Trek Madone 5.2 Review | Trek Madone 5.2 For Sale
Everyday I ride this bike 20 miles to work and back and felt it was time for a review.
After road riding in the 70s and 80s (google Mondia bikes) and then switching to mountain bikes in the 90s (barracuda crmly), I started commuting again three years ago. With my advanced age I needed all the techno help I could get short of burning fossil fuels. So we decided on an all carbon bike for the light weight and cushy ride. More than once I looked down after riding over a bump to see if I have enough air in the tires, when in fact, it is just a smooth riding bike. Yet fast. And fun. And I get a lot of "How much was that bike?" When that happens I just show three fingers.
But true to my former mountain bike form I ride off curbs, cut through grass, and jump occasional speed bumps. The wheels are holding up with all the abuse but the original rear tire got sea shelled.
Every now and then when there is a wind storm, sand blows up on the bike path which I think is great fun. Especially if there is a sign that says "bike path closed." You have to blast through the drifts and if the sand is not too deep you can make it. One would guess that 4" to 5" is the maximum sand depth over concrete for riding a road bike.
So with all that abuse it would not be too surprising to know that after a while some sort of horrible groaning was coming out of the drive train. Moreover the bike was really dirty with grime and sand and whatever. I was too embarrassed to bring it to the local shop in such a state, and when my wife complained about the car being dirty I said "if anything is getting a washing its the bike!"
After the bike bath, the weird sounds went away, and the bike shop gurus said that it was the rollers that can make the sounds. Well maybe if I had known that I would have just shot them them with some WD40. But it was good to wash all that excess sand away, and I swear its even faster when clean and shiny.
Anyway its a great bike.
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