Wondering what to do to stiffen up the front end of my Trek Madone. It’s a 4.7 from about 2008-09. I really notice it moving around on steep climbs, particularly when I’m climbing out of the saddle. It’s running the oem Bonty Race stem (120mm), Race wheels and 44cm bars.

I’m guessing a bar/stem upgrade could be part of a solution, and a lot cheaper than new wheels, but not really sure what to go for.

Any good suggestions?

more likely to be wheels imo?

Flexy wheels+1

Possibility it may also be the quickrelease not done up quite tight enough allowing the wheel/dropout interface to flex a bit.

Personally only ever noticed flex in bars when riding in the drops and pulling on them abit,have never noted flex in any drop bars whilst riding in the tops or brifters.

shouldn’t be hard to work out the cause – either wheels or stem/bar/steerer. Not ridden a Madone but I’d be surprised if it was the fork.

Check yir wheel spoke tension ( or give it to someone who can) ,and make sure everything is tight on the bars,stem and headset.

I’ve tried a bit of static testing, although am no expert on road stuff. There is movement as I push down on the bars, although could be a combination of wheels/stem/bars. It’s all pretty basic kit, but I guess you’re probably right Al, it’s unlikely to be the frame/fork.

Cripes road wheels are expensive though! I’d really like to keep any upgrades as cheap as possible though, as I do a fair few miles on it, but don’t race, and don’t know jack about roadie kit, so am a little unsure what would be a good cost/benefit upgrade.

^^ X2. Squeeze pairs of spokes that cross to see if they are excessively loose (compare to as many other wheels as you can to get a feel for it).

If they are then tighten every spoke a quarter turn and reassess, wheel ‘tuning’ is a piece of p*** if you just give it a go.

**Awaits tales of death and suffering caused by home maintenance**

Thanks for the ideas so far.

I can build wheels, so no worries there, although the spokes are radially laced and bladed. True looks good, but I’ll recheck them all for tension.

TBF if the kit is basic, it’s not going to be light, so it shouldn’t be flexy.

OS bars?

does it have a carbon steerer? If so, feel around the headset when you push on the ends of the bar. If you feel movement in the headset, and assuming the headset is tight, then it’s the steerer flexing. I’ve noticed it on a few carbon steerered forks

No, its an aluminium steerer. I’ve checked the headset too, as I wondered if that was even slightly loose, it might allow a bit more side to side movement.

Oh, and yup, OS bars too.

Am I just being a bit unrealistic here, expecting things to be as stiff as my mountain bikes?