![]() ![]() Trek keeps the Madone's rear brake where it should be - up on the seatstays. At worst, they are a literal drag, causing brake-pad rub when out of the saddle. At best, they are a chore to work on, and quickly gather grime. ![]() I hate rim calipers positioned underneath a frame's bottom bracket. (No cuckoo bird pops out, though, unfortunately.) Cuckoo clock? Nope, just pivoting doors for the front brake - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media The little cuckoo-clock panels flip open when you turn the bars, allowing the brake and housing room to move. ![]() By extending the frame's front section to house the front brake cable, Trek reduced drag substantially compared with bolting a standard caliper on the front of the fork. Trek isn't the first company to experiment with hiding the brake calipers from the wind, but I believe they have done the best job thus far. For this 56cm, I topped it out at 76cm - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media Aero brakes: decent power and, gasp, a delight to work on Fit, of course, is highly personal - just be sure the bike always fits you, whatever it is! There is a finite range of saddle-height adjustment for each bike. The 56cm bike has a saddle height range of 67-76cm.įor me, at 6ft with short legs, I had the saddle all the way up to 76cm and a 120cm stem all the way down, and would have appreciated another centimeter or two of handlebar drop. The Madone's head tube is 170mm, but the real story is the stack, at 58.2cm - a good 20-33mm taller than most aero race bikes - Ben Delaney / Immediate Mediaįor comparison in size 56cm bikes, Canyon's Aeroad has a stack of 55cm, Specialized's Venge ViAS a 56.4cm and Cervélo's S5 a 56.5cm to the Madone's 58.2cm.Īll the Madone sizes have a relatively tight saddle adjustment window. Front-end height comparisons are often done with head-tube measurements, but this doesn't account for differences in various bikes' bottom bracket heights. Stack is the vertical difference between the top of the head tube and the center of the bottom bracket. The lower H1 fit is only available in Project One, which adds $1,500 to the price.Īs such, the Madone 9.0 has a slightly taller stack height than other aero bikes. Like most of the other Madone bikes, the 9.0 comes in Trek's H2 fit. Yes, it's marginally slower in a wind tunnel, but you can easily adjust the bar angle or, like I did, replace the stock stem as needed.įront and rear fit constraints - versus the competition The Madone 9.0 is the first Madone to come with separate bar and stem components. With an integrated design, you get what you get. And as anyone who has spent time in a wind tunnel will tell you, clean means fast - Ben Delaney / Immediate MediaĪnd while integrated bar/stem cockpits work well for many riders, some people would prefer particular bar shapes, or bar angles, or at least the ability to make changes. (A good aero bike has a total drag number in the 70-watt range.) Even with a relatively traditional handlebar, the front end is remarkably clean. Most companies claim at least a 4-watt improvement. The bike received plaudits from several cycling outlets includin g BikeRadar for its aero performance and its comfort, thanks largely to Trek's IsoSpeed flex design, which allows the seat tube and seatmast to flex as one.īut while the bike managed to avoid the typical pitfall of early aero bikes - they're fast, but they ain't comfy - it did proceed with a typical aero compromise of ergonomic adjustability in favor of an ultra-clean integrated bar/stem that is demonstrably faster.įor context, most major companies with a high-end aero bike sell it with some form of integrated bar/stem, for the same reason: it's aerodynamically faster than a round bar and normal stem by a significant margin. In late 2015 Trek overhauled the Madone as an ultra-aero race machine, with not only cables but the brakes themselves hidden from the wind. The down tube is a veritable sail in the wind - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media One Madone that breaks (a little) free of certain fit constraints Bontrager Aeolus Comp Tubeless Ready 50mm wheels.Shimano Ultegra group with Madone Aero brakes.Normal stem and adjustable aero handlebar.10 of the best deep aero wheels lab tested.How to ruin an aero road helmet (don't do this!). ![]() Tunnel test video: How slippery should your aero road bars be?.The catch? This magic carpet comes with a tight fit window: the front end is a touch high for a race bike, the seatmast's vertical adjustment is limited, and the front wheel has toe overlap and a limited turn radius. There are no sloppy cables whistling in the wind here. The Trek Madone is the most comfortable aero bike I've ridden by a long shot, and its ultra-clean front end and massive, sculpted tubing deliver not only a fast but a luxuriously quiet ride. This is farthest the front wheel turns - Ben Delaney / Immediate Media ![]()
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