madone SLR vs SLR DIsc ?

[Fisherfreerider]

You make those brakes sound like some kind of witchcraft is needed to make them work right which is completely false. The only thing needed is to follow the setup intructions from Trek and they will work every time.

https://trek.scene7.com/is/content/Trek ... Manual.pdf

[Calnago]

Well they weren’t working very well when it came out of the Trek Store, which is the reason it ended up in my hands in the first place. And they of all people, should have been able to do it right. Not to mention having had the bolt head stripped as the previous mechanic couldn’t seem to get it right. It is witchcraft. And should be burned at the stake. I say this over and over again, that if there’s several designs of something, I don’t care what it is, and they are intended to accomplish the same thing, all else being equal the simplest design wins. These brakes simply do not work as well as either a Campy or Shimano rim brake offering, and they are not even close to being as simple to set up. And I’m very familiar with the Assembly Manual you linked to. Do you think I was just fixing them by trial and error? I wasn’t. I read that thing over and over and over. Doesn’t change my view on these brakes.

[Fisherfreerider]

I never said it was done right when you got it, clearly it was not and shame on the mechanic. We are in an era of very complicated and integrated everything on bikes including brakes, it is not old single bolt rim brakes any more.

[Calnago]

Hmmm... maybe it should be. Since they work better than the new complicated highly integrated stuff.

[gwilson]

Decided I'm going to pull the trigger on a new Madone but wanted to know which of two options you guys thought would be better: buying the SLR 8 disc stock setup, or buying an SLR 6 and upgrading to Aeolus XXX wheels (either the 4 or 6). Price wise the 6 plus the XXX 6s is a bit cheaper, but from my math it would save me 285 grams on the wheels for a total of 8.095kg as opposed to 7.81 on the SLR 8 with stock Aeolus Pro 5s. Honestly I'm surprised that the Ultegra build with better wheels is still nearly 300 grams heavier. Besides the weight, will there be much of a difference between one bike with Ultegra and the top of the line wheels vs. Dura-Ace and mid level carbon wheels?

[bruno2000]

Decided I'm going to pull the trigger on a new Madone but wanted to know which of two options you guys thought would be better: buying the SLR 8 disc stock setup, or buying an SLR 6 and upgrading to Aeolus XXX wheels (either the 4 or 6). Price wise the 6 plus the XXX 6s is a bit cheaper, but from my math it would save me 285 grams on the wheels for a total of 8.095kg as opposed to 7.81 on the SLR 8 with stock Aeolus Pro 5s. Honestly I'm surprised that the Ultegra build with better wheels is still nearly 300 grams heavier. Besides the weight, will there be much of a difference between one bike with Ultegra and the top of the line wheels vs. Dura-Ace and mid level carbon wheels?

Interesting to know in this regard would be the weight difference of the rims used on both wheels.

[FIJIGabe]

Decided I'm going to pull the trigger on a new Madone but wanted to know which of two options you guys thought would be better: buying the SLR 8 disc stock setup, or buying an SLR 6 and upgrading to Aeolus XXX wheels (either the 4 or 6). Price wise the 6 plus the XXX 6s is a bit cheaper, but from my math it would save me 285 grams on the wheels for a total of 8.095kg as opposed to 7.81 on the SLR 8 with stock Aeolus Pro 5s. Honestly I'm surprised that the Ultegra build with better wheels is still nearly 300 grams heavier. Besides the weight, will there be much of a difference between one bike with Ultegra and the top of the line wheels vs. Dura-Ace and mid level carbon wheels?

I just reviewed your numbers, based on the Trek website. The SLR 6 weighs in at 8.1kg. Discounting the Aeolus Comp wheels (1860g), you're looking at a weight of 6235g. WIth the XXX 6 wheels (claimed weight is 1575g), the bike would weigh in at 7810g (rough numbers).

The Madone SLR 8 weighs in at 7.81kg, again, per the website.

In essence, it's a push. Better wheels vs. better groupset. Personally, I would go with the SLR 6, since it'll be easier to upgrade smaller parts as they wear out, rather than having to dish out big money for wheels on the SLR8, later on.

[fromtrektocolnago]

personally if i'm going rim brakes i want alloy wheels. once i've made the decision to go carbon wheels disc is going to be the better brake.
as far as the better group set , taking the ultegra vs shimano option its just a few grams. if it were me i'd rather spend the money on a nicer frame or better riding wheel set.

[cajer]

I'm been really suprised how good the braking on the XXX wheels is. It went from can't stop me at all even when dry on the old Aelous D3 7's to: hey I can stop when it's wet out.

I also like the Aeolus XXX wheels better than Zipp's Showstopper wheels. Those had a bit better bite, but they squeeled like mad when I braked modeterally hard despite sanding down their platinium evo pads.

[Calnago]

@gwilson: I wasn't sure if one of your choices is rim brake, or if they are both disc brake choices. If both disc, then I'd opt for the Dura Ace option. Never hurts to have two sets of wheels if you want to upgrade down the road, but you don't need two groupsets with only one bike, so may as well have the best. Plus, that would be the ligher option anyway right off the bat, correct?
But if one of your choices was the rim brake version, then the brake track becomes very important, and I'd only do that if you upgraded to the XXX wheels for the reason @cajer above is stating. I haven't ridden the new XXX wheels, so don't have first hand experience, but they are supposedly better braking than the Aeolous and quite frankly I was not impressed with the combo of the Madone's rim brakes and Aeolus 5 setup. Of course, with discs, the brake track doesn't matter.

[gwilson]

Decided I'm going to pull the trigger on a new Madone but wanted to know which of two options you guys thought would be better: buying the SLR 8 disc stock setup, or buying an SLR 6 and upgrading to Aeolus XXX wheels (either the 4 or 6). Price wise the 6 plus the XXX 6s is a bit cheaper, but from my math it would save me 285 grams on the wheels for a total of 8.095kg as opposed to 7.81 on the SLR 8 with stock Aeolus Pro 5s. Honestly I'm surprised that the Ultegra build with better wheels is still nearly 300 grams heavier. Besides the weight, will there be much of a difference between one bike with Ultegra and the top of the line wheels vs. Dura-Ace and mid level carbon wheels?

I just reviewed your numbers, based on the Trek website. The SLR 6 weighs in at 8.1kg. Discounting the Aeolus Comp wheels (1860g), you're looking at a weight of 6235g. WIth the XXX 6 wheels (claimed weight is 1575g), the bike would weigh in at 7810g (rough numbers).

The Madone SLR 8 weighs in at 7.81kg, again, per the website.

In essence, it's a push. Better wheels vs. better groupset. Personally, I would go with the SLR 6, since it'll be easier to upgrade smaller parts as they wear out, rather than having to dish out big money for wheels on the SLR8, later on.

Not sure if you were checking the rim brake version, but the SLR 6 Disc is listed as 8.38 kg. Anyways I eventually decided to get the SLR 6 Disc with the Aeolus XXX 4 instead of 6 because where I live is decently windy and I don't want my only wheelset to be super deep. My math says this should bring it to just under 8kg theoretically, but I'm also a 60cm so it will probably be a bit over even before adding pedals, cages, garmin, etc. Hopefully should have pics once its in in a few weeks. Thanks for your suggestions everyone. Since there's a good chance Shimano will follow SRAM and Campy to 12 speed next year I think getting the best quality frame and wheels while leaving room for a groupset upgrade in a few years is my best option

[FIJIGabe]

Yep, sorry. Just double-checked my info and you are right, it is 8.38kg, not 8.1. That still doesn't affect my opinion, and if you're looking at upgrading to 12-speed on that frame, I don't see why you would spend more on the DA components, when they'll be replaced in a year or two.

Enjoy the bike!

[bikepress]

yeah thats my fight!

slr 6 disk 8.30 and slr disk etap axis 7,98 and is 4 times more expensive!
i think the 300 grams are pretty easy to shave off with a set of wheels and carbon saddle!

She will stay with the same weight for much less money, and maintenance costs i guess!