Road tires for my Mt bike or new road bike?

Hmmm...you want to try something new...and it's a decision between <$50 tires or minimum $500 for a new bike...hmmm

Slap on some MTB slicks and go have fun. If you're still having fun by next season, then we'll talk new bikes.

Welcome to BT!

I just did about the exact same thing as you did ... I was on a Trek 6700 MTB, and I put road slicks on it (Bontrager Road Warrior slicks, about $20 a pop). I rode that for a good six months and got pretty proficient with it. A great bike and a great way to get started with existing gear.

However, almost immediately I started wanting a road bike. My first thought was the 1.2, primarily because of price. I did some research along the way, saved some extra cash, got better on the MTB, and I told myself that when I dropped X number of pounds, I would deserve the new bike.

I did lose the weight, but kept shopping a  bit until I happened upon a sale at my LBS. Got the Trek 2.1 for a smoking deal, and it was nice to be able to go in knowing what I was looking at because of all the time I spent drooling over bikes on the Internet.

The point in all of this is that it just felt like the right time to switch. I have a feeling that when you're ready to switch, you'll just do it and feel great about it.

Thanks for all help! 

I went to the bike shop and looked at tires, but then I started looking at a '08 Trek 1.2 that was a demo bike.  Cost - $650.  They even had an '07 Trek 1000 for $650.  Should I just get one of those?  I think those are great prices, but I'll need your input.

I do know that proces jumped a bunch for the '09 year and from my readinfg, the '07 & '08 are still comparable in quality.  Yes?

Thanks in advance!

Let me start by saying, I am a sucker for Trek products. I also like any Shimano components 105 or above. I am not a huge fan of the Sora line. Not sure what is on the bikes you are looking at though. Not that there is anything wrong with the Sora line I just like the 105's or higher.

With that being said, I am also a big fan of buying older bikes still in the shops. The newer modles have the latest and greatest in the bells and whistles catigory, but older modles still have a milage of 0 too. The thing you loose from older modles is the latest upgrades. Ex. 9 speed vs 10 speed on the rear caset. If that dose not matter much to you, than an older modle could work. Also older modles can be harder to get parts for, in say 10 years. If you ride the bike a lot, in 10 years, you will probably be upgrading the whole bike by then anyway.

Bottom line is, you need to do the leg work to figure out which has the most bang for the buck. Sometimes the new bikes comming out can cost less than a bike still on the floor. This is due to reduced costs in making a bike that may only have a color change.

When I purchased my last bike, I got a Trek 5.2 Pilot 2005 for the same money as a 5.0 2006. What I got was a component upgrade from the 2006 105 and mixed components to an all Ultegra component package. The fact that everything on my bike is Shamano instead of brand x, made me very happy.

 Keep in mind also, that older modles may be able to be haggled down even further than the price they are giving. It may not be in the price itself, but may be by adding on some extras like a bike computer, water bottle cages etc for short money, or for free depending on what it is. Do not be afraid to try.

Good luck and good hunting