Cycling

What I Ride

Since I’ll be talking about it quite a bit, I figured I’d start by posting the specs of my bike.

I bought this bike around mid-to-late May of this year as my first road bike. I originally looked at the Trek 1600 for a few reasons: the 1600 seemed like a good entry-level bike, a friend of mine had one as his first road bike (with good reviews), and it was in the price range that I wanted.

I went to Duke’s Cycle to take the 1600 out for a spin, and quickly discovered that I would need a 60cm frame (having tried a 58cm). They did have a 60cm Trek Madone 5.2SL though, so I figured that I’d ride that to comfirm that 60cm is the proper fit. One of the first things that I noticed was how light the bike is compared to the 1600. The 1600 has an aluminum frame while the Madones are carbon fiber. Furthermore, the groupset was much better. At the time, that was about all I knew to compare on the two bikes.

I figured that I had done what I wanted to do, and that was check to make sure that a 60cm frame was the right size. With that information in hand, I placed an order for the 60cm Trek 1600 and waited…and waited.

After about a week of waiting, I went back to Duke’s and took the Madone out again. This time I felt so comfortable on the bike that I couldn’t imagine getting anything different. I started to think about how much time I’d spend on the bike and when I would need to upgrade from the 1600. I gradually talked myself in to paying more for the better bike. I canceled my 1600 and bought the Madone instead. I’m really glad that I did. I’ve put over 5,000km on the bike since the end of May; I’ve had no problems from the bike, and I’m still loving it.

So here’s my bike and the specs:

60cm 2006 Trek Madone 5.2SL
Full Ultegra except Dura-Ace cassette (12-25) and chain
Fulcrum Racing Zero Wheels
Specialized Toupe Saddle

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