January and although I haven't done hundreds of miles I haven't had a single problem (other than my first puncture last week!) It is my first road bike so cant really compare the ride to any others but I'm up to 25-30 mile rides and find it pretty comfortable. I guess I'd have two pieces of advice. Firstly, shop around for the best deal (I got 10% of the value of the bike in free accessories, which came in really handy for a complete newbie and went towards, inners, water bottles, etc). Secondly, consider getting shoes and clipless pedals. The original pedals were more suited to my old BMX! The LBS i got it from threw in some new pedals for nothing, i bought some shoes and other than the odd 'moment' I've never looked back.

 

[Bear]

He has mentally commited to this as a vision or white and red flashing by the girls and this has only strengthened his visceral desire for this particular ride.

He has good taste, in the flesh it looks stunning ... was looking at this in my local yesterday ... good luck.

 

[zacklaws]

I have the 2008 model and done over 1500 miles on it now in about 5 months. I find the bike very comfortable, fast and very stable.

Problems I have found and has been well mentioned on this forum in the past is the brakes are not very good. I replaced the pads and it is now acceptable.

The tyres I found flimsy and was always puncturing on average about every 30 to 50 miles which I changed to Marathon Plus and never had a problem since.

The gearing has been changed from the 2008 model, which gives it a bigger gear than the 2008 model but also a smaller gear too. I find on the 2008 model that I can not get up some hills but looking at the 2009 model I would have more of a chance and would sooner have that the the 2008 model.

I have added a link for a video review of the 1.2 but it is about the 2008 model and also a triple chainring (I think)

http://video.bicycling.com/video/Trek-1-2-Video-Review

 

[garrilla]

Thanks for all your replies. We've just been to the LBS and it does look very nice in the flesh for an entry level ride.

Next problem is getting a 56" for him, LBS has none and none are registering as avaiable via Trek, although they will try next week to source. We might have to buy from the web, but I prefer buying local.