I remember seeing a special edition Madone after Lance won yet another tour, and they were offering it in 2 versions, a climbing version and an aero version with a teardrop seatube. The aero one wasn’t on the limit despite being something silly like £8k.

You thinking of the 2006 Madone SSLx with the OCLV Boron frame?:

Frame was c900g, but it came with clinchers, so still 1400g or so, huge price tag basically for exclusivity. We sold one, I had (and still have) the ‘standard’ OCLV 110 variant, same groupset, alu wheels, and there’s not all that much in it weight wise!

Think it had more of a shape to the seatube, cutout for the rear wheel. And it was brown/gold (probably the model in the pic below), and had LaLa’s signature on it. Then it was a while ago, so I’m probably mistaking some other bits of bikes in there.

http://www.cyclingpros.com/images/Trek%202004%20Lance%20Gold.jpg

It was ugly.

Think it had more of a shape to the seatube, cutout for the rear wheel. And it was brown/gold (probably the model in the pic below), and had LaLa’s signature on it. Then it was a while ago, so I’m probably mistaking some other bits of bikes in there.

Up until 2006 they did an aero Madone, and the Madone SL, with a round seat tube. There was nothing special about the ‘aero’ one, and all the special editions, including the gold one up there, were based on the SL frame.

Aero one:

This Trek Bear Witness thing, assuming it’s the big reveal of this…

.. or something else?

New Top Fuel?

New Madone?

All of the above I assume!

Ah I’d just seen the Batty quote but looks like there’s ones by Mollema and Rast too so you might be right.

Edit… rather like that new Madone ^^^

This Trek Bear Witness thing, assuming it’s the big reveal of this…

From what I can see on the images; bolt through bladed fork, rim brakes, knobblies, what looks like a road bike frame, I reckon it’s a new CX bike.

Could be a few different models released together though. That Madone looks loverly!

Saw the bars on the Trek during the dauphiné earlier, look like the canyon ones

Well whatever it is they’re being pretty modest about it…

There’s innovation, and then there are products that disrupt the course of an entire industry.

I now reckon njee’s right with an across the board update.

32er?

26″ I reckon. Next big thing!

Na, it’s a 28.2 aero full susser with social media controlled electric motor BOOST function…

Garmin should do a Strava and social media integrated GPS. With voice recognition. So you can tweet about your ride as you ride, with links to your segment time!

It could detect if you’ve crashed, and ask you if you want to tweet something. Or if you land a particularly big jump and don’t crash, it could also ask you.

The front end on the new Madone looks really really clean – no exposed cables at all. Like the Speed Concept.

A mainstream bike, with mainstream parts. I built up my road bike in 2008 for ~£2k. It is under the UCI weight limit.

Interesting that they’ve given up on the under BB brake positioning on the ‘Madone’

Interesting that they’ve given up on the under BB brake positioning on the ‘Madone’

Not sure if related, but Cervelo have done a lot of work on airflow around brakes in a “normal” position as mechanics hate working on “hidden” brakes!

Whilst it looked awesome, it also meant the brakes felt shit too – they just got all the spray, so people spent loads on a bike that felt a bit poo!

Think I’d still rather have an Emonda, even though the Madone may make more sense. Could be really interesting if they make it more comfy than the usual aero frames with the IsoSpeed whatnot.

Wasn’t it Simon Smart who also did a lot of work on the aero benefits of a hidden front brake and found there wasn’t any, hence why the Scott Plasma and Giant Trinity didn’t have them.

At the risk of taking it back towards XC ( 😉 ) isn’t that the whole idea of the decoupler? It’s not suspension, as such, more about reducing rider fatigue.

IIRC that was the aim of things like the Scott Endorphin back in the day.

Yes, as TINAS observed the movement is in the seat tube. Certainly be interested to ride one, but I don’t find my Superfly fatiguing over XC race distance, surprised it’s an issue.

The front end on the new Madone looks really really clean

True, but fugly headtube shape. Lots of aspects look fugly to me actually. Rear brake also looks a quarter hidden which is interesting. Scott should have a new Foil at Le Tour apparently too- should be interesting to see what happens there.

I like the look of the BMC MTB frames in terms of function but the paint jobs on the Trek Factory bikes are gorgeous! Don’t Scott already claim something like 10mm compliance in SDS stays on the Scale?

Edit: Scale apparently has 5mm vertical compliance in the rear end

Closer inspection of the seat/Top tube join looks like a decoupler… But for the size of the seat tube?

What brakes are they, I can’t see any cables on the back either? Possibly hydraulic?

Since we are discussing the Madone a little….

Maguras?

It might be* very functional, but that Madone isn’t pretty!

This on the other hand is off-the-chart cool!

*it had better be with looks like that

You can see the cable on that brake on the Madone, so not hydraulic. My guess would be Trek’s own.

yer they are Bonty brakes

http://www.matosvelo.fr/index.php?post/1521/trek-madone-9-2016-sous-toutes-les-coutures

such a clean bar area

Back on Pro XC tweaks… I hadn’t realised until now that the U23 WC XCO at Nove Mesto was won on the latest Chinese 29er frame. All these fancy frames and the Chinese stuff can still get results with the right legs 😀

Mechanics don’t like working on hidden brakes so we’ll expose the brakes a bit then we’ll shove all the cables through the bar, stem and headtube?

I don’t like their thinking.

mrblobby – Member

There’s innovation, and then there are products that disrupt the course of an entire industry.

EPO?

It all about the legs, the bike is just a tool!

Going OT (again…), think we passed you on Saturday Mashie – were you coming down the Tarmac road through Denbies about midday? Someone on an Open hard tail came down!

The marketing and branding doesn’t make it any faster.

The marketing and branding doesn’t make it any faster.

It’s bloody ugly too and most importantly, it isn’t red, so I just can’t understand how it could have been a winning bike!

Going OT (again…), think we passed you on Saturday Mashie – were you coming down the Tarmac road through Denbies about midday? Someone on an Open hard tail came down!

Yep, that was me – in a mad rush to get back to an angry wife. Very late home as I extended the ride!

Rider Perspective on HT v FS Choice

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/rider-perspective-what-do-you-choose-dual-suspension-or-hardtail-2015.html

Oh dear, just been handed an Open MTB frame in the LBS, I wasn’t impressed when he grabbed it out of the box as I walked in!!! I really really didn’t want to see that! I couldn’t believe how light it was, lovely finish on it.

But 72degree head angle 😯

My Salsa is 71. It’s fantastic.