Trek Madone Project One. Custom colour – an incentive to keep it clean!
I wanted a new road bike to replace my current one. My old bike was from Ribble; the frame was made from scandium (close to light aluminium) with a 5 year old mix of Dura Ace and Ultegra. It was light, and relatively cheap. In getting a new bike I wanted to get a top of the range road bike to last for several years. It was partly for getting best ride enjoyment, and also to have best bike for hill climb races.
I spent a long time looking through different options, e.g. top road bikes at Evans Cycles and Wiggle. What I found is that it was difficult to get a bike with everything I wanted. When I did find the right bike, it invariably didn’t come in my size (60cm) or it didn’t have an appealing colour or whatever.
I stumbled on Trek Madone Project One, and it was exactly what I was looking for. You can customise the bike, choosing components, frame, colour, size e.t.c. I am not attached to the Trek brand name, if I could choose a bike brand, I would have gone for an Italian one like Bianchi or Colnago. But, despite not being a huge fan of Trek, it seemed to offer the best value, so I was happy to go along with the Americans.
Because you could choose all components, I choose cheaper training wheels, which helped knock £700 off starting price. I added £300 to be able to choose custom colours, a little extravagant perhaps, but, it gives me joy. I could have save a lot more by choosing say Shimano Ultegra (which is as good as my old Dura Ace).
Lovely smooth Curves and great internal cable wiring. (Cateye Astrale fits nicely onto bike)
Specifications of Trek Madone 6.9
| Frame | OCLV2 SSL Carbon, E2, BB90, internal cable routing, DuoTrap compatible |
| Fork | Bontrager Race XXX Lite, full carbon w/E2 asymmetrical steerer |
| Saddle | Bontrager inForm Race X Lite, hollow titanium rails, 146mm width |
| Seat Post | Bontrager Ride Tuned Carbon seatmast cap, 20mm offset |
| Handlebars | Bontrager Race XXX Lite VR, carbon, 31.8mm |
| Stem | Bontrager Race XXX Lite Carbon, 7 degree, 31.8mm |
Groupset – Shimano Dura Ace.
Dura Ace groupset. Marvellous.
Weight of Trek Madone 6.9
This Trek Madone 6. weighs in at just over 7Kg. But, the wheels are not the lightest. I can save another 500-600 grams when I get some super light racing wheels. The pedals are Speedplay X1 which is about as light as you can go.
Bottle cages are Zipp carbon at 21grams each.
Computer is new Wireless Cateye Astrale which is very sleek and fits nicely on bike.
Review of Test Ride
After picking up bike, my first race was a 100 mile time trial, so the Madone got left at home. After one day recovery, I went on a 100 mile ride through the Yorkshire Dales. Setting off from Menston, after 30 miles I hit the climb of Fleet Moss (at 20%) and over 250 metres of climbing. As you might imagine, weight of bike is crucial for such a steep climb. But, it is the strength and responsiveness of the frame which makes a big difference. It is also a very comfortable ride over potholes of Yorkshire. On the fast descent (52mph) into Hawes, the bike felt very stable and comfortable around corners.
Having not ridden too many carbon fibre road bikes, the ride was bound to be an improvement on the old Aluminium frame I had been riding. But, it still felt quite exciting to ride.
100 miles is quite a lot for first test ride. I was pretty tired towards the end of the ride. I may replace the Bontrager saddle, with a Selle Italia I have been used to riding. Saddles are quite a personal affair; the best and most expensive are not necessarily the most comfy. On the other hand, I may keep riding to see if I get used to the new saddle. Also, the handlebars are quite different to usual set up. It needs a few tweaking to get the best position. The only thing I was very careful with was maintaining same saddle height that I have on all my bikes.
Buying Trek Madone Project One
A nice feature of the Trek Madone Project One series is that you order it online, but, it gets delivered to your local Trek Dealer. For me this was Beeline Bicyles on Cowley Road just one mile away. When you spend so much money on a bike, it is actually nice to pick it up from people enthusiastic about cycling, rather than just dumped by your postman. It also means I can have free bike sizing and free services on bike.
Overall Review of Trek Madone Project One.
Overall I am very happy. I spent a lot of time researching best road bike, and I just couldn’t find a better deal than this. You may be less fussy about choice of colour and you may need a more standard size like 58cm, in which case other models may be good value. But, because I could choose cheap wheels (which is what I needed), the bike was quite a bit cheaper, than a model where wheel choice is fixed. It’s also very nice choosing components to a bike, it feels like you are helping to build it up. Also in the internet age, it is still very nice to get the best of both worlds – internet choice and value, and still picking it up from local bike shop (who threw quite a few accessories in for free)
Related
- Trek Madone 6 Series at Trek Bikes
- Best Road Bikes
- Trek Equinox SSL – my time trial bike
Hey, congrats on the new “snow-white” companion! Beauty is part of everything in this world! And may you two meet the toughest climbs!
I am waiting for mine: ohh, still two more months till arrival!
http://www.epic-cycles.co.uk/images/Bianchi-Infinito-Cel-1000d.jpg
Very nice bike and spec. I think the pics on a sunny day will show the white better but it looks great on my screen.
I wouldn’t put in the shed either unless you have insurance!
So jealous Tejvan! I’m just doing window shopping on the project one website, I could easily spend a lot of money there, thankfully I’m broke!
It may be a winter training bike. I’m not sure how much I would get from selling it (frame has a few dents). Though it has some nice bites
what have you done with the ribble?
5K?!! Chapeau on that.
let’s hope it doesn’t live in the shed
Lets hope you shave a few seconds off races etc!! You’d need to justify it at that cost!
it is white
You can tell I don’t have a wife, with one bike living in the Dining Room.
With these choices, the Madonne was just under £5,000
price is irrelevant when it comes to bikes ;-)…plus, he may have a wife and it would never do to reveal the actual cost.
so, tell us: how much did you spend?
very nice bike. is that white or pale blue? Like you I’m a fan of the italians (De Rosa esp) and have a carbon Avant, but I also have a mercian 631 and an alu 7005 and they are all my friends. Trek certainly seem to have produced a desirable bike in the Project 1 and I’m not suprised you choose it. The attention to detail in the frame looks astonishing. My Derosa is a lovely bike, but it does retain the “artisanal” (?) flaws and defects of a smaller manufacturer that are ironed out as a matter of course with the bigger producers. BTW If you see me on the Mercian (green frame) in Oxford take a picture and post it on here. I keep checking…