I’m always drawn to that place in a company’s lineup where the company’s bean counters wince as they look at how much money they’re not making. Here’s the bean-counter’s nightmare.
by Dan Empfield, December 15, 2009
This 2010 Seduza is a singular example of this American company with a Mexican name’s resurgence. It’s a full-carbon monocoque chassis with all the sex features.
Scott, Specialized, and others are all making a new generation of timed race bike. Giant’s Trinity Alliance seems to be the closest to making its version consumer ready.
In bikes and fine art, sometimes value is not appreciated contemporaneous with its introduction. So with the Trinity 0 (last year’s Trinity 1), and most retailers who carry it won’t grasp this model’s importance.
Giant’s Trinity 1 for 2010 was, in most respects, its Trinity 2 in 2009. It’s an 09 Trinity 2 with a new color, and like last year’s “2” it’s a great frame with a forgettable spec.
You might think it’s still 2009, but it isn’t, at least, not according to bike manufacturers. It’s 2010 already for many of them, and here is what you can expect to see.
The Lugano is the top of the line bike from Javelin. But did you know you can get it made custom? Not just custom paint, but custom geometry? Yes, you can, as a matter of fact.
Not very many tri bikes exist in that $1900 to $2400 price range, even though many dealers will tell you this is the “new” entry level tri bike price category. Here’s a pair of such bikes, from Fuji and Giant.
Here are Felt’s B16 and Orbea’s Aletta, each bikes inside of that $2000 to $2350 price range, a category that’s a step up from entry-level, but still affordable.
These are tri bikes that sell in the $1900 to $2400 range. We’re calling them 2nd step because they’re a step above entry level, but not yet to the mid-price range. Herein we look at some attractive values from Kuota and Quintana Roo.
There aren’t many complete tri bikes for sale under $1900 anymore. But there are six, three of which we’ve already reviewed, two more are reviewed here, the Trek Equinox 7 and the Fuji Aloha 2.0
The flip side of our red hot demographic is that “entry level” in triathlon does not start at the entry level. Here’s our $1500-and-up look at tri bikes for 09, starting with Cervelo, Felt and QR.