(upbeat guitar music)
- In 2014, just before the Tour de France,
Trek released a groundbreaking super-lightweight bike
called the Émonda.
Three years on, just prior to Tour de France,
Trek are releasing version two,
a brand new, disc-specific version of the Émonda.
But not just this!
We've got brand-new rim brake versions as well.
Are they light?
Oh, yeah. They're light.
Super light.
Now, last time, at the launch,
I was asked to get all the information,
but I was unfortunately stuck in a neck brace.
So I didn't actually get to ride the Trek Émonda.
This time, though,
things are different.
Very different.
(upbeat guitar music)
Version one of the Émonda was startlingly light,
at just 690 grammes in the frame, and at the time,
was the lightest production frame in the world.
This one, though, is lighter still.
For the disc brake version,
it's just 665 grammes for the frame,
and the rim brake version is 640 grammes.
And that's for a size 56.
The fork only adds another 313 grammes,
so that's 953 grammes for a frame and fork.
That's bonkers.
But Trek say that this is no bag of wet noodles, either.
The engineers worked long and hard to actually further
increase the stiffness from that previous model.
So, it's been boosted from
86 newton metres per degree at the head tube
to 88 newton metres per degree,
and the bottom bracket stiffness has been boosted
from 52 newtons per millimetre
up to 55 newtons per millimetre on this disc version.
And the rim brake version is even stiffer, weirdly,
that's 56 newtons per millimetre.
So you can see, then, that in pure performance terms,
the rim brake version does win out.
It's ever-so-slightly lighter,
and it's ever-so-slightly stiffer.
And it's interesting that Trek said
they are still fully behind rim brakes,
just as they are fully behind disc brakes.
They say that there are advantages to both systems,
and that they're gonna let the consumer decide
which one is right for them.
And you can't say fairer than that, really, can you?
Now, it's not just about the SLR series
that we have next to us, now,
'cause the Émonda is available is available
at much lower price points.
However, the original entry to the Émonda series,
the S-series frame has now gone.
But, it's a good thing, because the SL,
which was, or is, the next level up,
will now be sold with models at similar prices
to that original S series.
And that is with the higher-quality
500-series OCLV carbon fibre.
Now there is, as you might imagine,
a little bit of a weight penalty over the SLR,
but, the frame and forks are still super-light,
'cause the rim brake version is just 1091 grammes,
the disc version, 1149 grammes,
and the fork is just 436 grammes.
But how have they got the weights so low, then?
Well, firstly, Trek have now actually got
25 years of experience of working with carbon fibre,
and that's quite a lot for the bike industry.
Then, they've spent pretty much all the time
since the 2014 Tour de France doing R&D and prototyping
to get ready for this.
And in that, they say they've done an awful lot
of really advanced analysis, including two things,
I'm not entirely sure what they are.
Parameterized optimization and finite element analysis.
So I've got a bit more of an idea about that one,
but not much.
What it means, though, is that when we actually look
at the frame before us now,
firstly, the carbon fibre layup
has been completely redone from the bottom up.
And then, we're also left
with some really striking tube shapes.
Now, one of the best ways,
particularly about getting a really stiff bike,
is actually to make the tube really wide,
and then put more material on the edges,
so, where it's best-placed to brace against torsional flex.
Which you can see that really clearly at the head tube,
and then also, the whole way down the down tube.
It's what we'd expect to find under
this really rather lovely custom Project One paint job,
is that here,
you have a really super-thin tube,
but in here, we have a much thicker one.
If we look at the seat tube,
we can see that it's quite square,
and that's because Trek say their optimization software
showed that there are less twisting loads,
and, therefore, a square shape is the most efficient.
And then, my favourite bit of geekery,
at the end of the top tube, near the seat tube,
we can see a concave section,
as opposed to the usual convex tube shape.
Trek found out that by making a tube go in,
rather than bow out,
they could significantly improve compliance, i.e., comfort.
Now, you can forget about any
concerns about fragility, though,
because this bike comes with a lifetime warranty,
and it comes with the same
weight restrictions as all Trek bikes.
So, 275 pounds,
or 125kg.
And then, Trek have also said, actually,
that this is great for gravel riding.
They've specced it with 28mm wide tyres
on the disc version.
Slightly thinner on the rim brake version, 25mm.
But, it does have the same clearance as this disc version,
and that's thanks to the direct-mount brakes.
They've always been on the SLR,
but they're now on the SL model as well.
And that is a great thing, the wider tyres,
because it means you get a super-comfortable ride,
but you still got all the benefits
of that torsional stiffness.
Now, what else can I tell you about the frame, then?
Well, the disc version comes with 12mm through-axles.
It's got flat-mount disc callipers,
and it's designed around 160-mil disc brake rotors.
Both rim and disc versions
have Trek's Control Freak cable management system,
so that is a way of using
internal cable routing really simply,
and in any permutation you want.
So, hydraulic, or electronic, or mechanical.
Then, both rim and disc versions obviously
still share Trek's own bottom bracket design.
So that's BB90, and that is a really good thing.
Moment of truth, then.
Shall we see what the complete bike weighs
with my own skanky pedals on there?
Ready?
That's pretty bloody impressive
for a, stop, disc bike, innit?
Now, I also happen to have
Alberto Contador's bike over there.
I think we should weigh that one as well.
6.5, whoa!
6.53!
Now, I'm told that there's already 400g
of ballast added to this to make it UCI-legal.
I have a feeling they're gonna be adding some more
before the start of the Tour de France.
Well, there is, then, the new Trek Émonda,
the lightest production frame set in the world,
with a disc version, and also a rim brake version.
This particularly, guys, in fact,
is even with a pretty reasonable shot at winning
the Tour de France in the next three weeks.
Now, if you're into tech when it comes to bikes,
then do make sure you subscribe to GCN.
It's completely free.
Just click on the globe.
And then, if you're after some more content,
why not check out that original Trek Émonda video
from three years ago, where I was stuck in a neck brace?
That one is just down there.
Or, to see a video with Alberto Contador
teaching you how to climb, click just down there.