Bike Geek

During my sojourn to Fredericksburg, TX on my bike, my Trek Valencia crossed the 2,000 mile mark. I thought I’d pause and reflect on this milestone and give an update on how the bicycle is doing. I purchased the bike in December of last year.

In a nutshell, it’s doing great! The bike has really held up well despite taking a lot of punishment from the pavement. The life of an urban bike is not an easy one but the Valencia has met these challenges and continues to deliver solid performance.

Now for a little details:

• Brakes: the mechanical disc brakes continue to perform confidently in all weather conditions. They do squeak a little from time to time, but I’ve never found this to be very annoying.
• Frame: despite the punishment of railroad tracks, pot holes and uneven pavement, the aluminum frame looks as good as new. A small ring of metal that the front derailleur is attached to picked up some corrosion which I’ve treated – not a complete surprise given the humidity and moisture I’ve encountered along my journeys. The frame itself is corrosion free, of course.

I’ve taken the bike to the shop a couple of times for minor adjustments – most recently, I discovered a loose spoke which was easily tightened back up.

In summary, at the 2,000 mile mark the Valencia continues to demonstrate that it packs a lot of value and longevity into an urban bicycle well suited for bicycle touring, errands and of course, commuting.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 1st, 2009 at 2:25 AM and is filed under product review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.