Review: 2011 Trek 2.1

Even though this is my first year ever having a road bike, I feel qualified after 1500 miles in upstate New York (and 25 miles in Vegas) to write a review on the 2011 Trek 2.1.

So, what can I say about this ride? It’s awesome!!! First off, I must give props to my local bike shop, Full Moon Vista, for not only dealing with my over-researching of my purchase, but for helping me continually tweak my fit over the first few weeks I had this bike. From what I hear this is the standard with bike shops, but I was impressed either way.

So I bought this bike at the end of March, and by the middle of June had over 700 miles on it. Once the bike fit properly, I am hooked on this bike! Once I learned a few of the road biking basics, such as keep your tires inflated to 110, oil your chain all the time, and get some biking shorts, this ride has been nothing but pleasant. This is no $5K road bike, but I can’t tell the difference. If you are making the transition over to a road bike from a mountain bike, yes you will have an adjustment period, but this is the bike to do it on!

The Shimano 105 components are 1st class, I am now a better shifter, but as I was learning to shift appropriately, I definitely pushed these 105s. The wheels have been awesome through my early days of underinflated tires. The stock tires didn’t do it for me and I’m not sure if they just wore out or what, but I replaced them with some kevlar tires after about 600 miles. They had started to crack and show wire.

The brakes, once adjusted after cable stretch, have been top notch, even as I get freaked out still by speeds over 30, and ride them all the way down steep hills.

If you’ve been riding for awhile, I don’t have to tell you the importance of bike fit, the 2.1 H3 54″ was the right fit for me, and after a bunch of adjustments to the handle bars to get my perfect angle, I am comfortable with every handlebar position on this thing.

The ride: my first 800 miles or so, I was feeling wobbly going fast down hills. Guess what it was? The wheel reflectors! What a difference removing those was! I am now to the point where I am relaxed going down a hill at 30 miles an hour and what a relief! I was thinking all that work going up hills wasn’t going to be worth it! All in all at any speed, going up and down hills, and on the flat, this ride is just smooth smooth smooth! The gears (50/34 crank, 11-28 cassette) are perfect for me. The only thing is I find myself never leaving the 50 crank, and frequently going up to the 28 on the cassette. But even there this runs smooth (I have the compact crank, although there was a triple available) The carbon fork really does make a difference ( I test rode a road bike without one ) and even the seat, which isn’t always an easy fit, was perfect for me right out of the box.

The only thing I had to add on to the bike was a rear light, and I was good! I would have loved the red paint job, but only the silver version was available in the H3, but I’m growing to like it!

If you are looking for a first road bike, want to spend around $1300 (trek has a sale every spring) you should check out this bike! There are ton’s of bike shops everywhere that stock these, and for the money vs. performance price point – this is a GREAT first road bike! Just like Bruce’s Cannondale Synapse Carbon 3 Ultegra this bike makes you want to ride all the time! OK — off to find a radio so I can listen to the Bills game while I ride this afternoon!