GT Bicycles, Inc. 1999 Edge Aero

Price Paid:  $500.00 at From a mate

Favorite Ride:
Any

Bike Setup:
Mostly 501 with some dura ace and a campag chain set. Cinelli headset and bars with air strike aerobars.

Summary:
A fantastic bike. I bought mine from a collegue who always buys the best of anything. It was small for him at 6'5" but for me its perfect at 6'1". The short stiff back end makes the accelleration fantastic and I have not found the weight a problem on hills and we have plenty around here! It is fairly standard all bar a dura ace rear mech and works beautifully. I would recommend that you try one!

Strengths:
Stiffness and out and out pace.

Weaknesses:
Noisy

Similar Products Used:
Range of dodgy road bikes.

Price Paid:  $1425.00 at Ebay

Favorite Ride:
Anything with a sprint

Bike Setup:
Medium Vengeance frame, Ultegra 9 speed group, Zipp 404 clinchers, Conti 3000 GP tires, Profile Carb

Summary:
This review is for medium Vengeance.

I've been wanting a dedicated TT bike for some time now and when this opportunity came up, I couldn't resist (everything stock for that price!) Please see my review for the bars in that section of this site, I'll stick to just my impressions of the frame.

Overall, this is one wicked fast, stiff, aero frame with one thing in mind: speed. It is a bit heavy for climbing, but you usually don't find a lot of climbs on a good TT course. If you do, I suggest a light road bike with clip-ons.

The 650C wheels combined with the laid back geometry create a very smooth and stable ride, even in a full-on aero position. The bike is nimble enough to take emergancy action if need be, but is just fine going straight. Sitting up and riding no-handed is a bit dicey, though, because a side wind can knock you around easily if you're not careful.

The seat tube angle is like a traditional road bike: around 74 degrees by my reckoning. I feel ok with this since I'm a road racer primarily, but I'm not sure how it'll feel once I start doing some duathlons and running right off the bike.

Everything on this bike is aero, including the seat stays and the seat post. The cables are all internally routed to keep the airflow clean and the bike looking nice. There are 2 water bottle braze-ons: one on the front of the seat tube and one on the back of the seat tube (under the saddle, above the level of the top tube.) The one on the back of the seat tube is a bit tricky to reach, especially while you're legs are moving.

One caveat: I'm 5'7" and 180# so the medium is little on the large side for me. It has a 55cm TT and the seat tube is an airfoil shape with a proprietary seat post and seat clamp. The seat post is a BMX 25 mm seatpost with an airfoil extension of the seat tube which means that it only goes down so far before the aero cowlings meet. I had to put a standard 25 mm seat post in the seat tube to get the seat low enough.

The welds of the frame bear mentioning. They are the usual-for-GT chunky TIG beads but for a bike of this type and level, I would've preferred filet brazing to smooth out the transitions. It's a shame that all the other aero bits are thought out but then they are these big, rough looking welds.

Strengths:
Aero and stiff
Price--find one auctioned and grab a deal!
Fit, my back is completely flat and I feel comfortable in the aero position

Weaknesses:
Slack seat tube a problem in du's/tri's?
Welds a little chunky
Stiffness could be a problem in Ironman-length races
A little heavy for hilly/rolling courses (like all dedicated TT bikes)

Similar Products Used:
My road bike with cheesy clip-ons
Colnago funny bike with ITM combo bar
Cervelo Eyre

Price Paid:  $750.00 at Recycled Cycles, St.

Favorite Ride:
Hawthorne Trail

Bike Setup:
Shimano 600 Ultegra component set, Lemond seat with Cinelli stem and post. No aerobars yet, but the

Summary:
Overall I absolutely love the bike. Incredibly light and in great shape it has truly been a benefit to my racing. Considering the frame is almost 3 years old, you can get an incredible steal on an incredible bike.

Strengths:
Lightweight and sturdy the frame is of the highest quality. Due to age you can get one fairly cheap. My bike has 600 comps so I can't say anything for the 105 that came with the bike, but overall the bike is great, I have no complaints.

Weaknesses:
None that I can think of.

Similar Products Used:
Cannondale CAAD 4 and Trek 2000

Price Paid:  $2000.00 at loco motion in orla

Favorite Ride:
anywhere, usa

Bike Setup:
full 105 gruppo soon aerospoke wheels to remedy the weak mavic cxp 21,mike burrows carbon seat post,

Summary:
my bike is a giant aero it is very fast..
but the seat post area creaks all the time
but i like it seems like a good foundation for upgrades.

Strengths:
very aero,light,good on hills

Weaknesses:
headtube has alot of slack so steerer tube
does'nt stay firmly in place it jiggles back and forth over bumps,seat clamp creeks all the time grease or not...and the mavic cxp 21 wheels suck..broken spokes every other week.

Similar Products Used:
pinarello montello 1988,specialized allez
2001

Price Paid:  $3000.00 at Penny Farthing Cycles

Favorite Ride:
Any where, any time

Bike Setup:
Profile Project X Bars, Ultegra Derrailleurs, Barend shifters, Race Face Crank Set and Ti B/B, Specialized Tri Spokes for racing, Time Ti Pedals, Flite Saddle, and Profile Fwd post

Summary:
I love this bike and it propelled with out aero bars to a top 20 finish in the final stage of the 2001 speights Coast to Coast, over 70kms. The wheels and frame where flying that I averaged over 45km for the first 45min of the race
I would love a superlite version.

I would reccommend as a great TT set up, or Multisport race bike for flat rides, a little beefy on the hills. I use a Dean Al on hill races

Strengths:
This bike is arocket, it feels, so fast and you can really feel the frame picking up in the wind.
I cannot believe that a bike can feel this stiff and still be comfortable to ride in big TTs and Triathlons

Weaknesses:
Perhaps a little on the heavy side for big hill races
It can catch the wind a bit if it is a big side wind

Similar Products Used:
Cannondale 3.0