Emonda ALR - take it further or replace?

[Cardinal]

Hello!

I've been riding for 25 years; MTB to start with, then gradually moving into touring and most recently road riding. I have a range of bikes to suit, but the one I'd like to introduce is my 2016-framed Emonda ALR:




Its current spec is:

Part Item Wt (g)

Frame No.
Frame Trek Emonda ALR (56) 1,200
Fork Trek Emonda full carbon 320
Headset FSA Integrated 1.5>1.125 65
Stem Thomson X2 10deg 100mm 139
Bar EA70 42cm 260
Grips Fizik Superlight (dark grey) 52
Shifter Ultegra 6800 STI 425
F Mech Ultegra R8000 braze-on 91
R Mech Ultegra R8000 GS 11sp 210
Chain Dura Ace 11sp 247
BB BB71 75
Cranks Ultegra R8000 172.5 685
Cassette Ultegra 11-28 212
Chainring Ultegra 52/36T 0
Pedals M520 SPD 380
Brakes Ultegra 6800 335
Hub F DT-Swiss 240s Dicut (100x9) 1,420
Hub R DT-Swiss 240s Dicut (130x9)
Rims DT-Swiss RR21
Spokes DT-Swiss Aero
Tubes Conti Supersonic 106
Tyres Conti GP4000 25 448
Skewers DT RWS 5mm 103
Clamp Trek bolt clamp 22
Seatpost Thomson Elite Layback 27.2 242
Saddle Fizik Arione K:ium 241
Other Cables, cage etc 200

7,478kg
16.49lb

I've enjoyed riding this bike and find its acceleration uphill to be really good, but I'm having an itch to "do something" with it. In descending order, the main things I'd like to are:

- preserve the sense of acceleration / power transfer uphill
- add some comfort
- possibly lower the front end
- improve confidence downhill (rider being the main limitation!)

The most cost-effective thing to do would be to knock-off a little more weight and possibly add some comfort by going for carbon bars, seatpost and a lighter saddle. At other ends of the scale, I'm interested in a really high qualiy steel frame - or possibly an Emonda SL/R frameset.

I don't want to go for discs just yet as it would make replacement a fair bit cheaper... and I have a steel disc custom road bike, which has more relaxed geometry and is my UK 4-season bike. The brief for this bike (Emonda) is just for going fast!

Thanks in advance.

[wolfesquire]

You could drop 0.75 lb easily by switching to an Emonda SLR frameset

[happyon2wheels]

Really nice bike. I have an alu bike in similar size at 7 kg without any stupid expensive parts, so a good 300-500g should be possible. Places to focus on:

Without going overboard you could lose some weight on the stem (Uno7 would be -30g), pedals (Ultegra spd would be -115g), tires (Pirelli Velo 25mm would be -40g), seatpost (a good carbon post would be around 40-60g and increase comfort as well) and finally the saddle (Selle Italia SLR ti would be -100g).

In terms of comfort a carbon seatpost would work wonders.

For lowering the front you could replace the headset spacer, which looks to be quite tall or go for a -17 degree stem.

Let's know where you end up with he project.