Here it is! The new Trek Madone | First Look
The spyshots, teasing and guessing is finally over. Today Trek released details on their new road race bike, the Madone Gen 8. We’ve got the scoop for you.
Essentially, Trek has merged the Émonda and Madone into an all-new road race bike, to be known as the Madone Gen 8. The idea to combine the two bikes came from their Lidl-Trek professional riders who asked for a one-bike solution, for all racing conditions. Their brief to the Trek engineers: make it as light as the Émonda and as aero as the Madone.
It seems they delivered on the brief. In fact, Trek says the new Madone SLR is the same weight as the Émonda SLR and is 320 grams lighter than the Gen 7 Madone SLR. In testing, it’s 77 seconds per hour faster than the Émonda. In terms of aero performance, I’m told (and I’ve seen the white papers on this) despite looking ‘less aero’ – the new bike matches the aerodynamics of the super-sleek looking Gen 7 Madone.
The secret sauce behind the improved performance is a cocktail of improved tube shapes, a more efficient (stronger and lighter) carbon and improved manufacturing processes. From the fork, downtube, water bottles, seat tube and through the stays, each leading edge is unique in shape creating a more holistic system. Generally, I’d say the tube shapes are now more compact looking.
The IsoFlow – that gap in the seat tube has also been refined with some subtle updates. It’s smaller and according to Trek delivers the same aerodynamic performance but adds more compliance (and rider comfort) into the system. Trek says the new Madone is up to 80% more compliant than the Madone Gen 7 and has 24% more vertical compliance than the Émonda. The bike’s maximum tyre width is 32mm.
The Madone Gen 8 is available in two models; the SL and SLR. The only difference between the two is the carbon — and that the SLR frames are ‘electronic shifting specific’ bikes. The SL is the brand’s OCLV 500 series carbon whilst the SLR is a new OCLV 900 series carbon which is 20% stronger than the OCLV 800 series used on previous SLR level bikes.
There’s also a change to the frame fit and sizing. Trek has made some small tweaks and essentially renamed the H1.5 geometry into a more apt ‘Road Race Geo’. This naming change makes a whole lot more sense especially considering they no longer run the H1 or H2 geometry systems anymore. The Madone Gen 8 is available in six sizes, running from XS to XL.
Initially South Africa will have four models available; the SL 5 with Shimano 105 mechanical shifting, a SL 6 with SRAM AXS wireless shifting, a SLR 7 with Shimano Di2 and finally a flagship SLR 9 with SRAM AXS wireless shifting. Pricing starts at R70k and rolls up to R355k. Finally, perhaps one of the biggest upsides of the new bike is riders no longer have to choose between sprinting or climbing, lightweight or aero — if you are a racer or Strava chaser, you chose a Madone. Learn more on trekbikes.com or stay tuned for our ride review. //