AltheCyclist

I see a lot of early 90's Trek 1100 and 1200 series bikes out there for sale. Anyone still ride one of these? What's your opinion?

clarkgriswold

I picked up a 1989 1200 cheap, haven't done much with it yet but planning on riding it a fair deal soon. It came with a full 105 groupo. 1990 1200 when a bit cheaper on components. It has downtube shifters but I have a spare right brifter I will throw on there.

The aluminum frames were bonded (epoxy/glue) instead of welded, and the in-house wheel brand (Matrix) had a pretty bad rap.

I don't know when they changed, but mine has a 126mm rear axle width. Some people discourage stretching the rear triangle to accept standard 130mm axles. (I still have the original)

I would recommend getting one with brifters unless you want to keep the downtube shifters or have spare brifters. Upgrading can be expensive.

I'm not an expert by any means, but I like the one I got.

https://www.vintage-trek.com/
This site has a lot of info and while geared at some of the older Treks, it has links to more current model data

kaliayev

I got my daughter a 92 Trek 1200 for a really good price. It has a 105 group. I put on a 8 speed cassette and chain. It shifts ok with the downtube shifters, but I picked up a set of 8 speed barcons that I am going to use with some Paul's Thumbies. Also put on a set of Forte Titans. It rides pretty nicely and expect the Thumbies to make it easier for her to shift.

luker

They are good, middle of the road, neutral handling, road bikes. Not light, not particularly agile. Good solid training material.

Elmog

I bought a Trek 1200 (Florescent Yellow!) new in 1992 and put thousands of miles on it. It was a great bike with full Shimano 105 and the only drawback being the wheel set. They literally cracked and fell apart, but it did take years of abuse before they did. The downtube shifters were OK and now they are getting to be a pretty rare sight on the road. It probably took 12 years before the stem bearings developed a notch and had to be replaced. I gave the bike to a co-worker that wanted to get back into road biking and he installed new wheels and replaced the stem bearings. He is much bigger than me (170# vs 220#) and found the frame to be a bit flexy. The bike was stolen out of his barn a short while later and he never saw it again. Very sad end to my old 1200.
I wish I never parted with it as it was kind of cool and would have made a nice single speed for puttin around locally. I would highly recommend the 1200. Jim

AngryScientist 

here's my steelie true-temper trek 400, its a decent bike, i ride it occasionally. it's a nice smooth ride, i have it set up with a dt shifter for the fd and an old sora shifter for the 8-sp rear. i regularly ride a ti merlin an a few alu bikes, and this is a nice comfy alternative.