Bike Setup: Ultegra components, Race x lite handlebars, Race xxx lite stem and seatpost. Race x lite wheels and tires
Summary: I've had the bike about 1.5 years. It's a 2004 model. Thus far, it has been awesome. Great acceleration and handling. The aluminum frame is perfectly stiff when digging in. The carbon fork and seat stay seem to provide some comfort. I upgraded the seatpost, stem and handlebars to Bontrager xxx lite parts. This is where I get some relief from road vibration without losing stiffness in frame. Seat was not for me so I changed to a Selle. The Race Lite wheels seem fine for most rides but upgraded to race x lite wheels for better down hill stability.
Strengths: Aluminum frame (I hate a flexy frame). Internal cable routing.
Weaknesses: Seat, heavy aluminum seatpost
Similar Products Used: Trek 52000, Cannondale Synapse 2
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Bike Setup: 9 speed Ultegra. Bontrager compact carbon crank. Crank Brothers Quattro road pedals. Michelin Kryilium tires.
Summary: A great bike for a very reasonable price since it was a model year old. Compact frame geometry felt very quick on test ride and hasn't disappointed. Compact (36/50) crank has been a great compromise vs. a triple for the mountains in CO. Bought this 2004 model despite the fluorescent "bones" paint job but it has really grown on me. Have done a few century rides on this bike and don't feel beat up at all at the end.
Summary: Great stiff bike with 'custom' features. I usually don't go for 'fluff' on purchases but something about the XV caught my eye. No stickers on this bike, all etched paint and beautiful paint fades into carbon. The Zirconium is stiff and if you've got kidney stones it'll definitely shake them loose (even with the carbon seatstays and fork). As many others have noted, the break-in is strange with this bike. Crank, headset, work themselves loose but once retightened have no issues. I ride this thing hard (I'm 190 in race form) and it's as stiff as day 1. I'd recommend it but not if you are in it for comfortable 'pancake rides.' Not saying it's a full out racer but it's not a beach cruiser.:) Anyway, get your kidney stones fixed and clear your bowels and this bike can raise hell with the rest of them. I'd say the best part of riding this thing is the downhills (who doesn't like downhills) b/c it drives like a Porche on a windy Swiss Alp road. Fast and responsive at 40-50+MPH.
Strengths: Stiff, nimble geometry(almost too touchy); Dig the color; Internal cable stays are great (assuming I don't have to thread that needle); great for small geometry fans; descends like a bat out hell.
Weaknesses: Break in was strange, creaks here, headset loosened, could've have been bad assembly; Handlebars flex too much and take away bike stiffness; came with 105 BB which I quickly changed;
Similar Products Used: Specialized Allez; Bontrager Race Lites;
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Bike Setup: Stock except swapped San Marco seat out for a Flite
Summary: I reviewed this bike as a frame only three months ago because that was the only place the Aura was listed on RBR.
This is good because now I have several more months experience riding and racing this bike.
I bought it because out of the Trek family of bikes I could get my team discount on, the Aura fit me best and I was on a tight budget.
If you're a bigger guy and/or a sprinter on a budget, this bike is a great deal. $500 less than a comparable Cannondale or Klein Q-pro with 95% of the performance.
Great Bontrager parts mix. No hype, no flash, no nonsense parts that flat out work.
Dig the internal cable routing, makes the bike quick and easy to clean.
Strengths: Stiff, reasonably light, great parts mix for under 2 grand
Weaknesses: Bike took an unusually long time to break in, with lots of funny creaking noises from the stem, bars and BB until everything "seated." Same story with headset and Ultegra crank bolts, they kept coming loose for the first three months but no problems since.
Klein's "micro" drop-outs are a messy pain to get the rear wheel in and out of. I'd rather take the miniscule weight penalty for a standar vertical dropout.
Similar Products Used: Cannondale CAAD4, Specialized M2 Road, Cannondale 2.8
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Summary: So far I have about 1500 miles on this bike and really like it a lot. It looks great, seems really fast, and has a much nicer ride than my old Cannodale which I really liked as well. After breaking my Cannodale in a fall, I started shopping for a new bike. I wanted to stay around $1000.00, so I ended up buying the Klein at over $1900.00; I am sure everyone has this problem though. When moving to that price range, I also tried out the Trek 5200, but I just like the Klein a little bit more for some reason.
The Bontrager Race Lite wheels and Race X Lite tires that came on the Aura have also been great; although, the tires are getting a little flat on the surface. I have hit some nasty holes, etc. and the wheels seem to be holding up well. With Camel Bak, etc. on I am running with about 170 lbs. on the bike. The Ultegra components have also been working great so far, except for the chain noted below.
The only problems to note are 1) the chain started to give me a problem at about 500 miles. The link pin was the problem. Not really the fault of the bike though. When taking the bike to my LBS for service (I have to take the wheels off to get the bike in my car), I must have turned the fork too far to the right. Which leads me to problem 2) The break caliper hits the cable entry tensioner as it enters the tube. In this case it broke the tensioner which caused crappy shifting until I noticed and repaired the problem. 3)The headset is of the internal type, which I have not read anything good about. I have also had to re-preload the headset bearings due to a lot of play developing. Hope this is not going to be an on going problem. Even the Cane Creek (the headset on the Aura) web site recommends the classic and ZC type headsets over the integrated. I guess I am learning more after the fact....
Not that I have had any problems, but I don't know if the micro dropouts are all that great of thing. I really seem to have a lot more trouble getting the back wheel off and looking at them you wonder if you are going to be safe. I assume if they had any problems with this design, they would stop using it.
So you might think with more negative than positive things to say that I might not like this bike, but I do love it a lot. I just know that when looking at reviews about products I like the know about problems that could save me hassles later.
Strengths: Components
Great looks and paint job
Great ride and light weight
Weaknesses: Cable tensioner can be broken by break caliper.
Integrated headset.
Similar Products Used: Cannondale something bought 15 years ago.
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