trek isospeed madone

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Trek Madone Gen 8 SL7: First ride review

Trek's new madone supersedes its aero champion and kills off the emonda altogether - so is this one bike to rule them all.

Early Verdict

The new Madone has big shoes to fill by replacing two of the most impressive bikes on the market, but initial impressions indicate it's done just that

Fantastic ride quality and comfort

Rigid in power transfer and handling

Stunningly light

A blisteringly fast bike

The accompanying water bottles may take some getting used to

You can trust Cyclingnews Our experts spend countless hours testing cycling tech and will always share honest, unbiased advice to help you choose. Find out more about how we test.

It’s hard to conjure a bike more iconic to pro cycling than the Trek Madone. The Madone was born out of the glory years of Lance Armstrong’s now-shamed successive Tour de France wins, and named after his key training climb – the Col de la Madone. But the Trek Madone achieved the rare feat of surviving the Texan’s fall from grace and living on independently with its own unique legacy. 

The Madone Gen 8 is arguably the most true-to-nature version of Trek’s flagship racer since its original iteration - combining the aerodynamics of the previous Madone with the lightweight design of the Emonda and doing away with the latter model altogether in the process. It brings Trek’s entire performance road bike line back to basics - the Domane is still there for the comfort-cum-cobble market, but the Madone is now Trek’s one and only flagship racer. In the years before the dedicated aero bike, that was the norm, and Trek claims to have returned to that with no downside.

Trek claims that the new Madone SLR hits a frame weight of 765g and a fork weight of 370g, making it the same weight as the outgoing Emonda. It also manages that while exceeding the aerodynamics performance of the previous aero-focussed SLR - by a slender 0.1 watt at 22mph (and marginally faster all the way up to 40mph).

With its shift back to narrow tubes and lightweight performance, alongside the end of the Emonda, it seems fitting to pull back and take a look at how the Madone evolved to reach this latest and perhaps most complete iteration.

The Trek Madone - from the start and back again

Originally billed as an aerodynamic lightweight racer in 2003, it didn't dazzle in weight terms and aerodynamics was limited to a fin on the seat tube. The bike arguably didn’t disrupt that status quo until its second iteration in 2007, and in 2009 came a sub 900g OCLV masterpiece in the bike’s third and most iterative design. However, it still looked, largely, like a bike.

In 2015 that was no longer the case, as Trek unveiled a new Madone which completely transformed the genre. In (unintentional) sync with the launch of the Specialized Venge Vias, the Madone 9 series was the first road bike to completely conceal its front cabling – making the front of the bike completely clean with the help of integrated Bontrager brakes developed specifically for the Madone. To facilitate that, the headtube of the bike had retractable carbon flaps which would open when the handlebars were moved to an acute enough angle, in order to let the brakes pop out from within the headtube.

This was a truly unhinged design (albeit with actual hinges) which offered a seismic leap in aerodynamic performance and overall speed - I attended the launch in 2015 and assumed I was suffering from jetlag delirium. The weight suffered as a result of the aero design. That was exacerbated by the IsoSpeed decoupler on the seatpost which compensated for the harsh aero tubes. In the era of rim brakes and early aerodynamic advances, though, overall weight being a kilo over the UCI minimum weight limit was nothing compared to the enormous watt savings. 

Since then, the Madone developed an adjustable IsoSpeed and gained disc brakes which negated the carbon flaps, before gradually converging back toward a more all-around bike. The 2022 update of the Madone sided for lighter weight at the expense of the IsoSpeed, providing instead an exhaust-like cantilever chasm in the seat tube known as the IsoFlow - still present in the design of the Madone Gen 8.

Indeed, having already taken a step toward being an all-around racer, the Gen 8 looks like the last generation Madone has been on a diet with thinner tubes, radically reshaped for aerodynamics and comfort, all powered by improved 900 OCLV Carbon – Trek’s proprietary blend of carbon fibre.

On the whole, though, Trek’s goal was clearly to make an irrefutably fast bike, which wins both on the ascents, descents and solo into the wind.

More of everything

“To our knowledge this is one of the if not the fastest road race bike that exists within the professional peloton and in the market,” says Jordan Roessingh, Director of Road bikes at Trek. 

“When you're comparing both attributes [weight and aero] of either previous platform, it's 77 seconds per hour faster than Emonda. So that's an enormous difference in aerodynamic performance compared to the previous Emonda despite the fact it's the same weight.” 

The real sell is that the new Madone nails the Emonda’s weight while matching the previous Madone’s aerodynamics. “When you're comparing to a Madone, it's the exact same aerodynamic performance,” Roessingh says. “But 320g lighter – so an enormous weight saving between those two. So again, we're taking the best of both worlds here and merging them and still achieving the highest performance of both attributes.”

The new tube shapes play a big role in the lower weight, better ride and claimed aero benefits. It’s odd as the cross-sections of the aero tubes look blunt and devoid of aerofoil or Kamm-tail shaping. However, when taken as a whole system, sandwiched between a horizontal cross-section of the front rim profile, aero bottles and the rear bottles, the tubes form a sort of neat holistic aerofoil.

Said with almost a grimace, as it’s become an industry cliche, Trek boasts that the bike has better vertical compliance alongside more lateral stiffness. The central IsoFlow seat tube gap claims an 80% improvement in the Madone’s vertical compliance and a 24% improvement over the IsoFlow-less Emonda.

The new Madone carries over the same splayed integrated bar concept as the Gen 7 - positioning the rider 2cm inward on the hoods compared to the drops for aero gains while sitting on the hoods (which has increasingly become the standard aero position).

Strangely, Trek claims the handlebars are less aerodynamic than the Gen 7 iteration, but with a wider cross-section offer a better overall aero performance when air interacts with the bars and then the rider.

In another gravel-like nod to versatility, the new Madone has clearance for 33mm tyres - up from 28mm on the previous Madone. Trek argues that the previous Madone could have handled 30mm or larger in most rim combinations, and for the Gen 8, similarly, 33mm is a conservative estimate. We can believe that given the visible clearance.

Sizing, spec and bottled-up speed

Trek’s aero bottle design is intriguing because this is ground that the bike market had trodden before. Aero water bottles have been commonplace in triathlon and time trial for over a decade, and have crept up into the build of aero road bikes from time to time but never managed to break through.

It’s also intriguing because the Madone is slower than its previous iteration with round bottles. What’s more, without any bottles on the bikes at all, it’s slower - so no ditching your bottles at the base of the climb.

Given the fixation on aero gains, it’s surprising that the claimed 3.7-watt gains with Trek’s RSL water bottles haven’t been adopted across the peloton. In reality, though, aero bottles present a few issues. Typically the aero cages restrict the use of round bottles, while any minor challenge in liberating a bottle is a big issue to a WorldTour rider on a critical climb. Trek claims to have solved both of those problems. 

“These bottle cages are compatible with round bottles” explains Adam Bird, Trek’s Design Engineer for the Madone. “So from a practical perspective, it's something that we expect the pro riders to be trying at the Tour de France – they're actually intending on using aero bottles at the tour. But they need to be able to grab any water bottle from any team or any neutral service and be able to put it in there. So we're balancing the aerodynamic performance with practical performance.”

In terms of breaking through to riders in the WorldTour where in the past the idea may have been dismissed as impractical, Bird argues, "There's a difference in the rider mentality… a lot of the riders now in the peloton are really young. They're very interested in learning about all those slight performance gains that they could potentially find.”

“Ten years ago, we would have shown them this water bottle and they would be like: screw off! There's no way we're gonna practically try them in a peloton. Three Watts? We don't really care about that.”

The proof of concept will be in whether Lidl-Trek riders commit to these bottles throughout the Tour - a piece of minutiae of team tech which I’ll personally be following closely.

The bottles are still not able to be stacked upright, given their angular nature. So don’t pop it on a table ready for a refill.

The change is a bold one given the cycling community’s aversion to change, and for now will be shipped as standard only with SLR – the bottles will be an add-on for lower-tier SL bikes (hence making them comparatively slower than the outgoing Madone SL).

The new Madone is set to go from a 105-equipped SL5 for £3,250.00 ($3,499.99) to a £14,700 ($16,999.99) Madone SLR 9 AXS P1 (Interstellar) with the only deviation in the frame itself being 500 series OCLV in the SL vs new 900 series OCLV in the top-tier SLR. The SLR is also compatible only with electric drivetrains.

Interestingly, the overall offering has shrunk from eight sizes to six.

“We had a lot of sizes that had a lot of overlap,” Roessingh explains. “Many riders could actually ride two different sizes and that created some confusion of just what frame size to ride, as there were some that were like unbelievably close to each other.” In some cases as little as a 4mm difference in stack height.

The fewer sizes are billed as reducing confusion and consolidating the design of each size. The cynic in me naturally assumed that there was perhaps some manufacturing saving at work there, but Roessingh later walked me through some of the logistics of manufacturing on the scale needed for the Madone. Essentially, reducing eight moulds to six may offer substantial savings for a small frame manufacturer, but when selling thousands of frames per year the turnaround of worn moulds means fewer mould sizes doesn’t necessarily mean fewer moulds.

First ride impressions

Trek’s global launch took place near Cebreros in a mountainous corner of the Castile and León region in Spain. Our riding took us directly into the mountains and into open windy plains. 

I was riding the second-tier (Ultegra Di2-equipped) SLR 7, though it was identical to the top-spec SLR 9 as far as the frame design and material. No surprise, then, that there was an immediate sense of speed, power transfer and sharpness riding the Madone.

The previous aero-focussed Madone always excelled in comfort, however, its bulky tubes ultimately gave it the sensation of driving a beefy sports car, while the new SLR not only felt palpably lighter but seemed so much closer to the Emonda in general ride quality. This has the sharp turn of speed and lively handling of a lightweight climber while promising the same speed as an all-out aero machine.

When it comes to all-out speed, it’s very hard to quantify that through a pair of initial test rides. Perhaps the best I could say is that it carried speed well on flat terrain, and at times felt simply blisteringly fast, and was truly a beast on the descents.

It has been too long since I’ve been on a long alpine descent, and despite the relatively shallow inclines, I found myself happily edging toward 80kph. The Madone definitely dared me to take more speed into corners, with a rigid handling character and sat extremely steadily at high speed. 

While I always rated the IsoSpeed system for its abundant comfort, the slight detachment between the front and back of the bike with the 9 series was a bit of a sacrifice for the resulting ride quality. With the IsoFlow system, I didn’t notice any discomfort or bumps on the rear end that I felt needed to be filtered out, and the reward in weight and connection to the road was palpable.

The finishing kit tweaks were probably the most surprising element of my first ride. The squeezed-in handlebar hoods make so much sense. The slight splay in a bar has long been a trend in gravel - offering the wider drops for stability and the narrow for speed. It works very well on the Madone and I was left wondering why we ever bother with hoods that are 42cm apart. 

The bottles, despite my scepticism, were easy to handle and never once a hassle to stow or release from the cage.

Early verdict

While I’ve only had a fleeting ride experience with the Madone, my first impression is this is a bike that really shows the maturity of cycling tech at its best. While it’s common to chase wattage gains from minor frame changes, Trek is right to focus on the bike holistically from an aero perspective, where a saving of 3 watts on the bottles could eclipse huge cost and weight gains if those same aerodynamic margins were sought on the frame.

Meanwhile to hit 7kg (in the top-spec SLR 9) with range-topping aerodynamic and stiffness performance is something we didn’t dream of with a disc brake road bike even five years ago. That comes with the benefits of wider tyres and a better experience across climbing, descending and sprinting, alongside great comfort.

With that in mind, the new Madone is very much the everything race bike, but one that could bridge that considerable gap between the needs of the WorldTour’s best and the normal enthusiasts.

I’m excited to spend more time with it, and where this new direction will take one of the most storied bikes in cycling’s history.

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Peter Stuart has been the editor of Cyclingnews since March 2022, overseeing editorial output across all of Cyclingnews' digital touchpoints.

Before joining Cyclingnews, Peter was the digital editor of Rouleur magazine. Starting life as a freelance feature writer, with bylines in The Times and The Telegraph, he first entered cycling journalism in 2012, joining Cyclist magazine as staff writer. Peter has a background as an international rower, representing Great Britain at Under-23 level and at the Junior Rowing World Championships.

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New Trek Madone: adjustable IsoSpeed plus disc brake options

Trek has announced a hugely updated Madone road bike with adjustable IsoSpeed, a new geometry and disc brake models. The rim brake version is lighter while the disc brake version has no aerodynamic penalty, according to Trek.

Trek has been busy with this one! What it certainly hasn’t done is just slap some disc brakes onto the existing Madone. Trek says, “What really sets the Madone apart is how it combines advanced aerodynamics, superior ride quality and ultra-light weight into the best race bike available today.”

It would say that, of course.

The new Madone will be available in top-end SLR models and in a slightly more accessible SL version.

Let’s go through the design features in turn.

Adjustable top tube Isospeed

Trek first brought in IsoSpeed on the Domane a few years ago and added it to the last incarnation of the Madone. 

In short, IsoSpeed is a design that “maintains the diamond-shaped frameset geometry but ‘decouples’ the seat tube from the top tube, allowing the seat tube to flex with the forces of the road” (Trek’s words). The idea is that it smooths the ride, adding comfort and reducing fatigue.

This time around Trek has brought in a what it calls Adjustable Compliance Technology. Adjustable IsoSpeed was first released on the seat tube of Trek’s Domane. The drawing  below is from Trek's white paper on the new Madone.

“The Madone Adjustable Compliance Technology [comprises] two frame elements integrated into each other just like the Domane SLR, but has been rotated into the top tube for aerodynamic advantage,” says Trek.

How does it work?

“The two frame elements are connected by the IsoSpeed decoupler and the bolted joint at the front,” says Trek. “In between the two frame elements is a vacant space with an adjustment slider that can move along the entire path. The seatmast element utilises the IsoSpeed decoupler to transfer the aft deflection of the upper aero section of the seatmast to an upward deflection of the lower seatmast element. 

“The vacant space allows the lower seatmast to deflect in the upward direction while the main frame top tube element remains independent from the lower seatmast. The slider contacts both the lower seatmast element and main frame top tube element to limit the upward deflection of the lower seatmast per the rider’s preference. 

“If the slider is towards the front of the frame, a rider will experience more compliance because of the greater vacant space that allows the lower seatmast to deflect more. If the slider is near the back of the frame towards the IsoSpeed Decoupler, a rider will experience less compliance because the slider is inhibiting deflection in the vacant space in front of it.”

Trek reports that the compliance (the amount of force required to induce movement) at the saddle of a 56cm frame ranges from approximately 119N/mm to 175N/mm depending on the slider’s position. The 9 Series Madone had a stiffness of approximately 144N/mm. According to these figures, the new Madone is capable of both more compliance (+17%) and less compliance (-22%) than its predecessor. You have to have some good statistics to support any bike launch these days!

Trek says that a further benefit of this new design is the ability to match the vertical compliance closely across all frame sizes because the removable seat-mast element is nearly the same length across the board. Usually, a larger frame will have more compliance. 

The new SLR version of the Madone features a damper to help control rebound of the seatmast. In other words, the speed at which the seat tube returns to its usual position after flexing is now regulated, the idea being to keep the ride feeling smoother and more stable. 

The damper is made up of three parts: an elastomer damper, a housing for that damper, and the frame carriage. The damper is pre-loaded in compression by a set screw against the seatmast.

“When the seatmast element is loaded during an impact event at the saddle, it creates counter clockwise rotation when viewed from the perspective of the driveside of the bike,” says Trek. “This motion unloads the damper slightly and prepares it for the rebound event. As the seatmast begins to rotate back, the damper is re-loaded, thus slowing the motion and absorbing the rebound energy.”

Trek says that these changes “add up to a significant reduction in the vibration of the cyclist’s body: the end goal of any suspension technology” and that the new Madone offers anywhere from a 44-61% increase in the damping ratio (how rapidly the motion of the saddle and rider reduce back to normal following a large bump).

If you want more details on the effects of the Madone’s Adjustable Compliance Technology, check out Trek’s new Madone SLR white paper. There’s a lot of tech in there. I don’t have a link at the time of writing but I imagine it’s just a Google search away by the time you get to read it.

Aerodynamics

Trek says that it has focused massively on aerodynamic performance in the development of the new Madone, using both CFD (computational fluid dynamics) software and wind tunnel analysis to arrive at the final design, although that has had to be balanced against the addition of adjustable top tube IsoSpeed, a new geometry, updated components, the addition of disc brakes and the desire to keep the weight low. In other words, Trek hasn’t gone after aerodynamics at all costs.

“[Our] goal for the new Madone was to maintain aerodynamic drag performance of the current Madone (within 30g) across an averaged -12.5° to 12.5° yaw sweep. [We consider] this range to be the most common yaw a rider experiences based on real world data collection studies,” says Trek.

“Experimental results collected at the San Diego Low Speed Wind Tunnel… show an average of 3,216g [of drag] across a -12.5° to 12.5° yaw sweep vs the current [9 Series] Madone at 3,202g, a 14g difference that is within Trek’s project goal and within a wind tunnel’s experimental error band.”

Trek reports that the bikes were tested with two water bottles added and a pedalling mannequin. It says that the new Madone has a lower average drag (across yaw angles from 12.5° to -12.5°) than the Specialized Venge Vias. 

Trek didn’t have access to the new Cannondale SystemSix that we showed you earlier in the week. Cannondale claims that the SystemSix is more aerodynamically efficient than the 9 Series Madone.

Light weight

Whereas aerodynamics pulls a frame design towards narrow tubes, the need for stiffness and light weight pushes it in the opposite direction so there’s always going to be something of a balancing act there. 

“[Our] goals for the new Madone were to maintain aerodynamic performance of the current Madone and reduce or maintain bike weight of the rim brake version, all while adding several new features: adjustable compliance technology, a rebound damper, split bar and stem, and a redesigned aesthetic,” says Trek. “The disc brake bike was assigned a target of 7.5kg with the same features.”

Trek says that it analysed many finite element models in order to shave off weight while maintaining aerodynamic performance. 

“The rim brake bike matches the current Madone (7.1kg/15.7lb), and the all-new disc brake bike weighs in at 7.5kg (16.6lb) depending on paint scheme,” says Trek.

The SLR frames are made from Trek’s OCLV 700 carbon while the SLs are OCLV 500 which, according to Trek, isn’t quite as light or as strong.

New geometry

The 9-Series Madone was available in two different geometries: low and stretched H1 and slightly more upright H2. The new Madone SLR comes in a single geometry called H1.5 which, as you might have guessed, sits between the two.

Frame stack (vertical distance from the centre of the bottom bracket to the top of the head tube), reach (horizontal distance between those two points) and head tube length have all been changed.

The 56cm model, for example, has an effective top tube length of 559.9mm – we might as well call that 560mm – a head tube of 151mm, a stack of 563mm and a reach of 391mm.

“H1.5 hits the sweet spot for a wide range of racers as it balances a traditional aggressive race geometry with a position that more athletes can hold longer with more comfort,” says Trek.

The Madone SL is built to Trek’s H2 geometry.

Most 9 Series Madone models came with a combined aero handlebar and stem but the Madone SLR features a two-piece system – still proprietary – with more stem options (90mm to 130mm lengths, and -7° and -14° angles), additional bar sizes (38cm to 44cm) and +/-5° of bar rotation. 

The Madone SL doesn’t feature this integrated handlebar and stem but instead has a Bontrager Pro stem and Elite Aero handlebar. 

Integration

The position of the centre-pull front brake on the rim brake version of the new Madone has been moved. It now sits at the back of the fork rather than at the front, the idea being to improve the bike’s aerodynamic performance. 

“The all new rim brakes have been redesigned with improved functionality and ease of set up in mind,” says Trek. “The brake arms use independent spring tension adjustment screws to centre the brake pads, allow for precise pad adjustments as brake pads wear, and adjust lever pull force to the desired feel. The spacing screws range allows swapping between rim widths ranging from 23-28.5mm without adjusting the centre wedge.”

Each rim brake has a claimed weight of 152g (in the case of the front brake, that’s with an unpainted cover). They’ll take tyres up to 25mm wide, whereas most road brakes these days have enough clearance for 28s. The disc brake version of the Madone will take 28mm tyres.

A Bontrager Flare RT tail light attaches to the seat mast head. Trek is big on encouraging people to use a tail light even during the day.

The Madone SLR comes in men’s and one women’s specific models. They use the same frame but the women’s version features a different saddle, handlebar width and stem length. All models have a lifetime warranty.

All of the Madone SLRs feature an OCLV 700 frame and an integrated two-piece carbon bar and stem. Here are the models and prices:

• Madone SLR 9 Disc, £10,000, Bontrager Aeolus XXX 6 TLR wheels, Shimano Dura-Ace 9170 drivetrain and hydraulic disc brakes

• Madone SLR 8, £6,750, Bontrager Aeolus Pro 5 TLR wheels, Shimano Dura-Ace 9100 drivetrain, Bontrager integrated rim brakes

• Madone SLR 6 Disc, £5,400, Bontrager Aeolus Comp 5 Disc TLR wheels, Shimano Ultegra 8020 drivetrain and hydraulic disc brakes 

• Madone SLR 6 Disc Women's, £5,400, Bontrager Aeolus Comp 5 Disc TLR wheels, Shimano Ultegra 8020 drivetrain and hydraulic disc brakes 

The SLR models are available in 'premium paint' options for an extra £550.

There’s also a Madone SL 6 in the range that uses Trek’s OCLV 500 carbon fibre which is said to be a little heavier and less stiff then OCLV 700. The Madone SL 6 doesn’t feature Bontrager’s integrated handlebar and stem but instead has a Bontrager Pro stem and Elite Aero handlebar. It comes with Bontrager Aeolus Comp 5 TLR wheels, a Shimano Ultegra 8000 drivetrain and Bontrager integrated brakes and is priced £3,600.

For more info go to  www.trekbikes.com

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Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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Mmmm, that's a big sail of a thing in a side wind.

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One must give TREK credit for producing the best looking and working rim-brake bike on the planet. I was a Spezialized guy till now, but that's history now.

White Paper link... 

http://trek.scene7.com/is/content/TrekBicycleProducts/TK18_Madone_Whitep...

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20 years of redefining what road racing looks like 

For the past two decades, Madone has disrupted the industry with unprecedented road race technology and advancements that redefine fast.   

Named after the Col de la Madone, an iconic French climb and training destination for the world’s pros, Madone was originally designed to be the most aero and lightweight road race bike in our lineup. Then, as technologies advanced, the superbike branched into two separate models: Émonda for lightweight climbing, and Madone for pure speed.   Today, groundbreaking Full System Foil aero shapes and advanced 900 Series OCLV Carbon have allowed a reconvergence of Émonda and Madone in the form of the all-new ultimate race bike: Madone Gen 8. Equal parts lightweight and aerodynamic, it’s the only road race bike you’ll ever need.   

The Madone Gen 8 family tree   See how Trek’s ultimate race bike has evolved over the years from one model to two and back again.

2 0 0 3 Madone Gen 1 The first Madone represents a groundbreaking moment in Trek road bike design. It was the first time we designed with aerodynamics in mind, with an aero fin on the downtube and seat tube. It was also the first time we began shaping carbon for optimized climbing and lower weight, using cross-sectioned tubes, and testing in the wind tunnel.

2 0 0 7 Madone Gen 2 The second-generation Madone was the first of its kind aesthetically, with tube shapes that were co-driven for the first time by industrial designers and engineers. This generation had a drastic slope change from the previous generation, replaced the alloy stem with carbon, and was revamped with integration details like internal cable routing and in-molded bearings. 

2 0 0 9 Madone Gen 3 The focus for the third generation Madone shifted from aerodynamics to weight savings. It was the lightest frame we’d ever made at the time with much rounder tube shapes and a more efficient stiffness-to-weight ratio. This bike started Trek’s round seatmast evolution (seen on the current day Émonda) and featured a stiffer and more compliant oval seat tube. 

2 0 1 2 Madone Gen 4 The fourth generation Madone brought aerodynamics back to the forefront with all-new Kammtail Virtual Foil tube shaping and a large aero headtube. It was the first bike to use direct mount brakes (designed by Shimano specifically for this bike) before they became industry standard.   

2 0 1 4 Émonda Gen 1 The first generation Émonda marks the first time we split our road race lineup into two separate focuses —Émonda as the dedicated lightweight climbing bike, and Madone as the ultimate aerodynamic race bike. Émonda was the lightest bike we’d ever made, and designed to be the first up every climb.   

2 0 1 5 Madone Gen 5 The fifth generation Madone marks a revolutionary moment in the bike’s overall design history. Because we were planning to split off into two separate race bikes (one light and one aero) we were able to put a huge focus on aerodynamics and a never-before-seen level of integration. Gen 5 Madone featured fully hidden cables, proprietary brakes, and a one-piece bar/stem. It was by far the fastest bike we’d ever made, and the first Madone with IsoSpeed compliance tech, adding up to a superbike that not only rode fast but rode really well, too. 

2 0 1 7 Émonda Gen 2 The ultimate climbing bike got an upgrade with disc brakes for better all-weather stopping performance and more confident descents.

2 0 1 8 Madone Gen 6 In 2019, we improved on Madone Gen 5 by adding disc brakes, adjustable top tube IsoSpeed that let riders dial in compliance, and a two-piece bar/stem combo that allowed them to adjust the rotational angle of their bar for a better fit.  

2 0 1 9 Émonda Gen 3 We took Émonda up a notch with the same aero tech as Madone, like Kammtail aero tube shaping, a new one-piece bar/stem, and 800 Series OCLV Carbon that helped make the bike faster while still keeping weight low. With this new fast-yet-light design, Émonda Gen 3 was a whopping 60 seconds faster on the flats than the previous model. 

2 0 2 2 Madone Gen 7 Madone Gen 7 was the fastest Madone we’d ever made. By a LOT. It was designed with a completely new generation of Kammtail Virtual Foil tube shaping, all-new race-focused IsoFlow compliance tech, and an aerodynamic flared bar/stem system that put the rider in the most efficient position possible. It was also much lighter than the Gen 6 version, shaving nearly 300g from the previous model.

2 0 2 4 Madone Gen 8 Equal parts Madone and Émonda Worlds collide: our fastest and lightest unite. Madone Gen 8 recombined carbon Émonda and Madone to create the only road race bike you’ll ever need. Equal parts sprinting and climbing bike, the new ultimate race bike features radical new Full System Foil aero shapes that shave 320g off the previous Madone and help make the bike as light as Émonda*. Plus, we designed the whole bike and rider system to be even more aerodynamic, making it 77 seconds/hour faster than the previous Émonda and just as fast as the previous Madone.   *When comparing framesets

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Madone SLR Gen 8

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Madone SL Gen 8

TriTech for the Masses

Trek Madone Speed – First Look

From the moment we saw our first aero road bike we knew we were in love. A bike that was almost as fast as a true time trial bike, but able to be used for group rides spoke to our pragmatic side. Buy one bike – but essentially get two was music to our ears. But the first generation of bikes was more compromise than utopia. Not nearly as fast as a TT bike and not stiff enough to be a serious road bike. But with advances in aerodynamics and carbon construction the generations that followed continued to get closer and closer to that promise. And the latest bikes have become the true best of both world bikes we have hoped for… except for one item. As aero road bikes have moved to aero drop bars – clip on aerobars have become a challenge. And also, some place innovation has been waiting for. Meet the Trek Madone Speed – a best of both worlds aero road bike that features the aerobars straight off of the Trek Speed Concept .

The Trek Madone Speed

The Trek Madone Speed starts with the new 2019 Trek Madone Disc .  The 2019 Madone featured a new albeit more traditional, yet still proprietary bar and stem system. This new set up offers 40 possible configurations versus the 26 possible configurations when considering the H1/H2 frames. Riders also get the added benefit of +/-5 degrees of bar roll to allow deeper fit refinement. The -7deg stems offer the industry standard set up and the -14deg stems are intended to allow current Madone H1 riders to match their same fit as well as offer more flexibility to new consumers. Stems are offered in 90mm to 130mm lengths in both -7° and -14° angles. The bar receives one additional width size and is offered in Variable Radius Compact Flare (VRCF) fit in widths from 38cm to 44cm. With these expanded options, changing fit is now easier and more affordable.

To that system, the Speed adds a new stem faceplate that simplifies the process of adding and removing aero bars. The included Speed Concept Mono Bar Extension is held to the stem faceplate with a pair of bolts,and adding and removing the aero extensions takes as little as thirty seconds.

“Madone Speed has all the award-winning speed and handling ofMadone SLR—plus the added benefit of a lot more versatility,” said Trek’s Director of Road Product Jordan Roessingh. “You can train with a group without the bars, then throw them on for race day. It’s the smartest option for most people doing triathlon or time trials today.”

Being that it is based on the 2019 Madone you get the same frame as all Madone SLR models. It’s made with Trek’s lightest 700 Series OCLV Carbon and features Adjustable Top Tube IsoSpeed, which allows riders to tune the frame’s compliance to their preference. For those not familiar with how this is done – lets recap.

The Madone Adjustable Compliance technology is comprised of two frame elements integrated into each other just like the Domane SLR but has been rotated into the top tube for aerodynamic advantage. This method also aids in more uniform compliance for all frame sizes. Lastly, Trek has implemented hardware on the back of the seat tube that offers rebound damping characteristics to the bike. The two frame elements are connected by the IsoSpeed Decoupler and the bolted joint at the front. In between the two frame elements is a vacant space with an adjustment slider that can move along the entire path. The seatmast element utilizes the IsoSpeed Decoupler to transfer the aft deflection of the upper aero section of the seatmast to an upward deflection of the lower seatmast element. The vacant space allows the lower seatmast to deflect in the upward direction while the main frame top tube element remains independent from the lower seatmast. The slider contacts both the lower seatmast element and main frame top tube element to limit the upward deflection of the lower seatmast per the rider’s preference. If the slider is towards the front of the frame, a rider will experience more compliance because of the greater vacant space that allows the lower seatmast to deflect more. If the slider is near the back of the frame towards the IsoSpeed Decoupler, a rider will experience less compliance because the slider is inhibiting deflection in the vacant space in front of it.

The Madone SLR 6 Disc Speed ($6499.99 MSRP) is spec’d with a 2×11 Shimano Ultegra drivetrain, Bontrager Aeolus Pro 5 carbon wheels, and flat-mount disc brakes.

Our Thoughts

Let’s start with the good – we really love where Trek went with this. The monoriser aerobar from the Speed Concept is a tried and true system. While it is proprietary to Trek, because of the amount of time it has been available on the market there are all sorts of spare parts already available on the second hand market for those looking to switch from s-bends to straight bars to ski tips. After four years of riding our Trek Speed Concept test bike, we are fans of these bars and love riding with them.

The Madone SLR 6 Disc Speed at $6,499 is just $200 more than the standard Madone SLR 6 disc, and for that $200 you get carbon fiber aerobars and the mount which we think is a fair add on price.

But we would be remiss if we didn’t mention the one item that bothers us about the Madone Disc Speed – this should have been introduced with an electronic group set. Aero road bikes with clip on aerobars are begging for electronic shifting so that you can shift while in the aero bars. With electronic shifting it is truly as simple as plugging and unplugging from the junction boxes. We would have much preferred to see this released on their SL 7 build which features Di2 and a slightly lesser grade of carbon. An argument can be made that those looking for a best of both worlds bike are looking for something more affordable. And in that case stepping down to the lower grade carbon but up to electronic at essentially the same price of the SLR 6 would have been a winning combination.

Wrapping Up

While we may not agree with the build this was first released on – we absolutely think that Trek has a great idea on their hands with this bike. Clip on aerobars have become incredibly common now a days, and having a bike built with them in mind is a great move for consumers. And while there is not yet a more affordable version featuring electronic shifting, we have little doubt that Trek will find a way to make one available in the future. For those interested in a SLR 6 Disc Speed you can head over to www.trek.com or to your local Trek retailer. As always thanks for reading AeroGeeks.com and stay tuned as we have a number of new bike reviews in the pipeline that we cannot wait to share with you!

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3 responses to “ Trek Madone Speed – First Look ”

Hi team, any change to review the aeria ultimate hydration system?

Unfortunately not yet. We will share as soon as we get a chance to check it out!

Can the front of the aero bar extension be tilted up like the Speed Concept extension bar, with a simple adjustment screw? Or is it just bolted flat? Thank you

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Trek Madone SLR 7 Gen 7 review - very fast and very expensive

The latest Madone may have a hole through the seat tube but we couldn't find any in its performance

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The Trek Madone is an absolute speed weapon. The deep-section tubes with the radical-looking cutout help, as does the newly designed handlebar, which is narrow and provides good wrist support for the ‘aero-hoods’ position. And then there are the 51mm deep Bontrager Aeolus Pro wheels. The handling is incredibly fast, responding to the smallest shift in weight and the tiniest tweaks of the bars, and ride quality is so impressive that it’s almost possible to overlook things like the narrow tires and ungenerous clearance - but you can’t ignore the price. If you have the budget and want a WorldTour-level race machine with exceptional handling and ride feel, this is the bike.

Super smooth ride

Light for an aero bike

Striking aesthetics

Limited adjustability

No power meter

You can trust Cycling Weekly. Our team of experts put in hard miles testing cycling tech and will always share honest, unbiased advice to help you choose. Find out more about how we test.

• Construction

Value and conclusion

For this latest Gen 7 version of the Madone, Trek’s aero bike, the US brand removed the IsoSpeed Decoupler of the previous Gen 6 model and left, in its place, a big hole.

OK, it’s not the crude, reductionist approach it sounds like.

The old bike’s micro-adjustable suspension system at the top tube/seat tube juncture added weight and was mostly redundant since Trek discovered most riders would ‘set and forget’.

And by radically reengineering the frame Trek claims to have saved 300g, and says the new bike is almost 20 watts faster than its predecessor, which equates to 60 seconds per hour when ridden at 45kph. It looks radical, too - always a good thing for a new bike.

In our 2023 Race Bike of the Year grouptest we awarded the Madone 'best aero bike' against competition that included the Cervélo S5, the Canyon Aeroad and the Giant Propel.

However, over $9K / £10K for an Ultegra bike has to be unchartered territory - so how does it compare overall to the best road bikes ?

Trek Madone 7 Gen 7: construction

Let’s peer a bit more closely into that hole or, to give it its real name, IsoFlow. The aerodynamic explanation for it is: “It’s a way to direct some high energy flow into a low energy region of the bike.” What that means is that the seat tube area creates a disproportionate amount of drag and the hole helps to dissipate this by adding what Trek calls a “jet of fast moving air.”

It turns out that only half of the claimed watt saving comes from the IsoFlow hole. Trek has entered the integrated cockpit wars (along with Colnago, Canyon, Cervélo et al) with a completely new and very slick-looking design but it’s neither adjustable nor V-shaped: according to Trek it saves watts by changing rider position rather than via the aerodynamic properties of the cockpit itself.

A standard 42cm bar becomes 39cm at the hoods and 42cm at the drops and there’s a backsweep so that a flat-forearms aero position on the hoods becomes very aero indeed.

There are 14 different combinations available and, since the backsweep gives the bar a shorter reach, it’s important to get the right one - if you’re like those of us who rode this bike, you’ll need a longer stem. You can change this at point of purchase at no extra cost, Trek told us, or the 1 1/8in steerer is compatible with a non-integrated stem and bar (though the frame is electronic groupset only).

The same goes for the seatmast. The cutout in the seat tube leaves less room for a long seatpost and less adjustability (around 6cm minimum to maximum) so if you are long-legged but prefer a smaller frame you may need the tall version that comes with the size 56 upwards (as I ideally would have done). There are also two offsets available.

Our size 54 with a standard short mast could only manage a maximum saddle height of 74cm and the reach felt very short with the 90mm stem cockpit it comes with.

The latest geometry is called H1.5 (halfway between the old H1 race and H2 endurance). The reduced reach combined with the shorter reach of the swept-back bar works very well for that super aero hoods position, but it does feel surprisingly short. The kamm-tailed rear of the stem is much closer to your knees than you’d expect.

The new SLR bikes are all made from Trek’s 800 OCLV carbon - from the 105-equipped SLR 6 up to the flagship SLR 9 - and are impressively light, especially compared with other aero bikes such as the Cervelo S5. Trek says this is its lightest ever disc Madone.

There’s clearance for 28mm tires max, which is tight by modern standards. This model comes with Bontrager Aeolus Pro 51 tubeless-ready wheels, set up with Bontrager R3 Hard-Case Lite 25mm tires and inner tubes - again, surprisingly narrow.

Despite the fact that the fit wasn’t optimal - I could have done with the size up - the ride quality of the Madone is absolutely incredible. That’s the first thing that strikes you, or rather doesn’t strike you.

Aero bikes used to supply a harsher ride simply because deep, bladed tubing doesn’t flex like round tubing. This was undoubtedly the reason why Trek bolted the IsoSpeed decoupler onto the Madone two iterations ago. So you might expect that with its suspension system gone, the latest bike might have gone backwards in comfort. Not a bit of it.

It feels like a coiled carbon spring - full of potential energy and floating over bad road surfaces seemingly without any effect on its speed. And this is on 25mm tires that aren’t even the best (at this price they really ought to be).

The handling is also exactly right. The shortish 90mm stem section of the cockpit could have made it a little twitchy, but thanks to the sweeping shape I found my weight sufficiently over the front wheel in the hoods position, and steering was fast but balanced on descents and tight corners.

So it passes ‘comfortable’ and ‘fast’ with flying colors (actually Deep Smoke for this one).

At 7.5kg it’s light for an aero bike - or any disc brake bike - and it leaps up hills as if it weighs even less. I was so impressed with its performance that I kept forgetting Trek also has the Emonda climbing bike. The next Emonda has its work cut out (pun intended).

Finally, stability in crosswinds. There’s one particular gateway on my test loop where any bike not designed for big yaw angles will be gusted and the Trek was indeed blown sideways slightly - but not alarmingly considering the deep wheels and frame tubes.

This bike is incredibly good but it’s also incredibly expensive. It’s a full $1,000 / £1,000 more than the equivalent outgoing Gen 6 Madone SLR 7, and you’d have to look hard to find a more expensive Ultegra Di2-equipped bike from the other mainstream brands. 

The Canyon Aeroad CFR with Dura-Ace costs $8,999 / £8,799, while the Cervelo S5 with SRAM Force AXS costs $9,000 / £9,200. The Giant Propel Advanced SL1 also with SRAM Force costs $8,000 / £8,999.

You might also reasonably expect a power meter at this price - those three bikes all come with them - but it’s just the regular Ultegra crankset here.

So the price is stratospheric but compared with the current aero bikes I’ve ridden so far including the Colnago V4RS , Canyon Aeroad SLX , Cervelo S5, Tarmac SL7 and Pinarello Dogma F, the ride quality is superior.

• Frame: 800 Series OCLV carbon
• Fork: KVF carbon, tapered steerer
• Groupset: Shimano Ultegra Di2
• Wheels : Bontrager Aeolus Pro 51
• Tires : Bontrager R3 Hard-Case Lite 25mm
• Cockpit: Madone integrated
• Seatpost : Madone aero internal
• Saddle: Bontrager Aeolus Elite
• Weight: 7.5kg
• Contact: www.trekbikes.com

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Simon Smythe is a hugely experienced cycling tech writer, who has been writing for Cycling Weekly since 2003. Until recently he was our senior tech writer. In his cycling career Simon has mostly focused on time trialling with a national medal, a few open wins and his club's 30-mile record in his palmares. These days he spends most of his time testing road bikes, or on a tandem doing the school run with his younger son.

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