It isn’t very often we get to test the sexier kind of bicycle. Not that we’re objecting to honest shoppers and folders, or even the less-than-honest Chinese electric MTBs that we seem to make a speciality of condemning these days. But once in a while it’s nice to play with some quality bits and pieces. Something like the Trek F600.

Trek is an extremely well known brand about which we know precisely nothing, because Trek has never crossed into our world, and we’ve seen no reason to cross into theirs.The company is actually a US bicycle manufacturer (well, designer would be closer to the mark) producing the usual vast range of MTBs for leisure- orientated off-roading – aluminium ones in this case. However,Trek also makes road machines and BMX bikes, and for older and wrinklier customers, the shop-person will delve under the counter and bring out the ‘Navigator’ brochure.This portrays ordinary, slightly wrinkly folk riding bicycles with chainguards, and the odd Shimano 8-speed hub gear, a mechanism which translates as an ‘internal drivetrain’ in Trek-speak. And right at the back, you’ll find the folders.We’re picking up vibes of fashionable young person’s manufacturer, with a few sensible offerings for those techno-greys who can still get their leg over, so to speak.

Quite why Trek decided to get into folding bikes, we’re not sure, but they did, and their ‘F’ series bikes made a first appearance in the UK at Cycle 2003.What we do know is that Dahon played a key development role, because certain key components are pure Dahon. Ask awkward questions and you’ll be told that the bikes were primarily designed at Trek’s European design centre. Perhaps commissioned might be nearer the mark?

Three bikes make up the range: the F200 (in blue, with rack, mudguards and 3-speed SRAM hub), F400 (silvery-blue, with or without the sensible bits, plus better cranks and Shimano 2200 8-speed derailleur) and F600 (black, shorn of all sensible bits, with rather nice wheels and Shimano Deore 9-speed derailleur).The hub-gear bike is a reasonable £470, the mid-range one £470-£500, depending on equipment, and the black job £750. That puts the cheaper bikes up against the Brompton L3 or Giant Halfway, and the top- ender against the likes of the Birdy, Dahon Speed Pro and Helios SL. Deciding that we’re more likely to be moved by something flash than a set of plasticky mudguards and a rack, Trek has provided us with the F600.

F600

Wherever the primary design input came from, the ‘F’ range folders are fine machines, constructed from neatly sculptural hydroformed aluminium tubing. Before you run off to check the dictionary, next big thing – you put a boring old metal tube (generally aluminium) in a mould and pump it full of high pressure water, enough producing lovely sinuous shapes. Trek has made good use of the technique here, with frames that bulge and curve in all the right places. Quite whether the hour-glass head tube, or near figure-of-eight profile mainframe have any positive effects, we’re not sure, but the bikes are certainly very rigid.The immediate impression – unusual for a folding bike – is that you can ride as hard as you like and all effort will go straight from the pedals to the ground, without getting lost on the way.

…if we were putting a derailleur on a folder, this is the sort of system we’d choose…

The frame also has a highly-strung ‘brittle’ quality that can make the tubes quite noisy. Slight play in the headset on our example emerged as staccato clicks and clonks.

At 11cm, the main frame hinge is unusually tall in the vertical plane, which more or less eliminates flex, and the sculptural handle closes with a satisfying click, which inspires a certain confidence. Rigidity is aided by the Torsion Groove, a Dahon patented slot and mating groove on the hinge faces – simple and effective, like all the best ideas.

The handlebar stem folds around the newish hinge design that we’ve criticised in the past (see Dahon Presto, A to B 36).Whether the mechanism has been re-engineered, we don’t know, but there’s little or no play on this example, although it’s still possible to misengage the hinge in the dark, which we think could result in the bars collapsing as you pull away. Still, no-one else seems worried, so perhaps there’s no cause for alarm.

The Trek-branded saddle is excellent. A bit heavy, at 440g, but very comfortable. Both the saddle stem and seat tube are adjustable over a wide range, the handlebars from 98cm to 117cm and the saddle from virtually nothing to 104cm, which should suit most people.The general impression, reinforced by the rigidity and a reasonable 105.5 cm wheelbase, is of a bike for bigger people, so if you’ve discounted other folders as too small, this may be the machine of your dreams.

On the Road

Once under way, the Schwalbe Marathon tyres set up a pleasant zizz that reverberates tinnily in the hydroformed tubing.The feel is sporty, precise and dead fast, an impression heightened by the Deore gear set, that always gave knife-through-butter changes, despite some clumsy folding and unfolding (see below). Much of the credit must go to the Jagwire cables – take our word for it, you will be delighted by the precise, almost friction-free action.

The Jagwire effect is visible with the brakes too. A mere touch on the lever translates into a gentle brake application, the Shimano V-brakes working quietly and progressively, without the squeal and drama you tend to find with cheaper brands.That said, maximum power is a little disappointing.The rear wheel locks up at .38G, which is a little early, and the front is almost impossible to lock, thanks to a brake limiter.We managed a best front brake stop of .62G, which is perfectly adequate, but not quite up to the best available. With both brakes applied, maximum force is about .68G, the bike feeling very stable at this level. As we’ve said before, there’s an argument in favour of deliberately limiting front brake force to prevent those over-handlebar incidents, and Shimano has wisely followed this road.Without the limiter, the free-running cables could all too easily result in a locked front wheel.

Our only grumble – and it’s a very common problem – is a degree of brake bind and snatch due to poorly-trued wheels. A good cycle shop will sort this out at the Pre- Delivery Inspection stage, but a lazier (or less folder-orientated) shop won’t.

Drive train efficiency must be high too, because we guessed the bike was a shade low geared, but a check revealed first to be a highish 31″ and top a healthy 89″. Hmm, interesting.The Deore shifters change up in single gear steps, and down in anything up to four, so you can get most of the way through the gears with two grabs at the lever.That sort of thing makes for a noisy change, but the single steps are generally pretty slick. If we were putting a derailleur system on a folder, this is the sort of set-up we’d choose: Nine gears are a good compromise and the ratios are more or less spot-on.

…It has to be said that folding is not the Trek’s strongest suit…

Rolling resistance is not terribly good, but you’d never know it on the road.We recorded a roll-down speed of 13.7mph on our test hill, which is verging on shopping territory for 406mm tyres, and well below the best Brompton tyres, for example. Brakes and bearings are fine, so this relatively poor performance must be down to the Schwalbe Marathon Slick tyres, even at pressures of 55psi front and 85psi rear. Maximum pressure is 95psi, but you’ll need a good surface for that sort of thing, because the rigid frame transmits every lump and bump, albeit in a lithe and sporty way.

In practical terms, the F600 has no lights, rack or mudguards, so riding in winter can be a damp, sticky affair, and you’ll need battery lights and a back bag to carry all your bits and pieces.The mounting points are all there, but if you really want an all-weather Trek, you’d be better advised to buy the cheap but well-equipped F200 and upgrade from a 3-speed to 7- or 8-speed rear hub and dynamo lighting set.

Folding

 

Being an American product, warning stickers abound on the Trek. Our favourite involves folding: ‘…keep fingers and other body parts out from items which are folded.’ Which body parts? Nose, perhaps? Errant nipple? Pinch-an-inch flab deposit? Obviously nudists should take care not to stick anything wobbly into the mechanism. It has to be said that folding is not the Trek’s strongest suit: It’s relatively heavy, at 11.9kg (26lb) – hardly arm-stretching, but for a bike without accessories, definitely on the heavy side. If the F600 was equipped to commute in all weathers, you’d need to add at least 10% to that, which would put the bike firmly at the puddingy end of the folder scale.

Then there’s the folding technique. Trek folders come with a handbook, but never trust instructions such as ‘…avoid pinching yourself or the cables…’ or ‘…hold the cables out of the way…’. It begins to sound like a three-handed job.

One of the neater Dahon touches is a pair of little magnetic plates that hold the two frame halves together. Follow the instructions (saddle stem, then bars, pedals and mainframe) and you will produce a neatish 207 litre package, but you’ll have to hold it together yourself because there’s no way the magnets will make contact.With a bit of experimentation, we produced a smaller package by removing the saddle, then folding the pedals, the mainframe, and finally the bars.The saddle stem has to be stowed down the middle.This process allows the magnets to come together and produces a lower, longer package measuring 34cm across by 92cm long and 59cm tall. Folded volume, at 185 litres or 6.5 cubic feet, is smaller than the Giant Halfway, and a smidgen larger than the similar Dahon Helios, which is quite good for such a substantial machine.

All this mucking about does no good to the beautiful black paintwork, the ‘nail biter’ VP-117 pedals gouge chunks out of the Bontrager cranks if folded in the wrong place, and the matt black finish on the saddle stem comes off all too rapidly.With practice, the bike comes together reasonably quickly and consistently, but if folded frequently, the F600 would soon look tatty.

So far so good.Trek also provides a ‘three-piece folding bike bag’.The most useful part is a shoulder strap that loops around the bike fore and aft, enabling you to carry it in reasonable comfort. But rather oddly, there’s also a little dog basket thing, which can apparently be used as a sort of drip tray to prevent your F600 leaking muddy water all over the Italianate marble flooring.That’s all a bit designy and wimpy, but we get the idea.

Part three is even stranger – a sort of blancmange with a hole in the top. So you come steaming into Waterloo, 30 seconds before departure of the 17.32 to Effingham Junction: you sit the dog basket on the ground, fold the bike, place it in the basket, strap the shoulder strap to the machine at two points, feed it up through the hole, lower the blancmange over the bike and clip it to the dog basket in four places. Are they serious? This convoluted process produces a much bigger and more awkward package than you started with.Trek also claims that the blancmange converts into a backpack, but even our battle-scarred origami- minded folding technicians failed to complete the task.

With the three pieces costing £44.99, our recommendation is don’t even think about it. Old copies of The Sun do just as well as a drip tray (and are a lot more entertaining). A shoulder strap is useful, but you will find cheaper examples elsewhere.

Conclusion

Manufacturers seem to be jostling to dominate the posh end of the folder market, but look closely and you’ll see that most of them are Dahons, or Dahon-clones.The move upmarket has pushed prices through the roof: In 2003, the average Dahon cost £410 in the UK, but today you’ll pay £661 – an increase of more than 50%. And that’s cheap.The Birdy range now starts at £875 and runs to almost £2,000.

Against this sort of competition, the Trek gives a good account of itself, and at £470 to £750, it’s reasonably priced. Folding isn’t the best (probably easier than the Birdy, all the same) and weight is on the high side.The real competition here will come from Dahon’s own Helios SL due here next month – only £50 more expensive than the F600 and claimed to weigh just 8.2kg, or 21% less. Sounds like a win-win situation for Dahon, but we’ll let you know in June.

The Trek folders deserve to find buyers, and they will, partly because fashionable badges mean a great deal to some people.That said, tucking the bikes away in the old timers’ brochure hardly sounds like active marketing, which suggests that Trek might be a little embarrassed by the whole thing. A shame, because the F600 is a lively, efficient and rather sexy little number.

Specification

Trek F600 £750 .
Weight 11.9kg (26lb) .
Gear System Shimano Deore 9-spd .
Ratios 31” – 89”
Folded Volume Folded as instructions 207 litres (7.3 cu ft) Saddle stem removed 185 litres (6.5 cu ft)
Folded Dimensions As instructions L82cm H70cm W36cm Stem removed L92cm H59cm W34cm
Tyres Schwalbe Marathon Slick .
Size 35-406mm . Manufacturer Trek Bicycle Corporation
web www.trekbikes.com .
UK Distributor Trek Bicycle Corporation tel 01908 282626