I want an s5 over my sl7 for the extra 5w
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Trek made their new design knowing it would be polarizing. For me personally, it’s a big no.
Starting weight of the top trim is 1.2kg above Tarmac SL8
Given that Tour’s data is with the manufacturer / OEM kit spec (though they test with stock zipp wheels, the numbers you get are oem spec) - that means there is absolutely no normalisation for handlebar width, cockpit or front tyre leading edge - all of their (aero) results should be taken with an ENORMOUS pinch of salt.
Pretty sure the SL7 was tested with a 42 and the SL8 with 40 etc.
Also, they’re all tested in a fixed size. Yet this means manufacturers can optimise their aero for that size, or play a game where they set the bike up to actually be a smaller bike than is marked so that it has a smaller cross section to score better. We all know aero isn’t linear - but what if, say, a SystemSix in 52 was 20 watts better than an s5 in 52, but when it got to 56 they were the same. You ride a 52, but you look at the Tour rankings and think they are the same?
I mean you could even play with tour’s testing by fitting a smaller Q factor, so it reduces how wide their fake dummy legs go. No doubt someone will try that soon to slide down the rankings.
The compliance and stiffness stuff is reasonably hard to cheat, but also it encourages manufacturers to design bikes around that as a metric rather than comfort, or feel, or some other kind of meaningful measure of compliance.
I’d just buy whatever looks sexy and makes you feel good.
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Comparing the two in Ultegra spec (I have the SL8 Pro) its less than a 500g difference between the two (7.16kg vs 7.48kg). I’m not in the top trim price range but the Madone top trim is 7.10 kgs https://www.trekbikes.com/ca/en_CA/bikes/road-bikes/performance-road-bikes/madone/madone-slr/madone-slr-9-gen-7/p/37419/?colorCode=red
I don’t have a Madone, I have a SL8 (haven’t ridden it yet but did a fit on it yesterday) but just seemed odd to exclude it. Is the S5 way lighter than 7.10 kgs?
I had it at 7.8kg……that’s all
Looking around I think that would be the Force spec model https://www.trekbikes.com/ca/en_CA/bikes/road-bikes/performance-road-bikes/madone/madone-slr/madone-slr-7-axs-gen-7/p/41759/?colorCode=red
The other thing I like about the Madone vs the SL8 is the 35cm tops stock bar, my 49 SL8 came with a 38 bar so will be looking to swap that out, annoyed it didn’t come with a 36 because the Rapide is a nice bar, I would just prefer narrower, the smallest width being 38 seems dated.
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That is not how they determine the price for a crash replacement frame…at least not for any of the brands I worked for.
I’m curious about how they do it, is there anything you can share?
Depends…some treat it as a marketing expense, some put it in the R&D budget (which can often be a Warranty line item in the budget). But never have I seen any company price it as “well, back out the R&D / engineering costs to determine the price” because those costs are still present in a replacement frame.
This. Oh, so very much this. I made that mistake once, I’m still paying for it, and I will never make it again.
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The problem is that people’s “feelings” in the bike are rarely associated with actual objective measurements. Sort of like 23mm tires feel fast.
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If how a bike feels interferes with your ability to enjoy your rides, then I would put bike feel very high on the list. Bike geometry is a huge thing and one you cannot correct for after the fact.
I started life as a mountain biker and got a quality endurance road bike. I hated how it felt on the road, it wasn’t willing to corner, it seemed to resist me, and it clearly wasn’t meant for the body position I wanted to be in. The bike was the right size and I had bike fits. One ride with a bike with a geo that suited me was enough.
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Canyon is no longer honoring the crash replacement program (at least in the US). Now they’d only offer you a 20% discount on a new bike (outlet and bikes on sale not included). This is not very helpful when you have everything else in good condition (expensive groupsets, proprietary parts, etc).
They also don’t sale individual frames or forks. Proprietary parts are out of stock most of the time. So it’s a headache if you need to replace any of those parts.
In my case it ended up being more expensive than anything I saved in the original purchase. It doesn’t help that Canyon’s SLX frames seem to be more prone to breaking than the cheaper models.
You can reach out and confirm directly with them about their crash replacement policy. Ask them if they have CRP frames available for purchase. You can also do q quick search and you’ll find plenty of examples.
I asked a similar question here:
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