On Sat, 6 Mar 2004 09:32:59 -0700, "Monique Y. Herman"
blathered:

A South African lass I know is currently cycling through Chile; she'd
asked me what bike to get for the trip; I warned her off Trek after my
own experiences and suggested a Marin (Bear Valley, I think it was).
In my last email I asked how the bike was holding up to what seems to
be some tough cycling. Got a reply today: no problems, but.....

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Steve the US guy I cycled with had major problems and funny he worked
in a bike shop too.....he bought a trek 5000 (mmm i remembered what
you said about treks) Anyway from day 1 the stupid thin wheels and
tyries have given him huge problems constantly, putting him in a foul
mood, at least 1 -2 problems per day...no spares -only ****ty chile
crap. Anyway he is now limping along somewhere i Chile and has had to
get on a bus to Santiago to get stuff. Rims have given up , funny and
he was giving me a run down on what i should get before we set off and
even offered to get me a Trek 5000 !!
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I just checked the Trek site, and apparently the 5000 is listed under
their "high performance road bikes."

Is that right? Why on earth would someone take one a tour of a country
with notoriously bad roads? Pfft, Yank Trek owners, eh?


Pete