I’ve always ridden road bikes and know nothing about trail/touring bikes. These bikes are each $600. One is a trek 520, supposedly tuned up with new brakes, cables, shifters. The other is a 1990 KHS cross bike. Are either of these worth the money? I would also have to drive 5-6 hours to get; I can’t find any in my area. I tried to post to the bicycle touring group too, but can’t get the post to work. Thanks in advance!
by Epicexpeditionist
3 Comments
In general if it’s a choice between Trek or a different one, go with a different one.
One obvious difference is bar end shifters on the Trek and brifters on the other, so that’s an important thing ride-wise
I would go KHS all day. I wouldn’t care that the trek it has new bar end shifters, the integrated shifting on the KHS is gonna be way way better imo
These bikes have completely different purposes, so this is less about which bike is better, and more about which suits your needs better.
The Trek is a touring bike; it’s an ultra reliable pack mule. Those bar-end shifters are chosen because they are rugged and reliable and people who are bike-touring through wilderness and third-world countries need something that is rugged and reliable. That mindset is applied to the entire bike, with heavy duty steel frame, and eyelets for mounting racks to carry gear.
The KHS is entirely different. It isn’t built to carry gear, it doesn’t have fork mounts, and those wheels are probably nice and light, but not nearly strong enough for bicycle touring. The brifters are definitely better for normal riding. They’re theoretically less reliable and definitely more complicated, making trail-side fixes impossible, but that’s not of concern because this bike isn’t intended for such things.
So it’s simple, what do you want in a bike? You can choose between a reliable, heavy, touring bike, or a lighter racier bike with an off-road focus.