# Fair Trade Price - 2010 Trek 1.5 for a 2012 Motobecane Fantom Cyclocross



## getagrip (Feb 16, 2012)

To give you some background, I was planning to put slicks on my Motobecane Cyclocross and ride it accross Nebraska (B.R.A.N.) in June. Today I was browsing Craigslist and I saw an advertisement for a guy looking to trade his Trek 1.5 road bike for a Cyclocross. So I thought why not offer a trade?

He has a 2010 model and is asking a trade or $650 for the Trek. I don't know how many miles he has on it. My Motobecane cost $580 and I picked it up around November of 2011. It has about 500 miles on it.

Both bikes have FSA Vero cranks. The Trek has an all Tiagra drivetrain, the Motobecane has a Tiagra rear derailleur and Sora front derailleur/shifters. The Motobecane has chromoly forks, but the Trek comes with carbon "fibber" forks. LOL

My initial offer was the trade plus $100 or the Motobecane plus brand new Gatorskin tires if he ever wants to ride it on road. I emailed the Trek owner about an hour or so ago...havent' heard back yet. Do you guys think this is a fair offer or should I make a better offer to compensate for the better Tiagra shifters, carbon fiber forks, and Tiagra front derailleur vs Sora?


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## Longhair-NL (Mar 31, 2012)

Does the owner have all the original receipts, manual and other important paperwork? If not, then assume that it is stolen.

You know how your Motobecane Cyclocross was treated. Could you say the same about the Trek 1.5?


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## PJ352 (Dec 5, 2007)

Without knowing the mechanical condition of the bikes, all we'll offer are guesses. 'On paper', your offer sounds fair, but what about sizing? Does the Trek meet your sizing/ fit requirements?


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## getagrip (Feb 16, 2012)

Thanks for the responses. I did end up doing the trade. The Trek was just too nice of a bike to pass up, and it is going to be a lot faster than my cyclocross on a 400+ mile road bike trip I'm doing in June, especially up hills. The Tiagra shifting up front is sooo much better than the Sora on my Cyclocross. Also, the Trek came with really nice road style SPD pedals, which I was contemplating purchasing anyway. Looks like I won't need to make that investment now.

It was actually kind of a funny scene. Here he is with this pristine looking glossy super lightweight Trek 1.5, and I show up with my dirty, heavy Motobecane Cyclocross, covered with dirt from three different trails. He seemed to really like the Motobecane, and was just happy he didn't have to shell out cash for another bike since his wife would probably kill him. Apparently, he purchased a Felt F5 road bike, but also wanted a cyclocross.

The one potential drawback...and this is a big potential drawback, was that the Trek might be a tad small for me. I'm 5'7 and this is a 52cm, and I'm kind of right on the line between a 52 cm and a 54 cm. Because of that, I offered him a straight up trade, rather than the trade + $100. He was ok with that, even though I mentioned several times that I was getting the better end of the deal. So, a frame swap might be needed here, but I'm pretty sure I can sell the Trek frame for about what I would end up paying for a new frame. I'm eyeballing the Nashbar Carbon/Alloy frame for $200.

Tomorrow I'm going to take it on a ride. I'm already kind of missing my cyclocross because it was so much fun to ride on gravel roads, and I know I'm going to baby the Trek. In fact, I took the Motobecane for a 20 mile gravel road ride before doing the swap, because I knew it might be the last time I'd ride it. Overall, though, I think it will be much better for the road ride I'm going to do. Guess I'm going to do a lot of road riding over the next few weeks!

Anyway, here is a photo:


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