My 5200 is a 2006 triple chain ring Ultegra gruppo model that has performed flawlessly for nearly 10 years. For its era, it is very light, stiff, but with enough compliance to feel smooth at full gas speed. It has good power transfer to wheel when compared with my recent purchase of the Trek Emonda SL5. It does not quite have the climbing giddy-up that I note with the Emonda, but then it rides much smoother. The only improvement made was to switch out wheel set for Mavic Open Pro with Ultregra hub.

There is no weakness in my opinion!

After thousands of mile on the "52" I still get a kick out of how it performs.

Sure, stead, fast

3-4 pounds heavier than some of the newer bikes out there.

Bought this bike close to ten years ago. It does close to everything very well. The only way it's shown it's age is in the weight area where newer technologies have resulted in lighter frames. Recently swapped out the wheels which has breathed new life into it. Came with Ultegra 6500 which continues to perform very well despite only having 9 gears(who needs more?)

Climbs extremely well - descends even better :-). I love the fixed hanger on the back, geometry, and old school smooth carbon transitions, especially on the rear stay. I can also sit on the top tube and pose like a pro racer, which is easier than the new compact frames.

It's not a fair comparison, but I ride a Speed Concept most of the time, and can definitely tell the ol' 5200 has a little flex in the BB under extreme load (for me, that's north of 350 watt efforts for short duration) but not enough for me to want to switch to a newer frame or one of the open molds (although I have been tempted by the FM028 and FM015...)

I purchased my 5200 (the nude carbon model) in 2003 and am the original owner. I ride and train primarily for long course triathlon, but the 5200 gets a few races and events each season and is my go-to for technical rides or mountain climbing. This past winter I pulled the entire grouppo and replaced with the dark glossy ultegra 10 speed. Also just mounted new Zipp 101's with Michelin Pro Race 3's. This baby will move. I've dropped newer bikes, and have also been dropped myself by steel bikes, old Serrottas, etc. (at least no one with a burley trailer has passed me yet.) From a reliability perspective - the 52 has never let me down.

Great on Century Rides

On slow rides not the best road feel

Have this bike for 8 years. It's phenomenal

Fast light, agile. Great ride.

Poor customer service, weak frame that'd broke after 5 years. The bontager race liters almost killed me when the rim crack on a step downhill. I 've heard that many people had similar experiences. Trek should have recalled these and instead they wait for them to fail.

Great bike that trek has ignored its faults. I think trek has figured we have the reputation, let's not fix the flaws, make money and let people assume it is their fault.

Hard fast accel smooth ride

Bottom bracket flex even though it is lateral stiff and its not really a problem

This is a Trek 5900 found this ultra lite with less than a 100 mi on it. Been sitting in garage for years had orginal tires dry rotted but still ridable. What a great bike 15lbs 4oz 56cm will upgrade to sti new tires convert to 9sp . I ride ti most of time wanted to try carbon without big cash outlay wow!