Principia

I've had this bike for over a year now, and except for a few minor complaints, I love it. It is comfortable and fits me perfectly (which I feel was a big risk purchasing a bike online; I am 5'7" with a 30-31" inseam; my Principia is a 53, which is no longer available). I cannot wait to get out and take a ride on it. I know STP will delete this portion of my comments, but the comments by BikeWrencher are invalid -- he is a Trek dealer, and did a simple tune-up on my bike, and when I picked it up, he made insulting comments to me about the bike (AND he lost my business). No one from his shop even took this bike out on the road. If they had, they would have felt how responsive and eager this bike is when it hits the pavement. I would not recommend this bike to a friend only because my closest friends do not ride bikes.

[...]. This bike has turned out to be a very nice, comfortable ride.

There's no way this is worth [$]! The MSRP is a fantasy. You could do so much better with a Trek 2.3. Better parts, much better frame, easy warranty support, and IT COSTS LESS!

I have been out on this bike only two times since receiving it because there just did not seem to be something right in the headset. I took it to my local bike shop, and the guys there couldn't get it adjusted either. It turns out that Isaac released a recall on all their carbon forks/bikes in January because of safety issues related to certain combinations and assemblies of Isaac forks and Isaac expanders. This applies to all such products made since 2004 to present. Isaac requires the product be returned to the Isaac dealer for replacement -- not something easy to do since the bike was purchased through STP.

and so I have not ridden it, BUT, a few things you should know about STP and their inspection and packaging by a "certified" bicyle mechanic: 1)the tubes provided had stems too short for the rims, and so could not be pumped with my regular bike pump (my husband had to use the one that we carry on our tandem); 2)the headset was not adjusted properly and therefore had A LOT of play; 3)there were a few parts loose in the bottom of the box. That said, this is a beautiful bike, sleek and elegant in an understated way. I prefer not to have a flashy paint job because I would fret at the first nick. [...] I'll write another review after I've taken this out on the road--I purchased this to replace my old Trek 400 from 1988 (which is still a great bike).