So far I'm still amazed at how smooth the ride is given the frame's stiffness. With more time on the bike I'm sure I'll get past smooth & stiff and begin to appreciate/recognize the frame's more subtle attributes but so far that's what stands out. For those who are wondering, the bike (as pictured) weighed in at 16 pounds 10 ounces on Contender's digital scale.
Since Trek won't offer the Madone frameset for sale until 2008 this may be one of the few bikes built with SRAM Rival you'll see for a while. I would have used my SRAM crank too but Trek is only producing Shimano compatible bottom bracket bearing assemblies (I'm not sure what you call the new bb since it's no longer external but rather fits directly into the bb shell of the frame). Eventually they'll support other brands but right now only Shimano cranks work with the new frame.
6 comments:
I've seen it in person and I have to say it's a sweet lookin' bike! Glad it rides good too.
mmmm new bikes... looks nice!
That's a pretty sweet looking ride.
And 16'10" for a big frame like you ride is enviable. Nice work, man.
Very nice. I'm curious -- what do you think of the seat mast feature? Any difference from the prior frame? Any differences between ascending and descending? I've read various reviews in mags, but haven't heard from a real user.
JT
I had some early problems with the seat mast slipping. The shop applied a paste to increase the friction between the carbon surfaces and tightened the bolts to the maximum torque setting. Since then it's been fine. I don't know if it's the seat mast or just the overall stiffness of the frame but when seated it feels extremely solid. I don't recall any seatpost flex on my old frame but maybe it was there and I never realized what it felt like until it was gone. Not sure if any of that makes sense but sitting on the new frame definitely feels different.
I've only climbed City Creek so far on the new frame and it felt great. Descending isn't as good because of the taller head tube. It's not bad, just feels like I'm up higher which I am so the handling isn't as tight.
my cross bike weighs less than that
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