I just bought this:
http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes...gn/belleville/
First look:
This machine is beautiful and a lot of bike for the money. I rode mine home about 7 miles today and I love it. The drivetrain is smooth and so is the ride. I loaded the front rack with ~10 pounds to see how it felt and it was fine on the road. Rack capacities are stamped: 25 kilos rear, 9 kilos front. Trek should have used the anti-flop spring for the front rack like on the Gary Fisher Simple City(I think I can put something together here at home to remedy that). I also think they should have used the nice Pletscher dual kickstand the Simple sports(I put one on at the LBS and it is great on the Belleville).The lights are better than expected with the front actually providing some 'see the road' light and the rear staying lit well after stopping. Brakes,levers and pedals are nothing special. In keeping with the eco theme I put some led generater pedals on it and I'm thinking about inverse levers for the brakes anyway. Rims have a sticker: ETRO 622x19 6005A-T5. The frame welds look fine to me and the powder coating is really nice. 2 Eyelets front and rear, front fork rack braze ons and rear derailleur hanger make it fully customizable. I've heard the handlebar height can be adjusted but they could not see how at the dealer. One problem is the rear fender stays seem a bit too long; they are designed to be adjustable at the dropout bolts but in practice the rack mounts prevent adjusting forward. As a result the rear fender has way too much space in the back; a rock could get caught in there. I'm sure there is a solution... The seat seems comfortable so I'm going to give it a try for a few hundred miles...I think that covers it for a first glance; it's a heavy, wonderful,functional hunk of steel and if that's what you like you will love this bike.