Trek 1.5 T H2

Trek 1.5 T H2
£680 
buy it here


The Rider.
Since changing my job in march I have been commuting by bike, having borrowed a hybrid bike for a few days I was surprised at how much easier it is to ride a bike specifically designed for the road.
After a discussion with my lovely wife, it was decided that a road bike would be a good investment. The company I work for operates the cyclescheme, this is where the company buy's the bike and you pay for the bike directly from your wages, before Tax so the bike works out even cheaper.
A trip to the cycle shop and a very informed chat with the salesman and the list was narrowed, a few test rides and the final decision was made -
A Trek 1.5 T H2 was ordered, and the paperwork started. six weeks later and I picked the bike up and started to ride.

The Bike.

How do trek describe themselves?  Trek are the #1 performance bike brand in the world. Our R&D department packs more engineering horsepower than any other bike company, and they're committed to making every one of our road bikes, from hand-built carbon race machines to refined aluminium models, the absolute best in its class. You'll feel the difference, from the first ride all the way to the podium.

The 1.5 is the top of the one series range and light, my example weighing in at 8.7 kg's

The Frame.

Made of Treks Alpha Aluminium the tubes are manipulated to balance  strength with light weight (1540g), the tube shapes are formed to match the high end  race bikes and the quality of welding and paint finish are excellent.

There are cage mounts for two bottles and mounting point for mudguards and even a rack.
The frame is also UCI approved in case you want to go racing.

The Fork.

The rigid fork is a high point being made of Carbon fibre, they are stiff and light (540g), the carbon doing a fantastic job of dampening road buzz. The FSA Intellaset semi cartridge headset bearings are smooth and should be easy to maintain.

Wheels.
The Bontrager branded wheels are made with 6061-t6 rims attached to cup and cone aluminium hubs attached by 22 flat bladed spokes in a radial pattern at the front and by 24 flat bladed spokes in a cross 2 pattern at the rear are very smooth and offer easy maintenance, they spin up quickly and are quite light at 1182g for the front and 1840g for the rear including tyres and skewers. The excellent Bontrager R1 hard case lite 700x23mm tyres grip incredibly well inspiring confidence to push harder and feature a built in puncture protection system, which so far seems to be working.








Drivetrain.

The drivetrain is Shimano's midrange Tiagra with an FSA Vero chainset, The T in the name indicates that the bike is fitted with a triple chain wheel, I chose this since the area I live in has hills that are 1000 ft at 20%, so I thought the lower gears would come in handy. The rear cassette offers a good spread of ratios ranging from 12 to 30 over 10 speeds. The shift action is amazingly light partly thanks to the Jagwire cables. Unlike mountain bike shifters the combined shifters and brake levers offer a tuning feature that allows you to use a wider spread of the gears without the annoying chain rub.
the chain is also a bonus, being a KMC  X10.93 which in my experience are much more durable than Shimano chains.
The bottom bracket is a square taper which is a little outdated, although it feels ridged enough.

Brakes.
With Dual pivot aluminium brakes acting on the rim the brakes are adequate, getting more powerful as the pads bed in. the brakes are long drop to allow clearance for mudguards. The leaver shape is excellent and the action is light even when riding on the hoods.


Components.
Treks in house component arm Bontrager supplies the rest of the equipment.
The bars are 420mm Race VR-C with an oversize 31.8 centre to increase stiffness, the stem is 105mm SSR putting the weight over the front wheel.
The saddle is an Affinity 1 attached to the bike via a race lite alloy seat post and is a very comfortable place to be.

The Ride.
Moving from a mountain bike to a road bike is a shock to the system everything is different. Due to Treks H2 geometry the front end is higher than a lot of road bikes and gives a comfort orientated riding position especially on the hoods. The bike feels so lively and light making light work of the hills.  From the first ride my speeds were up from the mountain bike, my average speed was in the low 20mph and a few times I hit a peek speed of 31mph.
The ride is comfortable but a lot harder than the mountain bike (skinny tires and no suspension)
The steering is a lot more twitchy due to the narrow bars and long stem. But the biggest shock was the brakes which offer about a 10th of the power of the hydraulic discs on the mountain bike.
overall I love the bike, I think it looks fantastic and rides like a dream, I have made the addition of some lights and mudguards for the winter and hopefully I can commute right through.