Hi!!
Has anyone here ridden the Trek CheckOut? Thinking about buying one in the future and would love to hear honest opinions — ride feel, reliability, any pros/cons you’ve noticed. Thanks in advance!
I think both Dave and Carley have one at the moment. I took am very interested in the longer term write up. I remember Carley saying it needed some upgrades but he was enjoying his
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I only have about 1400km on mine so far, but it is pretty much as advertised, a gravel bike with suspension. It is definitely not what I would call a mountain bike. I have liked it most on the corrugated roads that appear as winter fades. I have recently squeezed a pair of Pirelli Scorpion XC 2.4 RH tires into it, and they fit until I run into some peanut butter mud. I upgraded mine from the cheapest model with carbon wheels, di2 XT/ GRX drivetrain, XD15 BB and more. Many 3-pack mount panniers rub my heals and back of my legs, but otherwise I love the rack. I have it packed for sleeping out, but haven’t had a chance to get away with it overnight. The dropper is absurdly short. Feel free to ask other questions
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Thanks for the reply, Doug. It’s always good to hear from someone with hands-on experience on the bike.
A question about your usage though — don’t you think that with narrower tires you could get the best of both worlds? Low rolling resistance on asphalt and good suspension on gravel roads.
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I don’t spend much time on pavement on this bike, and wanted to illustrate how generous the 2.25” clearance is
I am seriously considering bringing it to SRMR this summer, and 2.4 is what I think is an ideal tire width for this event
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Bought one in November and love it. It handles well and rides great. Even rode a few of the more tame trails in Moab and it really lacked nothing. Bought it to explore the roads that are a bit too rough for a rigid gravel bike but not quite mountain bike territory, and the more I ride it, the more I think it is perfect for that. I like the idea of having a bike that is versatile enough that one can ride just about anything outside of tech mtb trails, which just opens up opportunities for some true exploration. With that being said, I binned those horrible handlebars after about 3 rides. Bought the GRX model and kept the mechanical drivetrain but upgraded the BB (Enduro XD-15) wheels (Bontrager Paradigm Pro 30) tires ( Rene Herse Poteau Mountain) crankset (Easton EC90 SL) seat post (Thompson Masterpiece) and saddle (Trek Aeolus AirLoom), in an effort to drop as much weight as possible. Looking forward to some longer trips on it this summer.
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After putting more time in on the bike, much of it loaded for bikepacking, I have become increasingly annoyed at the slanty rack and how my bags brush my heels or knees. I am going to either adapt the rack to mount the 3-pack mount micro-panniers upright, or ditch the trek rack in favour of a OMM Elkhorn rack. Has anyone come up with a better solution?
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Good to know. Just bought some small panniers and, while I have yet to use them, I am concerned about them interfering with my feet, due to the design of the rear rack.
I got an SL7 in the multi-colored colorway, and it’s a blast! Used it on many a day-trip as well as bikepacking the Kokopelli Trail.
I made several mods to mine… but top three pieces of advice:
- Ditch the stock tires, as they’re ridiculuously slow. Vittoria Peyote XC Race do much better for me.
- Consider sizing down. I’m 179cm and got an ML, but had to shrink the cranks to 165, the stem to 60, the bars to 44, and slam the seat post down. It fits me quite well now, though!
- If you get the colorful colorway, swap in Trek’s lavendar bar tape. Dunno why Trek didn’t do this themselves!
FWIW, I didn’t have any heel-strike issues using the rack with mini-panniers. Perhaps that’s an advantage of the larger frame?
Enjoy!
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