Trek Madone 9 series - User review - Anyone bought one yet?

w100dsy

Been seriously considering purchasing a Trek Madone 9 series, just wondering if anyone on here has one or has ridden one and has any feedback. My LBS has had one of the race fit bikes in, but just wondering if there is any real world feedback?

mrushton

reviews poss. the nearest at the moment as it's a pure race bike. read the review at www.cyclefit.co.uk it's not a bike for 'comfortable' riding

w100dsy

I hadn't seen that post/review, but it's very interesting. I wouldn't be looking at the H1 race fit anyway. It would be the H2 frameset and then add on other components. I've got one of these or possibly a Canyon Aeroad CF SLX 9.0 on the radar and just trying to make an educated decision! The Canyon would be with dura ace di2 and the Madone with Ultegra di2. Both great bikes, but the Trek is so new that there are very few reviews and no 'test' bikes and Canyon is obviously all online! Thanks for the response anyway

teebs_123

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19739779#p19739779]w100dsy[/url] wrote:

I hadn't seen that post/review, but it's very interesting. I wouldn't be looking at the H1 race fit anyway. It would be the H2 frameset and then add on other components. I've got one of these or possibly a Canyon Aeroad CF SLX 9.0 on the radar and just trying to make an educated decision! The Canyon would be with dura ace di2 and the Madone with Ultegra di2. Both great bikes, but the Trek is so new that there are very few reviews and no 'test' bikes and Canyon is obviously all online! Thanks for the response anyway

As usual, I'd go with whichever bike fitted the best. My local shop built up a 9 series for a customer with a stack of spacers and it looked awful.

Evil Laugh

The h2 trek is a much friendlier geometry thatn the canyon. Treks are pretty high at the headtube, the canyon is at the other end of the geo spectrum, super long and low.

I've briefly ridden the trek the back end is super comfy, easily as good as domane. The front end less so but maybe because the stem was 20mm too short and my hands were jammed into the hoods. Could have made it better with tyre choice too, those bonties ride like crap.

The trek is a good bet. Def the most plush riding aero frame I've been on, by a long way.

Cyclefit have a few demo bikes.

Grill

Of you need any spacers on this bike (especially with the H2 geo) forget it. You'll just been in competition with the Venge ViAS lot to see who has an uglier rig.

johnsonmoog

I have a 9.5, love it. Comfortable to ride, great transfer of power and fantastic integration. Take for a test if you can.

288GTO

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19740096#p19740096]johnsonmoog[/url] wrote:

I have a 9.5, love it. Comfortable to ride, great transfer of power and fantastic integration. Take for a test if you can.

My two buddies I ride with have a 2015 Canyon Aeroad 7.0 with Ultegra Di2 and 2013 Trek Madone Series 7 with Dura Ace 9000 mechanical. Both bikes are absolutely superb but all three of us prefer the Canyon over the Trek. I love the Canyon so much I plan on ordering the Aeroad 9.0 sometime in the next few weeks.

w100dsy

All good feedback and I suppose the feel that you get from a bike will be different to different riders. I've ridden a Scott Foil for the last few years so I'm used to a fairly hard low ride anyway. Think the Trek is really cutting edge in terms of design takes integration to the extreme and sounds like there's quite a bit of comfort for a aero bike. The Canyon Aeroad 9.0 with the dura ace di2 is not far off a tour spec really. Both appealing in different ways. In terms of cost I can get a Trek 9 frameset and build it up with ultegra di2 and stick my own wheels on and even then it's just under £5k!!! (A bike with no wheels for £5k!). The Aeroad is £4799, less money, more kit, great bike. Both great write ups and 4.5/5 or better on every magazine review.
I love the look of both bikes and was ready to order the Canyon Aeroad until I saw the Trek.
It's a trade off I suppose, American all star vs stunning cold calculated german brilliance?

288GTO

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19740249#p19740249]w100dsy[/url] wrote:

All good feedback and I suppose the feel that you get from a bike will be different to different riders. I've ridden a Scott Foil for the last few years so I'm used to a fairly hard low ride anyway. Think the Trek is really cutting edge in terms of design takes integration to the extreme and sounds like there's quite a bit of comfort for a aero bike. The Canyon Aeroad 9.0 with the dura ace di2 is not far off a tour spec really. Both appealing in different ways. In terms of cost I can get a Trek 9 frameset and build it up with ultegra di2 and stick my own wheels on and even then it's just under £5k!!! (A bike with no wheels for £5k!). The Aeroad is £4799, less money, more kit, great bike. Both great write ups and 4.5/5 or better on every magazine review.
I love the look of both bikes and was ready to order the Canyon Aeroad until I saw the Trek.
It's a trade off I suppose, American all star vs stunning cold calculated german brilliance?

The only reason the Canyon doesn't get 5 star is the old tech Mavic wheels. I plan on getting the Aeroad 9.0 with Dura Ace Di2 and replacing the Mavic's with my new Zipp 303's. Basically best of both worlds.

Smirf

johnsonmoog wrote:

I have a 9.5, love it. Comfortable to ride, great transfer of power and fantastic integration. Take for a test if you can.

i'm quite tempted by the 9 series frameset. How are you finding it for climbing?

johnsonmoog

I find it works well. I have a set of Ksyrium SLS's fitted rather than the 'Aero' wheels that came with it, so that helps. I find this version works better in that respect than the previous edition (I had an aero 5.2 before with some Neutron Ultras). I'm awaiting a set of digital scales to arrive to weigh it up so I'll try to post that info when I can. I think Cancellara was riding one in Dubai this week rather than his preferred Domane (can anyone confirm?), which is quite interesting.

Smirf

johnsonmoog wrote:

I find it works well. I have a set of Ksyrium SLS's fitted rather than the 'Aero' wheels that came with it, so that helps. I find this version works better in that respect than the previous edition (I had an aero 5.2 before with some Neutron Ultras). I'm awaiting a set of digital scales to arrive to weigh it up so I'll try to post that info when I can. I think Cancellara was riding one in Dubai this week rather than his preferred Domane (can anyone confirm?), which is quite interesting.

Thanks. I'd use my Fulcrum Zeros for the mountains, so sounds positive

going for a fit this week, then will decide on this or a parlee. It will depend on what the fit shows and how many spacers they recommend. Too many and I might get the Parlee instead

johnsonmoog

Best of luck with it. JFYI, I managed to weigh mine and it came in at 7.4kg, with the noted wheels, cages and pedals, plus the Bontrager sensors for the speed and cadence.

proto

For information, I weighed a 54cm Series 9 H1 last night, came in at 7.2kg with pedals and training wheels. I'd expect it to be under 7kg with carbon race wheels.

All the reports say that it is surprisingly comfortable for an aero thoroughbred racer. Certainly a lovely looking bike.

da123

I've got a Project One Madone in a H2 fit (see link). Vapor coat colour paint job. Enve 4.5 tubs. Vittoria Corsa G+ tyres in 25mm width. Shimano Di2 with sprint shifters. Stages power meter. Selle San Marco Aspide superleggera saddle (not shown in pic). Time Xpresso 15 pedals.

https://www.facebook.com/70112182193/ph ... =3&theater

Weight, including pedals and cages, is 6.7kg.

Fit : I think unless you are very flexible, a H2 would suit most people better. I think having a H1 with a great big stack of spacers ruins the aesthetics, you really want to run the stem slammed or as close to slammed as possible IMO. The headtube on a H1 52cm is 110mm, which is very low (certainly too low for me, and I ride in the drops most of the time).

I don't have any comparison with another aero bike, but I can compare to my Canyon Ultimate CF SLX.

- The Trek is noticeably faster than the Canyon on the flat / downhill and any incline less than 3%. It is a bit quicker on inclines around 3/4%. It is on a par on inclines 5 to 8(ish) %. If the road is any steeper than that, the Canyon is faster (the Canyon weighs 5.5kg). On anything other than a very hilly ride, the Trek will be significantly faster I'd say. Once up to 'quick' speeds (23 plus mph), the Trek feels like it is giving you a big advantage in terms of perceived effort. I do an 80 mile loop (circa 3,000ft of climbing, but nothing very steep) on a reasonably regular basis. With a similar average power output I did this at 21.3mph average on Sunday. My previous best on the Canyon was 20.1mph average. It was pretty windy, so the advantage would probably be magnified a bit over a less blustery day, but I'd say on general it is worth 0.75mph for the same effort (more when going over 20mph).

- The Trek handles great. Better than the Canyon I'd say, which I find a bit twitchy. The Trek is fast handling but very secure and confidence inspiring.

- The Trek feels a bit stiffer around the head tube and BB. The bar/stem unit is stiffer than a separate bar/stem, although I've seen a couple of reviews saying that the unit is a bit flexy. I guess it may be if you're a big sprinter type, but it is more than stiff enough for my 67 kilos.

- It is a better sprinter than the Canyon, and the way it closes gaps and accelerates is pretty addictive

- Although reasonably comfortable, it is not as comfortable as the Canyon. Some of this may be the wheels rather than the chassis. Don't kid yourself that this will feel like a Domane / endurance bike however. It won't. It feels like a focussed race bike and encourages you to ride it as such. It doesn't beat you up though, which I guess is the important thing and the improvement over a lot of aero machines.

- the Di2 is fabulous (I've never had electronic before). I'd highly recommend the sprint shifters as well. I shift on these 90% of the time.

- getting the cables to be silent in the frame is an effort, and one best left to the bike shop. It took 3 goes of dismantling the bar stem unit to get it reasonably silent. It is still noisier than my other bikes (though bearable).