WuJJ wrote:Reasons I wouldn't want to own a Madone:
- Too much of a headache to work on with all the hidden cables and total integration.
- Although the IsoSpeed decoupler did help dampen road shocks a little for the saddle, a lot of road buzz came through the bars and pedals.
- The Madone had a ton of spacers under the stem as well as a slightly higher BB (Dogma BB drop is 72mm, Madone is 70mm, Oltre is 68mm). I felt higher on the Madone. I wasn't as confident in the corners as the Dogma F8 coming down Mt. Hamilton. My descent times were slower on the Madone even though it's more aerodynamic. Of course there might've been other variables such as wind.
- There were creaking when I was out of the saddle. Pretty sure it was the BB.
I just want to rebut some of these issues, as I own a Madone, and do all my own maintenance (DA 9000 mechanical). I respect your opinion, I just think some things need to be addressed.
1. The setup is a pain. No joke, it took me 12 hours to learn how to set up the bike and completely set it up. However, once the cables are run in the housings, replacing them is relatively easy. Since the cables aren't exposed, you can pretty much pull them out the entire way and other than opening the downtube junction port (5 minutes), threading cables is almost as easy as externally cabled. It took me 20 minutes to recable the derailleurs on my bike.
2. The bars do transmit more vibration than my old Madone, but I find the wide bars are comfortable for riding. I usually don't ride on the tops of the bars, because I have big hands and the bars just don't feel natural. Not the case on the Madone - they're big and comfortable.
3. The spacers can be a bit much. Did you go with an H1 or H2 fit on the bike? I could have gone with an H1, but I decided that I rather have the bars as low as possible on an H2, rather than have a stack of spacers underneath.
4. The creaking was probably coming from the bars. BB90 doesn't have cups in the traditional BB30 way, rather, the bearings sit in the frame. I've never had creaking in any of my Treks. That being said, my Madone did give me an issue with creaking, and I tracked it down to the headset. It has the upper and lower bearing, and a spacer that sits inside the upper bearing that directs the internal cables and holds them in position. That's where I was getting the creaking, and I remedied it by putting a little grease on the bearing. Voila!