first road bike

[RolliePollie]

I bought a Trek 1000 WSD in February and I'm very happy with it. I think you get a lot of bang for your buck with Trek. I've put 1,000 miles on it so far and I really have no complaints.

Although the 1000 is an "entry level" road bike, I'm not at all disappointed with its performance. I wasn't expecting all the bells and whistles, and the components aren't spectacular or anything, but it gets me where I want to go and (knock on wood) everything is working like it's supposed to. I did have an issue with my front brakes, but it was covered under the Trek warranty and my LBS put on a whole new set for free. I also switched to Kool Stop brake pads because evidently the stocks pads don't get along too well with the stock wheels. Other than that, it's all good!

I looked at the Novara line from REI as well, but it kind of seems like no one knows much about Novara. I was tempted, but my closest REI is almost an hour's drive and the Trek had a similar component group at a comparable price. I've really learned to appreciate my LBS...I'm so happy that I chose to buy locally. I'm sure you might get great service from REI, but since it's a chain store, I was a little leary.

Whichever bike you choose, I hope you love it!