0 Trek Madone 2008 Testride - 2

Okay. I did the testride. It was a Performance 5.2. I got to the LBS 30 minutes before closing, so honestly, I got only 10-15 minutes of pure carbon fibre ride, and that too for the first time in my life!

Sure, I'll tell you there was a subtle difference in the ride, when compared to my current aluminium frame. The huge lugs of carbon fibre I was sitting on was slowly soaking up the road, but again, it was subtle. I rode on stock platform pedals, so that was a major drawback. I wanted to try out a sprint, and sprinkle a few jumps here and there. From my backpack, I produced my crappy camera that sent the LBS guys raising eyebrows. As if this were a major setback to them, they enquired whether I was a spy from Specialized. I kept clicking away...

Notice the seatstay material above the brakes. Totally solid. That sign looks sweet, like a Ferrari or something.

Made in Waterloo, Wisconsin.

My first impression of the frame - huge! Beautiful yes. Probably in the 17 pound range with the X Lite wheels on, maybe tad lighter than that. The frame is a work of art. Ultegra SL wasn't that great of a deal.

Now I like this, internally routed brake cable that runs diagonally within the frame to rear brake.

Massive bottom bracket region. I really need clipless pedals on to know the subtleties of Q-Factor.

The bottom bracket is massive. The downtube was quite big as well, and this I could easily tell from what I had in mind about my own bike. I am not sure how much stiffness the frame brings about, but the thing is built like a chevvy silverado or a Mustang or something. I had an upright position on this model, and it felt quite comfy. Not very aggressive. The area on the toptube, where it met with the headtude was so wide one could place a cup of coffee on it and go out for a ride without bothering.

Like sitting on a couch.

LBS has agreed to notify me when the Pro's get to store.

I'll tell you one thing. If you're openminded about a new design, you'll like it. If you're kind of style is hammering away on something minimalistic, this may not be for you. But as Trek claims, they have taken the bicycle back to the drawing board and rethought possibly everything. An important aspect of mechanical design is reducing the number of working parts and making a bike easy to fix, maintain, understand. For a novice biker who wants to play around with his bottom bracket on a conventional road bike, think about the number of tools and good working knowledge he would need. Just an example...

I'll take it with a pinch of salt for now...dang, there should really be someone out there who ought to take frames and do a side by side comparison of stiffness, weight,...

Marketing hype is one thing, testing is another.