Weight Weenies

^ A 155lbs Cavendish putting out 1,600w at his max is vastly different than a wet Contador at 135lbs putting out significantly less power at max than Cav. I wouldn't compare those two. If Geoff strips the frame, I bet it is within a few % of a consumer version of the SLR.

Ha... I suspect you're probably right on the Emonda, but it's not hard to add a few squares of carbon layup here and there to beef up the most highly stressed points. If the difference is minimal then sure, just stick on a few weights but if an extra layup could make it noticeably stronger, then by all means... gimme that any day over a lead weight.

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Time did this for Boonen.

I prefer the Emonda.

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I prefer the look of the madone and the weight of the emonda... why can't I have both ?

There is a GCN video about Bertie's Emonda and it weighs in at 6,5kg. They say the mechanics add the Velon thingy at the saddle first and then put additional weight on it if needed.
The Velon transmitters add about 200g and are one of the reasons why Trek Segafredo don't get the Madone to the weight limit.

@Calnago, yes, his bike is one of the most-recent additions to my collection.

Alberto runs a H1 56, which is fine for me. I would personally choose to run the H1 54 with a 140mm stem, but he prefers a more upright position which is still rideable for me. The saddle height is within 3mm of mine (as measured with the FitStik). The only reason I got the bike now instead of at the end of the season is that they changed the 'viper red' Team livery to white at the Tour.

I have never had a Trek Emonda in my collection before, so I was quite interested to try it. It is a pretty nice bike, that's for sure. Crazy light. I really like the race number holder. Once I get it set-up with SRM, etc., I'll let you know my thoughts.

I don't get this choice? If I want a road aero frame I'd choose between various models from different manufacturers, and similarly if I wanted a light-weight climbing frame. The intended use should determine the options, not a common manufacturer (unless I only had one manufacturer's frames to choose from of course).

In this case I think the resulting two finalists would for a lot of people end up being the same regardless. Both best in class (aero or climbing) arguably come from the same manufacturer. I'm not into the whole aero thing for my own reasons, but if I were I'd be hard pressed to look further than the Madone. And even though the Emonda SLR is simply too light a frame for my liking, it's the only superlight frame that I would even want to try, simply because I believe Trek to have the R&D resources to pull it off as well or better than anyone. Lastly, the geometry is one that works very well for me, that may or not be the case for someone else. So yes, these would be my two finalists even after looking at all the offerings from all the other manufacturers.

Geoff wrote:@Calnago, yes, his bike is one of the most-recent additions to my collection.

Alberto runs a H1 56, which is fine for me. I would personally choose to run the H1 54 with a 140mm stem, but he prefers a more upright position which is still rideable for me. The saddle height is within 3mm of mine (as measured with the FitStik). The only reason I got the bike now instead of at the end of the season is that they changed the 'viper red' Team livery to white at the Tour.

I have never had a Trek Emonda in my collection before, so I was quite interested to try it. It is a pretty nice bike, that's for sure. Crazy light. I really like the race number holder. Once I get it set-up with SRM, etc., I'll let you know my thoughts.

Awesome! Might you do a build thread for it as well? Pics! Is it one of the brand new Emonda SLR's or one of the previous generations, with the straighter less profiled downtubes? I think they did a last minute color change simply because there were too many red bikes in the peloton. Love the Viper Red. There were still a lot of Viper Red bikes on top of the team car at the tour. And don't forget to tell the story of how you acquired it in the first place, please.

They did a color change just for the tour. The team is back on the red bikes at Tour of Poland and I'm guessing even the Vuelta.

Svetty wrote:I don't get this choice? If I want a road aero frame I'd choose between various models from different manufacturers, and similarly if I wanted a light-weight climbing frame. The intended use should determine the options, not a common manufacturer (unless I only had one manufacturer's frames to choose from of course).

Calnago wrote:In this case I think the resulting two finalists would for a lot of people end up being the same regardless. Both best in class (aero or climbing) arguably come from the same manufacturer. I'm not into the whole aero thing for my own reasons, but if I were I'd be hard pressed to look further than the Madone. And even though the Emonda SLR is simply too light a frame for my liking, it's the only superlight frame that I would even want to try, simply because I believe Trek to have the R&D resources to pull it off as well or better than anyone. Lastly, the geometry is one that works very well for me, that may or not be the case for someone else. So yes, these would be my two finalists even after looking at all the offerings from all the other manufacturers.

Bingo, Calnago nails it. Trek has two of the top frames in their respective categories. If one wants a lightweight climbing bike, the Emonda SLR at $3000 is hard to beat. Same with the Madone and its aero category. While some might not like the integration, its use of the IsoSpeed design puts it at the top of that category.

Not to mention Trek's offering of H1 and H2 fit means most riders can get the exact fit/very close to it that they want. Plus ProjectOne ability to get a unique paint scheme & Trek's lifetime warranty. Many aspects make Trek a very solid consideration now. So I could definitely see one narrowing down their consideration to either the Madone or Emonda and trying to decide which of those two would best fit their riding. Trek has definitely moved back to the cutting edge of the industry with their engineering and composite layup schedule.

I'm interested in this topic because Trek's new Emonda really appeals to me. I live in a "hilly" part of Indiana and don't see mile long climbs like many people on the forums do, but I feel like the Emonda would be a great crit bike if it's stiff, lightweight, and corners well.

I've never ridden either, which will change soon. Does anybody race the Emonda in crits or road races? I generally make it into some breaks which means I could get value out of the Madone, but how marginal would the benefit be if I'm already running Enve 4.5s? As light as the SLR is, I'm sure it accelerates well so long as the lightness doesn't bring along flex in the BB.

I was ready to order a 2018 Madone frameset but came up about $1000 short.
I wanted an aero bike since I ride mainly flats, occasional hilly rides.
And I have Trek credit.
I ended up getting the 2018 Emonda SLR frameset, 56, in black/viper red. And got change back ....
I didn't really need another WW bike - my Focus Izalco Max is about 12.6 pounds with Zipp 202 tubulars, 13 with Zipp 303 NSW, pedals and cages, computer mount-included.
If the Emonda rides better I'll be happy, but the Izalco Max is just amazing, so tall order to beat.
So I won't be aero this year ... but I may be able to get the new Emonda up to 1/2 pound lighter with the new Berk saddle etc.
Hopefully, the frame will arrive this week, when I can compare actual vs advertised weight (sore subject between me and Trek)

By next year, I may opt for the Argon 18 Nitrogen Pro instead of the Madone.

2018 madone h2 price drop to 3500USD. like that glossy clearcoat is back.

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