Trek 5900

Price Paid:  $1200.00 at Bike Show - Toronto

Favorite Ride:
Anywhere with little traffic

Bike Setup:
2003 Trek Madone 5900 58 cm'
All stock components except;
Specialized Phenom 143 Saddle (great for my wide dumper)
Vittoria Open Corsa EVO CX Tires (very durable)

Summary:
Have put on several thousand miles on bike now and my 230-250 lbs. body has not broken this bike yet. I am a recreational rider but like to mix it up with the big boys (actually the really fast ones seem to be quite small). This bike allows me to keep up to them (at least until the big hills arrive and the power to weight ratio kills me).
I feel like I can put the bike through anything and it stands up. Around my area, as most areas I'm sure, there are not always smooth roads and the bike takes it all in stride, even if I don't. The Bontrager Race Lite wheels are solid as a rock and lightweight. The Dura Ace components are smooth as silk (if you maintain them). The frame is very stiff and the geometry fits me very well (6'2" ~235+ lbs). When I started riding this bike I was 285 lbs, so it has definately helped shed some pounds.
I did not want to spend a lot of money on first real carbon road bike (actually my wife didn't), so I really lucked out on purchase since this bike is well beyond my abilities. That being said, there are not a lot of road bikes out there that could withstand my weight.
If this frame/bike is one that you are interested in - you really can't go wrong with this bike. It is aero, stiff, light, very responsive and has very good components that will allow you to punish without fear of snapping something. Plus it was Lance's favorite frame apparantly and who could successfully argue with Lance (sorry Greg LeMond).
This bike still compares to todays higher end models from many of the top manufacturers with very little change from a performance or weight stand point, yet like many older model bikes, it can be purchased for a lot less.
You can obviously buy today's latest, greatest that weighs ~1.3 lbs less and cost 10+ G's, and be the envy of all those you fly by, but if you don't have a sponser and your wife and kids have you on a budget (monetarily and time) this bike will only slow you down about 1/2 mile an hour at most.

Strengths:
Very durable wheels - I weigh ~250 lbs
Very light and stiff
Excellent components that are durable
Have not broken anything yet
Style still stands up to todays bikes

Weaknesses:
Clear coat peels easily
This one came with really weak engine
Loses too much horse power up hills (but enough about me)

Similar Products Used:
Scott Peak - Steel frame
Many other cookie cutter bikes
No other carbon frames

Price Paid:  $0.00 at Trek Bicycle Superst

Favorite Ride:
Latigo, Nichols, Marina Sprint

Bike Setup:
Ultegra/Ultegra SL/Rival frankenbike

Summary:
I am a 148 lb collegiate rider. My Trek 5200 frame developed cracks around the downtube cage mounts a few weeks after a nasty crash. I returned the frame to my LBS to handle the warranty. Trek honored the frame warranty and replaced the 5200 with a 5900 frameset.

Strengths:
Exceptionally responsive, stiff, and comfortable. I am no Clydesdale, but this frame exhibits very little flex during maximal sprint efforts. It climbs like a mountain goat.

Trek warranty FTW.

Weaknesses:
Lance-wannabe factor

Similar Products Used:
Trek 5200 - softer ride, noticeably more flexible, super comfortable.

Price Paid:  $1000.00 at Trek (employee purch

Favorite Ride:
Lefthand Canyon - Boulder, CO

Bike Setup:
5900 Frame/Fork. Dura-Ace, Ksyrium SSC wheels, FSA Pro Team Carbon cranks, Flite TT saddle, Campy carbon seatpost, Deda bars/stem.

Summary:
This is a sweet bike... by far the nicest riding bike I've been on in the last 20 years. Very light, very stiff, and very responsive. The only real downside is the fork/headset setup. The proprietarty fork size pretty much screws you into using the Cane Creek headset and Trek's ($400) replacement Air Rail 110 fork. I crashed this bike hard (35mph head-on) and snapped the fork in two. Bike didn't have a scratch. Getting a replacement has been a total nightmare.

Strengths:
It does just about everything well. Very stiff. Frame is incredibly strong. Superlight. I bought the frame alone and built it up, so can't comment on the Bontrager stuff, although the reason I did this was to *avoid* the Bontrager stuff :-)

Weaknesses:
As previously noted, the finish is pretty crappy for a $4000+ bike. They didn't even bother to scrape the black paint off the headset cups after painting. More importantly is the FORK... please note that this is *NOT* a standard 1 1/8" fork. The bottom of the fork flares slightly which limits you to buying exactly one kind of replacement fork and and kind of replacement headset.

Similar Products Used:
Kestrel SC40, Paramount custom frame, Lemond Tete de Course, SpicerCycles.

Price Paid:  $0.00 at High Gear Bike Shop

Favorite Ride:
Skull Valley Loop

Bike Setup:
Stock down to the tape.

Summary:
So far a great bike. The New Dura Ace stands out as a huge improvement over an already super system. The new OCLV frame and fork is crazy light with the full bike just tipping 16lbs with pedals and cages on my 60cm. Stiffness at the BB is rock solid but the ride doesn't strike me as "buttery smooth" like many claims. The geometry is stable but quick.

Bontrager really has improved by leaps and bounds. The new X light wheels are really nice and match my Kysrium SLs on many levels. Even the bar,stem and post are nicer than most.

Now...is it worth $4700 or more??? Tough call, but I'd say yes.

Strengths:
Stiffness at BB. Low weight. Stable but quick geometry for all around top performance.

Weaknesses:
Not many to mention. The price is a little steep, but that's true of many top shelf rigs. Finishing details are "okay" but nothing amazing.

Similar Products Used:
'02 Specialized S-Works, Look 381i and many, many others spanning 20 years.

Price Paid:  $3000.00 at ebay

Favorite Ride:
Mt. Greylock century

Bike Setup:
Stock except Easton CD2 seatpost, Concor light saddle, Look pedals

Summary:
Nice ride, a bit stiffer than the 5500. Closer to my steel Pinarello than my aluminum Klein. I weigh 150 lbs and when out of the seat can flex the rims enough to make the pickup hit the magnet for the computer. They don't "feel" flexy though. Wonderful for climbing which is my strength. Straight seatpost makes the seat kind of forward for that frame angle. I'd buy it again for sure.

Strengths:
Weight, frame stiffness, component quality

Weaknesses:
wheel rigidity, seatpost, torture device aspide saddle.

Similar Products Used:
Klein Quantum race 1998, Pinarello Prestige 1988