(upbeat drum music)
- This is my Trek Madone Disc.
I absolutely love it and
I mean I am a very lucky boy indeed.
But before we go any further, I wanna tell you
all the details about the bike.
I think we should just take a minute.
I mean, look at it.
(fast-paced rock music)
first we're gonna start with the paint because
my Trek has a rather special paint job.
It's got a two-toned design here with
matte and gloss black finishes
and I really like how the gloss black Trek logo
contrasts against the matte frames.
Nice and subtle, but looks really cool.
But my favorite bit is this iridescent paint
on the top section. It's really beautiful.
And, it changes color depending on the light
and the angle which you view it from.
It's kind of a bit like the paint that you
may have seen on the old TVR Cerberus cars back in the day.
(upbeat rock music)
The Madone is a very aerodynamic design
and replaces the outgoing model
which was the one that Last had with a custom paint job.
It's a very nice custom paint job last year.
I can't remember who designed it.
Anyhow, there's lots of cool features.
So, the first big difference between the outgoing Madone,
like what Last had, is that this one is available
in disc and rim brake versions.
The previous one was just rim brake.
Now you can see mine is the disc brake one.
And, it doesn't have the vector wings at the front anymore.
They were the little flaps that popped out
as you turned the steerer tube.
There's also an adjustable isospeed decoupler
located in the top tube here.
And this is to give compliance on the seat post in the rear
end to make it more comfortable.
And Trek reckons that in it's maximum setting,
this is now 17 percent more comfortable than Last's version.
Also, another advantage, is that because it's
now located in the top tube and not in the seat tube,
it means that the amount of compliance you get
is not determined by how much seatpost you are running.
So basically, if you ran less seat tube with your bike,
you have less compliance.
Now you can adjust it by undoing a
little Allen bolt here or hex bolt and then
pushing the slider along to tune the compliance.
I run it here, which is not the maximum compliance,
but close to it and I just love how the bike feels
in this setting, having played around with it quite a bit.
(lighthearted guitar music)
Now, this is an aero bike so I wanted
to put some deep section wheels in
because I just feel that aero bikes just don't
look right with shallow wheels.
They just don't go together.
Kinda like orange juice and toothpaste. Bleh.
(lighthearted guitar music)
so, I've gone full ball and banged in a set
of these seriously blinged, Zipp 858 NSW's.
I mean, look at these bad boys.
The 858 is one of the latest wheels from Zipp
and features the little HyperFoils or nodules on the rims.
Now, this was sort of inspired by the two berkles
on the fins of humpback whales which is said to make
humpback whales remarkably agile and hydro dynamically
stable creatures for their massive size.
Now, Zipp has sort of been inspired by this and
taken this hydrodynamic advantage
and turned it into and aerodynamic one.
But, in respect to that, they look amazing
and they sound absolutely mint
like there's a (whooshing sound) sound as you ride along.
And the freer, well, check this out.
(chain buzzing sound)
on to the rims, I fitted a pair of Continental GP 4000 S II
tires and 25 MM width front and rear.
And I haven't fitted the GP 5000's yet because,
well, I haven't managed to get my grubby little hands
on a pair of those at the time of filming.
But, I can't wait to put them on.
(lighthearted guitar music)
In terms of the size of the bike, I'm six foot one or 185
centimeters, and I'm riding a 56 centimeter frame.
And my saddle height from the center of the BB to the
top middle of the saddle is 77 centimeters.
My stem is 120 centimeters long,
and my bars are just 38 centimeters wide.
I don't have the widest of frames so for me
there's no issue with riding a narrower bar.
I feel comfortable even when going on really long rides
for extended periods of time.
But the main reason is that, they allow me to get
much smaller at the front end
much more narrow and aerodynamic.
And they feel a lot faster and the bike originally came
with 44 centimeter bars and for me the contrast
between the two is absolutely huge.
(lighthearted guitar music)
It's also worth pointing out that the cockpit
is a sort of integrated two-piece system
with a separate bar and stem and this is another
big difference from Last's Madone and the advantage of this
is that you can tune your exact stem length
and bar width and also adjust your bar
angle as well with greater flexibility.
Also on the cockpit is an out front mount
for my Wahoo bolt computer.
Now at the time of making this video,
Bontrager don't currently make a Wahoo out front mound.
So this, is a custom made 3D printed one
which I think is a definite hack.
My saddle is a Fizik Arione 00.
Now saddle choice is hugely personal,
but this is the shape that I get along really well with.
And the 00 notation means that
this is Fizik's top of the range model.
It's the lightest and it looks proper tasty.
Now in a desperate bid to look more pro,
I also have a custom name sticker on the top tube.
Now this mainly serves my own vanity,
but also acts a deterrent to would be thieves
in the GCN Presenters bike shed.
The groupset on my Madone is Dura Ace
di2 with hydraulic disc brakes
and I'm running a 53-39 standard chainset
and an 11-28 cassette on the rear.
But, I will change this cassette out depending
on the terrain or the style of riding I'm doing.
So, I've put one 11-30 and sometimes
I've even put on 11-32.
I like having a 53-39 chainset because
once you get it up to speed and you get it turning,
it just feels really efficient.
And I also like the feeling of having something
to push against sometimes too.
Now the keen eye of you, may have noticed
a little bit of battle damage on my rear
there's a slight scuff there.
Well, let you in to a secret, that was caused when I
slid off on an oil patch at RideLondon.
But, don't tell anyone okay? I don't
want Trek to know? Okay? Shhh.
Bottle cages are Bontrager XXX.
They're very light, they're made of carbon just 19 grams
and I love they way they look too.
But how about the total weight of the bike?
Well, let's bring out the GCN scales of
truth and see how much it weighs.
So there you have it, the scales of truth is saying
8.09 kilograms which has surprised me a
little bit to be honest but it is in line with a
lot of top end super aero hydraulic disc brake bikes.
But it is significantly heavier than
a lot of top end climbing bikes out there.
But in many cases, aero trumps weight.
Now because I don't have as much aerobic talent as
I'd quite like, I look for other ways to close the gap
and one of the ways I'll try and do that is by riding
an aero bike and using science and getting a nice
aerodynamic position with a narrow handle bar.
(soft music)
I hope you've enjoyed this look at my Trek Madone Disc.
I absolutely love it and if you have,
then please give the video a thumbs up
and if you haven't already, subscribe.
And if you'd like to watch another video,
then why not check out this one down here,
of my canyon CF SLX that I used in my Everesting challenge
and perhaps let us know in the
comments which one you'd prefer.
The Canyon or the Trek?