LSKennedy wrote:I was looking into getting a 2012 Trek DS 8.3. As someone who has only experience with specialized...thoughts?
I picked up a Giant Roam 1 last year, pretty much the same thing as the Trek DS 8.3. I've been very happy with it, put well over 1000 miles on it. It's my road bike, daily commuter, touring, dirt road and rail-trail bike. Only thing I don't like is the fork, Its fine for lite trail riding but don't expect to ride Pontiac with it. I'm replacing it with a rigid for now till I can find a deal on a suspension fork. With a better fork there's nowhere you couldn't ride this bike. Mine came with 700 x 40 tires (with room to go bigger) X5 drive train and BB5 brakes.
i69whitey took me to Continental Bikes in Hazel Park to pick it up. They matched Tree Forts online price. The bike, bottle cages, bottle and taxes came to $599.99.
I looked at alot of bikes before settling on this one. It had the best bang for the buck and the Salsa's and Surley's were just to far out of my price range at the time.
Compare the Trek, Giant, Specialized etc.. and then work the bike shops for the best deal.
You've now mentioned touring, dirt roads, trails, racing. You already have a mountain bike, so I *think* maybe you want a stout road oriented bike that can handle dirt roads. That GT being a CX bike seems like a decent choice. I know a guy who's building a CX bike primarily for dirt roads