New Ride Trek Madone 6.9 Pro Red

The maiden voyage of my new Trek Madone 6.9 Pro Red is done. It consisted of a rather hilly, and quite windy, ride with Jessi and Steve. I knew we had planned on riding this afternoon and my new Madone was to come as well. UPS arrived at about 1:00pm and I immediately got into the box because it seemed too light and I thought that the wheels were missing…they weren’t. I started working on it about 2:30pm after a few other obligations. So that gave me about 2 hours to get this all sized up and set up. Seems simple, and it “can” be.

Upon opening the box all I could see was bubble wrap and styrofoam. I guess that’s good. I took the frame and many of the components out of the box and began getting them ready for the light assembly required. This would be he first bike I have had with the new SRAM Red. But I thought it was built on the Shimano platform for the most part, so how hard could it be? Well, it wasn’t that hard but I seemed to fumble around with the front derailleur more than I needed to. Other than that, taking off the reflectors on the $2000 Aeolus wheels was a little funny as well as spoke protector. Yup, the same ones you see on the bike at Toys-R-Us. After running a few measurements and checking levels, I was ready to go.

Let me quickly walk you through the bike. The bars that came on it were Bontrager carbon bars that are 44cm wide. That’s pretty wide for a narrow shouldered guy, but feels super stable on the road. The bars are nicely matched up with a white carbon Bontrager stem. Very sleek and bold…yes, both. The SRAM Red brakes are fitted with carbon pads to accommodate the Aeolus 5.0 wheels (that happened to be clinchers…hmmm). The bar tape and cable housing are a very bright white, for now, and really set off the bike. I really like the seat post design that is a carbon mast design. Many frames are going this route to save weight, and decrease parts while making things stiff. The front derailleur is a clamp on, which happens to be one of the first bikes in a long time that I have owned without a braze on. The SRAM Red package was complete with the red accents and the cassette that has red anodization detail facing the spokes…pretty cool. I completed the bike with a pair of Look Keo Carbon Ti pedals.





I got this bike all built up literally 10 minutes before we had to leave. So as I walked out the door with my new ride, I was not 100% confident that I double-checked all the bolts. Oh well, should hold. I rolled down the driveway and grabbed the brakes…worked. Whew, I can stop. How about a quick acceleration? Yup, everything held. How about shifting from chainring to chainring under load? Yup, did it. So as Jessi rolled down the road too, we were off. Currently there is absolutely no computer of any kind on the bike. No speed, heart rate, cadence, time, …nothing! So I was riding by all feel on a completely new feeling bike. I felt like it looked cool. I mean, how often do we go out and train on a set of racing wheels? Though I was sitting way more upright than I do on my TTX, I felt like I was cruising along nicely. Jessi was tucked in behind me not complaining.

We came to a few stops and climbed a few more hills before we ran into Steve. From that point, we pick up the speed and started running the bike through the tests. It climbed like it was 10 pounds and as stiff as a downhill bike. The shifting was precise, and never left me shifting up two to come down one. It is designed on a 2-click system that you can quickly adjust to if you are used to Shimano STI. I had no problems with it form the get go. We hit some pretty big climbs and I found the hoods very comfortable and had a large enough platform to rest your hands. They also allowed for out of the saddle climbing, and even shifting, with success and ease. There were only a few times that I found myself in the drops, but when I did, I felt like I was pulling a Tour peleton behind me. Granted, I was going down an 8% descent. It made my ride go by so quickly. Since this was a brand new bike, and I did not change ANYTHING out of the box other than adding pedals, I was happy to ride for a bit and not experience any soreness. I did not even change the saddle! Jessi, Steve, and I had a great ride. I was so lucky to have such a great couple of people to ride with and let me test this new steed out with. I dragged them all over the place.

So to sum it up, this bike is race ready out of the box. I have ridden quite a few bikes from steel, aluminum, and carbon. I have used all the great components from the down tube retro-friction shifting to the Campy Ergo, to the Shimano STI. This bike was honestly a pleasure to ride. I would like to let everyone come and ride it and experience what it is like, but it’s mine and you can go buy your own :) I highly doubt many local Trek dealers will stock these bikes in a full size run, so if you are ever at a place that they are demoing them, take advantage of it. It’s like being at the BMW test track with a fist full of keys. Now I really know that Lance was never on drugs. I know exactly what he was on.

A HUGE thank you to Team TIMEX, Tristan, Tom, and all the great minds at Trek. It's because of all you that I am in need of a tent. But it should only be a temporary arrangement.