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2016 Trek Madone 9 Series first look + video

At Trek UK’s recent Trek World event, I got to spend some time admiring the new Madone 9 series and wanted to share some photos and observations on the bike for those interested.

Stunning race shop Madone 9 series - looks even better in real life!

Stunning race shop Madone 9 series – looks even better in real life!

The new Madone, like the new Specialized Venge VIAS, represent for me, what’s likely to be a significant step up in aero bike performance. In a lot of bike companies bikes are often designed by a small number of people but Trek committed dozens of engineers to the process and have documented the process in a whitepaper that’s well worth downloading and reading at your leisure. A couple of things that stood out to me in particular in the whitepaper were how much aero difference there was between a standard road bike and the fastest aero bikes (page 14) and also how well the Cervelo S5 still performs in a wind tunnel for what’s a reasonably old design.

Non drive side view

Non drive side view

I’ve been an aero bike fan for some years and have been riding them since the end of 2010 (http://girodilento.com/first-look-neilpryde-alizenazare-di2-aero-test-platform/) and most of my fastest ever rides have been on aero bikes. I know that a lot of other people are still sceptical and that’s fair enough – each to their own. For me, when a company like Trek commits major engineering resources to an aero bike project like the Madone, I’m confident that it should be very quick.

I’ve always considered Trek a fairly humble company so the slogan they’ve launched the Madone with: “The ultimate race bike” suggests they’re very punchy about how this bike has turned out.

Cut through to show the IsoSpeed design

Cut through to show the IsoSpeed design

You’ve probably read coverage on the bike already but some of the key features on top of state of the art aerodynamics include the incorporation of Trek’s highly regard IsoSpeed technology to add more comfort (whilst seated) through the seatpost. In the Madone’s case it means a second seat tube inside the aero outer that allows some movement for comfort. The striking new bar and stem designed as part of the Madone “module” hides the cables and is a key part of the much higher level of integration of this new bike. Bontrager’s own aero brakes also add to the integration along with the “invisible” cable routing including the Di2 junction box and battery. You might have also seen the intriguing vector wings that open when the bike turns.

High levels of integration need a new order of documentation...

High levels of integration need a new order of documentation…

Only very confident home mechanics will self build?

Only very confident home mechanics will self build?

All this adds up to, what to me, looks like a fantastic bike. It’s lucky that I don’t have the cash lying around otherwise I might have already placed an order. I certainly hope to try one sometime.

Project One Madone 9 series with Ultegra mechanical build

Project One Madone 9 series with Ultegra mechanical build

You can order Madones as complete bikes in a range of specs or as a frameset. The frameset doesn’t’ include the integrated stem and bars but I understand these will be available to buy as well. You can design your own Madone under the Project One programme and the stunning blue bike in the photos is a Project One build.

You can find out more on the Madone here: http://www.trekbikes.com/uk/en/bikes/road/performance_race/madone/

You can read early reviews on the bike at:

Bicycling Magazine

Road.cc

Bikeradar

I’ve had a go at a simple video walkaround below shot in full HD so you can go full screen for a “better” look. Constructive feedback on the video for future efforts welcome in the comments as it’s something I’m keen to do more of if readers are interested.

 

If you’d like to read more about the other new Trek road bikes for 2016, please click to see this post: http://girodilento.com/trek-world-uk-2016-model-year/

Thanks for reading