Photography by Dave Everett

Test riding the new Trek Émonda

by Dave Everett - July 3, 2014

Earlier this week Trek revealed its new Émonda range, the result of several years spent trying to develop the lightest production race frame on the market. While a few riders from the Trek Factory Racing team were riding the Émonda at the recent Tour du Suisse, and the Criterium du Dauphine, it wasn't until Tuesday that Trek officially unveiled the bike to the press.

CyclingTips' roving reporter Dave Everett was in Yorkshire to learn more about the new frame and take it for a test ride.

The bike

Trek’s road line-up already has a frame to soak up the rough roads -the Domane — and an out-and-out race bike, designed to be fast, twitchy and cut through the air — the Madone. The one place Trek hadn’t ventured until now was an attempt to build an ultra lightweight racing machine.

The Émonda is the final piece in Trek’s now three-tiered frame range structure. With a new sales catchphrase of “choose your weapon”, Trek now has a bike that should appeal to any of the key racing markets.

For a bike brand to claim to have the lightest production bike on the market they really need to back this up with exact figures, and they made a point of sharing those figures. Previously the Cannondale Super Six Evo Black Label has been able to claim this sought-after honour as the lightest production bike, at 5.6kg for a 56cm frame. Trek, though, has managed to make a significant improvement on that with the Émonda SLR10 which weighs in at 4.65kg for a 56cm frame.

The build on this particular model is very well specced, using several parts from German lightweight component specialists Tune, including wheels, saddle and skewers, a SRAM Red drive set and Trek’s new direct-mount brakes that look very industrial. Steering is taken care of by Trek’s new one-piece bar and stem combo. The price is obviously at the high end too, at $15,999 for a full build on this model.

The SLR Frame alone tips the scales at 690g; 20g lighter than the Cannondale Super Six Evo and 187g lighter than the Specialized SL4 (the new Tarmac is heavier still). The SLR fork weighs 280g and it’s a new slender-looking fork compared to those seen on the Domane and Madone.

The Trek Emonda, as seen in action at the Dauphine recently.

It’s reportedly taken Trek 30 months of research and development to get to the point where they are happy that the new bikes can perform to a standard that the company, its customers and the race teams are happy with.

The name Émonda derives from the French verb “émonde”, which means to prune or trim away. Of course it’s been butchered a little bit to use the same letters as the names “Domane” and “Madone”.

The bike may be light but Trek wanted it to pass all of the company’s and the industry’s stringent quality and durability tests — this was to be a light bike that not just the skinny racing snakes could use but a bike that any angry racing guy or weighty sportive rider could get benefit from.

From the ground up this Émonda bike range is all new — there is no carry over from either the Domane or Madone lines. Each of the three bikes in the Émonda range — the S (entry), SL (mid-level) and SLR (top) — were to be the lightest bikes in their respective categories. The bikes also come in women’s versions too, and with some absolutely stunning paint jobs.

Trek Factory Racing and the MTN-Qhubeka teams have helped with this development, though one can only feel sorry for these guys who will have to either use heavier components or weigh the bike down to use it in UCI-sanctioned races.

The development and refinement of the Emonda took years, and plenty of prototypes.

The geometry of the frame sits between the Domane and the Madone. When the Domane was introduced the difference between that bike and the Madone’s geometry wasn’t hugely different. Trek then reworked the Madone’s geometry in 2012 to make it an out-an-out race machine — more aggressive and faster in corners.

For the Émonda, Trek has revived a large proportion of the geometry of the old 2011 Madone. It’s not as twitchy as a Madone, but it’s not as relaxed as a Domane. It sits happily between the two.

Away from the SLR version, the SL frame comes in at 1,050g (56cm) and the fork at 358g (240mm steerer tube). This build uses 500 series OCLV carbon where the SLR uses 700 series. The direct-mount brakes are replaced with standard calliper brakes and the fork, unlike the SLR, isn’t of the asymmetric type. But that’s pretty much where the differences end — both have a BB90 bottom bracket, a new ride-tuned seatmast and the DuoTrap S speed sensor that has been updated to make it slimmer and more integrated.

A step further down the range is the S model which, with 300 series OCLV carbon, weighs 1,220g on a painted 56cm frame with a fork of 518g. There is no ride-tuned seat mast; instead a standard and now more common 27.2mm seat post is in its place. Cables are externally routed, the bottom bracket is BB86 press fit and the bike comes with the original DuoTrap sensor and an E2 tapered fork.

Starting at $1,899 the Émonda S4 comes with a Shimano Tiagra groupset. The SL range starts at $2,899 with Shimano 105 throughout, and the first rung of the SLR range — the SLR6 — lands at $6,999 with an Ultegra 6800 build up.

The test-ride

I managed to get a solid ride on the new Émonda after I was lent the SLR8 version. This build features: a Dura Ace mechanical groupset; Bontragers latest XXX integrated bar and stem combo; the Bontrager Aeolus 3 carbon clincher wheels; and saddle, tyres and finishing kit from the in-house brand too. The brushed matt black frame looked clean and simple in the rare Yorkshire sunshine.

Though the four hours I had with the bike were nowhere near enough to fully judge it, I felt I got a solid understanding of how the bike rides and handles.

I rode a large proportion of stage 1 of this year’s Tour de France, from just outside the village of Hawes — where the climb of Cote du Buttertubs starts — through to the finish in Harrogate. I ride these roads regularly as I live close to the area, so I was able to get a good understanding of how it handled compared to my usual ride, a Swift U-Vox 2012 model.

The first noticeable thing for me was not so much the weight but how planted the bike felt on the road. Even at 6.15kg the bike didn’t seem to skip or jump when hitting potholes or rough surfaces. Even strong crosswinds didn’t throw the bike about — it sat nicely holding the road at all times.

Descending on it quickly gave me confidence and the learning curve of knowing how the bike will react to cornering came naturally and quickly. The wheels and brake setup were a slightly different matter though. Long descents had the brakes squeaking and on two occasions I managed to lock up the rear wheel in to a very sharp corner. The Dura Ace direct-mount brakes were without a doubt some of the most powerful I’ve used. This is where more time riding the bike would have me learning where that “biting point” is.

Climbing the Cote du Buttertubs (or just Buttertubs as it’s usually called when the Tour’s not taking it in) was as close to a pleasure as a hard climb can be. Accelerations when climbing flung the bike from under me; when standing the front end felt light and lively underneath me. The one minor niggle I did find was that the cable routing seemed to rub against my knee when out of the saddle.

The fact that I found myself using a slightly smaller sprocket than usual just showed what comes in to play when you’re riding a lighter bike (the Émonda is 1.5kg lighter than my Swift).

I’m sure the wheelset had a part in the nature of this bike’s acceleration and climbing prowess. The wheels got up to speed quickly and stayed there with very little effort. It was just the braking that I felt let this item down.

Throughout the ride I surprised myself at how long I was able to stay in the big ring — the area doesn’t usually allow for the chance to romp away in the big dog for long periods of time. The short sharp climbs soon take their toll on the legs if you attack them in the 52- or 53-tooth chainring, even with a 25 on the back. With the Émonda I found myself defiantly using the big chainring a lot more than I would normally.

The whole package of this bike is what I’d class as solid. The geometry of the bike plants it feet firmly on the road, the lightweight build gives so much advantage over a bike frame that may be carrying 300-500g more and the power transfer was as direct and responsive as you’d expect from a race-ready build.

The new XXX bar/stem combo at first didn’t sit well with me — I felt the shape of the bar at the top seemed to want to throw my hands forward and downwards, plus I was sure I could feel a fair amount of flex in the setup. Is this what happens when you try to reduce a product’s weight too much? At 240g for a 42mm by 120mm it’s a light setup for your steering option.

But after two hours of riding I’d changed my mind — the flex in the bars helped alleviate a large amount of road shock. That said, the slight flex I felt may be a slight put off for pure sprinters. The shape of the bars and where my hands sat on top grew on me quickly, though I feel I’d need more time to get used to it. I did find myself sitting comfortably in the drops for extended periods, which was a pleasant surprise.

Overall the bike rides exceptionally well, unless you ride on cobbles or real rough stuff regularly. The Émonda sits right between the Domane and the Madone and is well balanced for it.

Sure the bike is light and it shows this quality when the road heads upwards, but the way it sits on the road, the comfort and handling are all areas that I feel it excels in in equal measures. It may not be sold on these points but they are qualities that shouldn’t be overlooked.

I’d love the chance to try riding the Émonda again, maybe with a wheelset I’m already familiar with to see how hard I could push it and see where its limits are.

Tags: Dave Everett, Emonda, test ride, Trek

jules

by my calculation, there are 126 possible arrangements of the letters MADONE for new Trek models
- http://cyclingtips.com.au Matt de Neef
  
  That should keep them busy for at least the next few years!
- Mark_Kelly
  
  6! (pronounced 6 factorial) is 720.
  - jules
    
    For some reason I used 5 letter first. I now get 462 - I think if you use factorial you get some repetition of combinations. I have been known to be wrong..
    - Mark_Kelly
      
      There are six independent possibilities for the first position, five for the second etc etc. so it’s simply 6!.
      
      Since all six possible data points are independent, there are no repeats. Of course many of them will be nonsense, like eaomnd or, say, emonda.
      - phil
        
        Yeah it is 6!=720
        6 letters and no repetitions so 6 ways for 1st position 5 for secend etc. Which is 6×5×4×3×2×1.
        
        900Aero
        
        Slow day chaps?
- bambos
  
  Next up - a female specific version by the name of “Démona”
  - Dave
    
    And a cobblestone racing version called “Démona du Nord”
http://gta.riotpixels.com/ dimassss

“Of course it’s been butchered a little bit to use the same letters as the names “Domane” and “Modane”.”
It’s Madone. Modane might be next, who knows :D
- Sam
  
  How about E-nomad? Maybe an e-bike…
eatmorelard

I don’t understand the SL and S versions of the frame. They are not in weight weenie territory. In fact the Madone would be lighter. Surely, you would be better off with alleged aero advantage of the Madone? Trek marketing department, we need to know what you are thinking - and surely you want to market a bike on what it can offer the punter in terms of ride characteristics and not just that it is lighter than an EVO (for $15 000)? Or am I being naive here?
- philipmcvey
  
  I agree. The Madone is already light, and then this (awfully monikered) bike is a bit lighter. I have a Trek and love what they do, but it seems they now have an aero bike that’s not properly aero and a super light bike that’s not properly super light. I can’t see the point of entering these niches if you don’t beat the competition soundly in the metrics used to judge them. I own a Domane - which I reluctantly accepted as a warranty replacement on a Madone frame. To me it’s the only one of the three that does what it sets out to do. The name even makes sense! Domane as in ‘tomorrow’ - i.e. you’ll feel better in the morning. That just works. But emonda? That’s just a torturous effort to fit within an anagrammatical style (which nobody cares about anyway). Surely Daemon should have got a run first. And yes, it’s way too expensive.
  - Ben
    
    ummm 4.65kgs is not properly super light? Tough crowd.
    - philipmcvey
      
      Ha! Shows I should have read the article more closely. I only looked at the frame weight which seemed to be within a bee’s you-know-what of the Cannondale. OK, that’s not super light, that’s ultra light, or hyper light or whatever the next level adjective is. I’ve had a Madone, and I’ve got a Domane - and I love what Trek do, but this seems a bit of an odd marketing proposition. Logic says they should have moved the Madone in this direction (Super light) and then created a different model for the aero segment. Marketing should also be about visuals and the three bikes look pretty darn similar to me. Have a look at the S-Works Maclaren Tarmac - now that’s a superbike.
- philipmcvey
  
  Oops.. looks like the name does make sense. Emonder is the French verb meaning ‘to prune’. Chapeau to Trek.
  Though I’m giving top marks to e-nomad as per the poster above.
- Robert Merkel
  
  I guess that there’s a segment of the bike buying public who want a non-aero frame with race geometry (even though the Madone sounds like it rides pretty well despite its aero shaping), and the lower specced emondes mostly fill that role with a few of these super-premium weeniebikes for the seriously wealthy MAMILs.
- Ben
  
  Each version aims to be lightest in it’s class or price point. I think Trek have gone into detail elsewhere about how they aimed to create a light weight bike that matched the Madone on stiffness and compliance. The Emonda seaminbly makes no accomodation for aerodynamics
  - phil
    
    But that’s the thing, the weights for the lower models are pretty ordinary at their respective pricepoints. For example the frame for the cheaper merida sculturas weigh 1150 grams with a sub 400 gram fork. That puts it much lighter than the s model of the emonda which is at the same price point. The merida isn’t even marketed as light weight.
    On another website they weighed an emonda s6 which has ultegra 6800. It was 8.67kg (claimed 8.4). You only need to look at other ultegra carbon bikes at that price to know that they average around 8.0. The giant propel advanced 3 with 105, a fat aero frame, is 8.2 kg.
    - Jimmy Jackknife
      
      They have three levels of carbon for the Emonda from my reading. The bike you mention is there lowest level carbon (300 series) so to compare the s6 with a Giant Propel is wrong. You should be comparing their SL 6 or SLR 6 (mid range and/or top of the line with Ultegra)…You will see (again just from their website) that both those frames are lighter.
mattb

I really like the way the bars can mount a garmin / computer. A sleek improvement. I haven’t seen this on a handlebar before- makes perfect sense.
I also really like the aesthetics of the brakes - agree that they look ‘industrial’ and tough.
A great review- thanks
philip

Like eatmorelard below, I don’t see the reasoning behind the cheaper frame models. The sl version is not particularly light, around the same weight as most other cheap carbon frames including the $400 open mould frames from china. The S version is very heavy, heavier than aluminium frames at that price like the cannondale caad10 and giant tcr slr and specialized allez. So if they are marketing it as something light, well only the top frame is light and the madone at those price points are already quite light and good already…
velomonkey

Let’s make sure we cover what’s important - that bike, as it is, is just freaking ugly. It looks like it fell from the ugly tree and his every single branch on the way down.
- winky
  
  No more ugly than the plethora of bikes it looks identical to.
  
  I also don’t get why there are cheaper, heavy versions of this frame. They kind-of miss the point, don’t they?
Efe Ball?

Trek is dropping every Madone from the production line except for 2 and 7. Emonda is the new go-to bike for Trek.
For the anagram thing, I’im thinking Daemon and Modena. Modena would suit a Colnago better though…
- philipmcvey
  
  Modena! Big thumbs…
- diamondjim
  
  I was thinking Daemon too - pitch it at all the IT nerds out there…
- JimmyMatamata
  
  Where do you get this info from? I hope this is not the case. I kinda like the fact that the Madone is kinda aero but without the hard ride of a full on aero machine. Maybe Trek and are going to move towards having a super light climbing bike and a proper aero bike and not sit somewhere in the middle with one bike (Madone).
  - Efe Ball?
    
    Ben Coates mentioned it in an interview, I think. It makes sense as there were a lot of bikes in the Madone series anyway. So if you want aero, go for Madone 7.
just a bike rider

At 4.65kg for a 56cm compact frame road bike.
They’ve not included pedals, a bottle cage, or paint, to get that weight.
Pedals, being a necessary evil, to enable coffee shop bragging!

I’ve test ridden this bike recently, over several 2-4hr rides, and I didn’t feel it’s that “wow” above anything else,
The weight makes it enjoyable on immaculate tarmac, but in real world use, by a club rider for racing,
It’d be a bike to use for a season then sell it on.
Fabian Cancellara, would rip it apart (but no one would care, as pro teams just throw it away & get another one)
a 5ft cyclist, weighing 40kg, would love it.
An average bike rider @ 6ft, 70-80kg would demolish it in a season.
I’m 6’3 84kg and I wouldn’t ride it on Arenberg.
- Richard Smith
  
  Lifetime warranty suggests that Trek have done their homework and are confident in their product (as always). I wouldn’t worry about destruction until it’s crashed/dinked/gouged… Same as any other carbon fibre bike!