Bike reviews

Trek Madone 5.5 review

Photo of Trek Madone 5.5 review bike

I have to explain three things before starting this Trek Madone review:

1) The bike under review is one I bought myself, with my own hard-earned cash, and I ride it a lot. It is not a short-term review model - unfortunately Trek didn't feel the need to send me a free bike, I can't imagine why!

2) Because buying bikes myself is rather expensive (!) I don't have a great range of comparisons to make with similarly priced bikes.

3) I am mid-40's year old. My own experiences might be different to those of a younger, stronger 25 year old. I ride essentially for pleasure rather than spending much time doing extensive training, but I do work quite hard.

Trek 1000 Triple bike

The Trek 1000 is a very good starter / all-rounder road racing bike, costing about £500.

At this price the bike offers excellent value for money, and has shown itself to be popular and reliable. For general touring, commuting and riding it is an excellent choice.

GT GTR bike

The GTR range of bikes from GT covers a broad range of prices from £500 to over £2000, with a variety of equipment and frames appropriate to the price.

The whole range has been designed by cycling enthusiasts to ensure that at any price point you will be gettinga high quality bike offering great value for money.

At the lower end of the price range, the bikes use a butte aluminium frame with quite basic Shimano equipment, progressing to Shimano 105 equipment on the Series 2. All bikes in the range use a carbon fork. The combination of an alloy or aluminium frame with carbon forks is successful, bringing control and lightness to the bike.

Specialized Allez Elite Bike review

The Specialized Allez range of bikes ranges from the budget end of the market - £450 - to bikes costing about £1300. All are good value within their price bracket.

The Specialized Allez range covers a wide range of the price band that most of us are willing to pay for a bike - roughly £500-£1300. They are a reputable, well established company and suppliers of bikes for many cycling teams and events. So they have our attention!