I have to hand it to the folks over at Trek. I was reading a review of the Trek 820 mountain bike. The reviewer was quite through and quite a bit.. odd. The review was not favorable and I commend Trek for publishing it and letting it stand. However, it was also a deceptively well written mad-man's fantasy, which was easy for me, a "veteran" cyclist to discern. On the other hand, I'm really not so sure that the people in the target audience, looking to buy a Trek 820 would recognize that the reviewer was mad.

It seems that the individual in question, a dedicated road rider, purchased the lowest priced geared adult bicycle in the Trek line-up to ride 140+ mile a week on the MUP. He begins by complaining that the bike doesn't fit him and that he doesn't like the front fork. He then attacks the 820s target demographic:

" but unfortunately, most people that ride very little dictate what we can buy.".

Somehow, this 6 and a half foot tall man who puts 140-200 miles a week riding his poor 820 at 20 MPH speeds all the time, rode the thing into the ground.  Who would have thunk  such a thing possible.  

I have some issues with this dude.

First, if he didn't want a bike with a front suspension fork, why did he BUY a bike with a front suspension fork? There are plenty of offerings, some from Treka dn nearly as cheep as the 820 that not only don't have a front suspension fork but have larger, narrower wheels and the road-bike components that he had such difficulty retro-fitting onto his mountain bike. Why 105 and not Deore for that back derailure? Hum? He summarizes his review by trashing the bike some ore, bragging about his riding habits some more and insulting the bikes target audience some more. He does offer the bike the back jaded complement as being as good as a Next bike, maybe even better.  

In closing, the reviewer, clearly, purchased the wrong product for the job and had difficult making it work for him from within the oddly narrow confines of his idiom. Then he published it.  As a diatribe. On the Trek Website. And the let him. And, here's the kicker, 16 

of 32 customers found it "useful". Useful for what?

Sorry Sir, I have said it before, and I'll say it again. I LOVE my Trek 820! It has ben a good trail bike and is a GREAT MUP bike/Errand bike. I have not broken or bent it. I have not ahd any issues with it and no parts have fallen off of it. It's near indestructible and I would cheerfully replace it with another one of the exact same kind if stolen. OK, that's not true. I'd replace it with a bike with no suspension in the fork and larger, narrower wheels and some of those 105 mountain bike components.