Trek 7.37.5fx or converting current road bike?

Question

I've recently wanted to purchase a bike for some commuting and working out.More working out than commuting. I've been mostly using the Trek 4300. But from my house to the local trail is about 2 miles of heavy traffic. I currently have a road bike i picked up from a costco. i want to know would it be a better idea to just return the road bike completely and go with the Trek 7.5/7.3. Or adding on cross bar brakes on the drop bars I have now.

The Costco bike is a "Cadillac RLE 1.8" which cost about 800 after taxes. Which is very similar to the 7.5fx. The specs for the costco bike can be found here http://www.amazon.com/Cadillac-Elite-Road-RLE1-8-Bike/dp/B000F937QK

. If anyone knows the weight of the 7.5fx and how much cross bar breaks would cost to install at a LBS that would be great.

Answer 1

This is a tough question to answer without knowing more about what kind of communte/workout you plan, as well as road conditions, etc.  You  speak about going to the bike trail, so that somewhat implies that you  don't need a  true road bike, but more of a  hybrid.  So the Trek 7.3 or Trek 7.5 seems  like a good choice.  I couldn't find a weight for either  of these, but based on components, etc, my guess might be around 21-22 lbs.

The Costco bike is more  of a true road bike.  You can ride it on  the  trails, but it will perform best on  the smoothest road surfaces.  Trail riding, in my experience, tends to  have much rougher pavement than regular roads.  I do mostly road biking, and I  avoid trails like the plague for this reason, not to mention all of the walkers, dogs, kids, rollerbladers,  etc.  You  can certainly trail ride with the Costco bike, but depending on  your particular trail, it might be a rough ride.

How about just  putting some road tires (slicks) on your old mountain bike?  Your Trek 4300 seems like a sturdy ride, suitable for trail riding and commuting.  Maybe putting some road tires on it will make it feel faster.  Just something to think about.

Good Luck!  I know I wasn't super helpful with this response.  I just couldn't get a really  good idea what kind bicycling you've previously been doing and what you want to be doing in the future.  Some helpful information might have been riding goals in terms of weekly mileage, types of riding such  a trail riding, road riding or how much of each.  To me, it seems like you want  to do  trail riding, which is how I based my recommendation.  If you ever hope to do significant road miles, then I'd have  leaned more towards the Costco bike.  But anyway, good riding, I hope you get what you want out of bicycling! :)