Trek 2.3 Aluminium

Trek 2.3 Road Bike

I took the demo Trek 2.3 for a ride last week. I wanted to ride it as it shares the geometry of the more expensive carbon frames which always get good reviews. Currently I ride a top of the range Scott Addict which has a superlight carbon frame and is designed as an all out race bike. I also have a Titanium Van Nicholas which I bought in the autumn to ride as my ‘second’ bike / winter bike. The titanium frame is certainly more forgiving than my Scott but is not as quick and responsive… but it is designed as more of a ‘long haul’ bike which puts comfort before performance.

I did a two hour loop on the Trek on one of my favourite rides up to the Blakey via Bell-end climb and back via Cropton. I have to say I was very impressed. Its one of those bikes where you get on it and it feels instantly right. Usually when you first get onto a new bike it takes a few rides to ‘dial in’ to its riding characteristics… not his one though.

I was also amazed to find it a lot more comfortable than my titanium bike. It’s hard to gauge and score how much more comfortable but there is a significant difference.

So that’s two big plus points for starters. The third thing I noticed was that despite being more comfortable it felt noticeably stiffer when climbing. I did not time the difference but it certainly made the long drag up to the Blakey easier.

And finally the fourth plus point was the way it feels when cornering. This is linked to the first point about how right it feels to sit on… it carves a really nice line when cornering and feels planted and very secure. No twitchiness but no sluggishness either; a really nice balance.

It usually takes me weeks to make up my mind about anything I buy but I sold my Titanium bike 2 days after doing the demo ride and have bought the Trek demo bike… So if you want to try it you will have to ask me (nicely)! Whilst I very much like the Scott I have, I don’t think I want to try out the carbon Trek Madone version as it may be hard to go back to the Scott afterwards… not just yet anyway! Mph.