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The New Trek Émonda Is Faster Than Ever

Already one of the fiercest climbing bikes available, the new Émonda is even faster thanks to a dose of aero.

The Takeaway: The Émonda SLR is a benchmark pro race bike—and it’s surprisingly rider friendly.

• It has 183 grams less drag than the previous generation, but the frame is only 33 grams heavier
• There are 10 models starting at $2,699
• SL models ($2,699 to $5,999) have the aerodynamic shaping and features but in a frame that’s about 400 grams heavier than the SLR
• SLR models ($6,699 and up) use a new carbon fiber composite that’s 30 percent stronger than Trek’s previous top-of-the-line carbon.

For Émonda SLR bicycles, Trek will provide an individual handlebar and stem until an updated handlebar/stem combo is available.

Additionally, all customers who bring in their handlebars for replacement will also receive a $100 in-store credit that can be used toward any Trek or Bontrager merchandise through December 31, 2022.

Remember professional road racing ? It’s that thing where super skinny people go unbelievably fast up and down hills and fly over flat roads for hours at a time. It’s been a while since the pros have beat up on each other for our entertainment, but there might, hopefully, be some races on the horizon. When the races do resume, Trek’s pro riders will be aboard its new third-generation Émonda climbing bike. The new Émonda isn’t lighter, but it is faster thanks to a dose of aerodynamic tuning.

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Now With Aero

The new Émonda gets a major drag reduction with a tiny weight gain.

Simple Seat Mast

The seat mast has lots of adjustment range, and an easy-to-use saddle clamp.

Light and Slippery

The new Bontrager Aeolus RSL 37 wheels are light, sleek, and stable.

Wide and Threaded

The T47 bottom bracket has a wide stance, and user-friendly threads.

A built-in chain watcher prevents unwanted derailments.

Making the new Émonda frame more aerodynamic wasn’t exactly a tough hurdle as the previous Émonda had virtually zero aerodynamic optimization. But adding meaningful aerodynamic benefit while achieving the frame stiffness expected of a pro-caliber race bike, maintaining the well-regarded handling properties of the previous Émonda, and adding rider-friendly features like a threaded bottom bracket—all with adding only 33 grams (SLR frame, claimed)—is quite a feat.

Below you’ll find my review of the Émonda SLR—I’ve been on it since early March—followed by a dive into the technology and features of the new bike, and a brief model breakdown.

Ride Impressions: Émonda SLR 9 eTap

The Émonda SLR is a tool made to fulfill the needs of some of the world’s best road racers. This bike will never be as comfortable or versatile as a gravel bike. Going fast on pavement and climbing performance are its only goals. These are obvious facts, but that’s the lens through which it must be viewed. And through this lens, it is one of the very best.

The new Émonda was born out of a request from Trek’s pro racers and pitched as the company’s “fastest climbing bike ever.” So little surprise they set me up with the lightest model (the SLR 9 with SRAM Red eTap ), which also has a build kit almost identical to the team’s bikes. It’s also, excepting customized Project One builds, the most expensive model at a buck under 12 grand.

That massive pile of clams gets you an aerodynamic frame with disc brakes, power meter, and wireless electronic shifting that weighs less than 15 pounds (54cm). And that’s with a hefty T47 threaded bottom bracket unit, lustrous paint , clincher wheelset, a chain-watcher, standard butyl tubes, 37mm deep rims, 160mm disc rotors front and rear, and SRAM’s largest Red cassette (10-33). That’s “Holy shit!” impressive.

By cutting drag a ton without adding much weight, it’s hard to argue with Trek’s claim that the new Émonda is faster than the outgoing generation. But if you have any doubts, they’ll be erased when you ride it. This is an explosive bike: it feels as light as a feather and as solid as a steel girder at the same time.

Trek’s Émonda has always been a raw and rowdy bike that feels a little wild and a bit dangerous in precisely the ways you want a race bike to feel: That’s not lost with the added aerodynamics. If anything, the new Émonda is even crisper and punchier than before, which is saying something.

A small downside to all this fury is the Émonda’s smoothness. Light and stiff race bikes aren’t a smooth-riding lot to begin with, but even measured against a stiffer riding genre, the new Émonda is on the firmer end of the scale. Still, it escapes harsh or punishing labels—I did a six-hour ride on the Émonda on the stock 25 tires and didn’t feel worn down by its ride. Swapping to 28s helped a lot (no surprise) and were on the Émonda for the bulk of my testing. I’d suggest reserving the lighter and more aerodynamic stock 25s for racing or PR attempts—assuming good roads—and use 28s as daily drivers.

The Émonda’s handling is excellent. Well, let me caveat that: Road racing geometry is pretty uniform, so whether I’m on a current race bike from Trek, Specialized, Cannondale, Cervélo, Canyon, Colnago, Wilier, Pinarello, BMC, Giant (etc., etc.), I find the broad strokes of their handling feel and performance quite similar. There wasn’t anything about the Émonda’s handling or cornering performance that set any new benchmarks for me, but there wasn’t anything to dislike either.

It was quick and accurate, diving into corners with a light touch. It offered great feedback, so I always knew where I was relative to its and my limits, and I could count on it to be consistent and predictable. It was maybe a touch less settled in bumpy corners than the Specialized Tarmac, but the Émonda never broke traction or skipped. Overall, for such a light bike, the Émonda is remarkably solid and drama free. I’d have no qualms barreling down a technical alpine descent on the Émonda.

I received this test bike in early March, giving me plenty of time to ride it back to back with its primary competition—a Specialized S-Works Tarmac , what I consider the benchmark for aero-ized lightweight bikes. The Tarmac is smoother over the bumps and has a silkier feel overall, but the new Émonda feels more efficient, like it can go faster more easily.

I’ve also ridden a good slice of the Émonda’s competition, including the Canyon Ultimate CF SLX , Colnago V3Rs, Cannondale SuperSix Evo , Cervélo R5, Wilier Zero SLR , Pinarello Dogma F12 . These are all superb bikes, but I feel the Émonda is the class leader. It feels sharper and more explosive than all of them. It feels faster, and that’s what matters most in a race bike. But I also like that the Émonda is pretty straightforward and rider-friendly.

For example, I swapped the stock one-piece bar/stem for a standard stem and round bar. One, I could run a standard bar and stem on this bike, which you can’t say about every modern race bike. And two, I didn’t have to pull any cables, wires, or hoses to make the swap: Again, something you can’t say about all race bikes. For the record, the shape of the one-piece Aeolus bar/stem is great, and the tops are the most comfortable to grab of all the aero-topped bars I've used. The only reason I swapped is my preferred length and width combination (110x40) wasn't available yet.

The BB is threaded, which makes it easier to service and replace than a press-fit (however, I was getting some noise out of the BB area, which I never resolved). The wheels employ standard offset, and it uses regular thru-axles. It’s compatible with pod-style power meters and mechanical shifting. Its signature seat mast is pretty much the only non-standard thing about this frame, and even then, it’s pretty user-friendly. There’s no cutting necessary, height adjustment is ample, the saddle clamp is easy to use, and it’s travel-case friendly.

I expect so much from a modern high-end pro-level road racing bike that it’s hard to exceed those expectations. It’s rare when a bike does: The Émonda SLR is one of those rare bikes.

Team Request

The new Émonda is partially a result of a request from the Trek-Segafredo race team. “They are one of our primary customers,” said Jordan Roessingh, Trek’s director of road product. “And they started to realize that it’s not just weight, it’s not just stiffness and responsiveness, there’s this other thing—aerodynamics and speed—that’s also really important to be competitive and be faster on the bike. They had been one of the loudest voices saying, ‘We need the lightest-weight, stiffest bike possible.’ And now they started coming back saying ‘We need those things, but we also need the bike to be faster in order for us to be really competitive.’ ”

It is (comparatively) easy to make a light frame, it is easy to make a stiff frame, it is easy to make an aerodynamic frame. Making a frame that’s two of those three things is more challenging: Making a bike more aerodynamic usually makes it heavier, making a bike lighter typically makes it less stiff, etc. Making a frame that is light AND stiff AND aerodynamic enough to satisfy the demands of a top-level professional race team is extremely difficult.

But not impossible. Many brands already make a light, stiff, and aero bike. The Specialized Tarmac is one, as are the Canyon Ultimate, the Cannondale SuperSix Evo, the Cervélo R5, the Wilier Zero SLR, the Pinarello F12, the Scott Addict, and the new Giant TCR . All of them seek to balance the three qualities—light, stiff, and aero—in the pursuit of the ideal race bike, and they all manage the balance differently. The common thread between these bikes: They’re all used by teams that compete against Trek-Segafredo.

Still Light, Now With Aero

The previous generation Émonda SLR Disc , launched in 2017, was an extremely light frame at 665 grams (claimed). But when a frame is already that light, it is much harder to make it even lighter. At least lighter enough to make a meaningful difference.

So, Trek took a different approach to making its climbing bike faster—instead of lighter, it made it more aerodynamic. The new Émonda frame is a touch heavier—yet still extremely light at 698 grams—but the bike has 183 grams less drag than the previous generation.

The important thing to note here is that, though the frame is more aerodynamic, the 183 gram drag reduction is not from the frame only. New wheels and a new aero bar (more info on both below) play a role. The specific setups Trek used to get that 183 gram number are: 2018 Émonda with 28mm-deep Bontrager XXX 2 wheels, and Bontrager XXX Bar/Stem Combo compared to the 2021 Émonda with 37mm deep Bontrager Aeolus RSL 37 Wheels and Bontrager Aeolus RSL Bar/Stem Combo.

Another drag saving upgrade: the housing, hoses and wires for the controls are almost fully inside the frame. They dive into the frame at the head tube passing through the upper headset bearing. The front brake hose runs into the fork steerer and down the left leg before popping out just above the brake caliper. The fork steerer’s flattened sides provide room for the rear brake hose and derailleur control lines to travel down and into the frame. Though it has flattened sides, the fork steerer is still compatible with standard 1 1/8” stems.

The overall drag reduction results in a bike that is 18 seconds per hour faster when climbing an 8.1 percent grade (the average grade of Alpe d’Huez ), and 60 seconds per hour faster on flat roads than the previous Émonda. Trek also claims the new Émonda is 13 seconds per hour faster than a Specialized Tarmac when climbing an 8.1 percent grade (all assuming the rider maintains a constant 350 watts).

Eight Point One Percent

With three qualities—aero, stiffness, weight—that work in opposition to each other, how do you decide how much to optimize one quality when you know it will negatively affect the other two? How aero is aero enough? At what point is improved aerodynamics offset by the weight added to get there?

The team behind the Émonda used a legendary climb to help them decide: Alpe d’Huez. “It represents an extreme example of what most people see on a regular basis when they’re doing a big climbing ride,” said Roessingh, “It’s around an 8 percent grade, and it’s about an hour-long climb for the pros—amateurs might go a little slower. It gives us a good understanding of what the benefit of a drag savings is relative to a weight savings.”

By optimizing the weight and aerodynamic balance around this climb, Roessingh claims the Émonda is faster on Alpe d’Huez and also faster on everything shallower than the famous climb, “which is the vast majority of the environments that most riders are going to ride in, including the team,” said Roessingh. “So if we can say it’s faster up Alpe d’Huez, it’s going to be significantly faster everywhere because the flatter it is, the more aerodynamics benefit you.”

Computer-Aided Optimization

Achieving the weight to the aerodynamic balance of the new Émonda required careful design of each tube shape. Aiding the Émonda’s team was supercomputing horsepower. The abridged and simplified version of the process goes like this: into the computer was fed a rough draft of the shape based on Trek’s aerodynamic experience and other information like UCI regulations. The program then varies the tube’s parameters within a predefined range and spit back several iterations of the shape, each with a different weight to aerodynamic balance. The Émonda’s team evaluated the alternatives and picked the one most suited to its location in the frame and best able to help the frame achieve its overarching goal.

Roessingh says that Trek cannot afford to buy the computing hardware necessary to run the CFD and FEA optimizations (in a timely manner) that helped shape the new Émonda’s tubes. The processing happens in the cloud where Trek rents time on Google, Microsoft, or Amazon’s supercomputers. It’s more affordable than buying a supercomputer. Even so, it is not cheap, “Cloud computing is becoming a relatively significant budget line item for us because we’re doing so many of these optimizations in CFD and FEA and all that processing happens in the cloud.”

The new Émonda’s fork legs, head tube, down tube, seat tube, and seat stays all use a variation of a truncated airfoil. The top tube and chainstays, which have virtually no effect on drag, are optimized almost entirely for stiffness to weight.

In Trek’s line, the new Émonda’s aerodynamic performance is equal to the third generation Domane ; the Madone is still significantly more aero. But while the more aerodynamic Madone is faster in flatter terrain, once the climb hits about 5.5 percent, the lighter Émonda becomes the faster bike. And for many of the Trek-Segafredo team riders—and many amateurs—that means the Émonda is fastest when it matters most: the hardest part of a race or ride, which is almost always on a steep climb.

OCLV 800 Carbon

Getting the new Émonda SLR to be as light as it is while adding aerodynamic shaping would not be possible without employing a new carbon-fiber composite, said Roessingh. The new OCLV 800 composite is 30 percent stronger than Trek’s previous top-of-the-line composite (OCLV 700). Because it is stronger, they can use less: By using OCLV 800, Trek’s team was able to make the Émonda SLR frame 60 grams lighter than if they used OCLV 700.

The Émonda SLR is very cool, but it’s also very expensive (bike prices start at $6,699). For the 99 percenters, there’s the Émonda SL (models start at $2,699).

The SL uses OCLV 500 composite, and the frame is quite a bit heavier than the SLR’s. The SL’s frame comes in at 1,142 grams, with a 380-gram fork (SLR fork weight: 365 grams).

But material (and weight) are the only difference between the SL and SLR.

Aeolus Bar Stem

While a ton of work made the Émonda’s frame tubes faster, a big chunk of the new bike’s drag savings comes from the one-piece Aeolus bar stem. It alone is responsible for 70 grams of the Émonda’s 183-gram drag reduction. This means that if a traditional stem and round bar are installed on the new Émonda, its drag advantage over the previous-generation bike drops to 113 grams. And it means that you can make any bike with a round bar and traditional stem significantly more aerodynamic by merely installing the Aeolus. Retail price is $650.

The integrated Aeolus is made of carbon-fiber composite, of course, with a claimed weight of 297 grams (42x120). It’s offered in 14 length and width combinations, from 44x120 to 38x80. Hoses, housing, and wires run externally for easier service and repairs, but in a groove that keeps them out of the wind. A bolt-on plate keeps the control lines tucked and organized where they turn off the bar tops to run in line with the stem.

The Aeolus employs a mount that works with Bontrager’s line of Blendr accessories for mounting computers and lights.

Aeolus 37 Wheels

Another new Bontrager product rolling out with the Émonda is the Aeolus 37 wheelset. It comes in two models: the Aeolus RSL 37 (1,325 grams/pair, $2,400) and the Aeolus Pro 37 (1,505 grams/pair, $1,300).

The RSL 37 is claimed to be lighter than Zipp’s 32mm-deep 202, yet more aerodynamic and more stable than Zipp’s 45mm-deep 303. Both wheels are disc brake only (only Center Lock interface), tubeless compatible, use DT-Swiss internals, have no rider weight limit, and come with a lifetime warranty.

Surprisingly Rider Friendly

Though the new Émonda is clean and integrated looking and uses high-performance standards, it is also remarkably rider-friendly. Cables, hoses, and housing run externally on the one-piece Aeolus bar/stem for easier repair and service (with one exception: wiring for a Shimano Di2 or Campagnolo EPS bar-end junction box runs partially inside the bar). If you prefer a more traditional cockpit, it can be run with a standard bar and stem with 1⅛-inch steerer clamp.

The bottom bracket uses the threaded T47 standard , which is compatible with almost all common crank-axle standards.

Front and rear thru-axles are standard 12x100 and 12x142mm, and the wheels employ a standard dish. The standard flat mounts for the brake calipers are compatible with 140, 160, or 180mm rotors.

Tire clearance is officially 28mm, but that’s with a ton of extra space. I fit 32mm tires in the Émonda with ease.

And though all models do use a seat mast, it’s a no-cut variety with lots of adjustment range.

H1.5 Geometry

Trek did offer its top-of-the-line race bikes in the aggressive H1 geometry for riders seeking an ultra-long and low geometry, or H2 which was an endurance fit. The new Émonda is offered only in H1.5, which splits the difference between H1 and H2. The result is pretty typical dimensions for a modern race bike—a 54cm Émonda H1’s geometry is remarkably similar to a 54cm Specialized Tarmac.

There are eight sizes starting at 47cm and topping out at 62cm.

There are 10 models of the new Émonda. SL models start at $2,699 and are priced up to $5,999. SLR models start at $6,699 and go up to $11,999.

Only SLR models come with the Aeolus integrated bar/stem stock; and only the Émonda SL 7 ($5,499) and up come with the Aeolus 37 wheelset.

The new Émonda is a disc brake-only platform.

Project One

The new Émonda is in Trek’s Project One paint and parts personalization program. If that’s not luxe enough for you, Trek’s Project One Ultimate program allows you to work with a designer to come up with a one-of-a-kind finish, and Trek will source any parts you want for your new bike.

Trek Émonda SLR 9 eTap

A gear editor for his entire career, Matt’s journey to becoming a leading cycling tech journalist started in 1995, and he’s been at it ever since; likely riding more cycling equipment than anyone on the planet along the way. Previous to his time with Bicycling , Matt worked in bike shops as a service manager, mechanic, and sales person. Based in Durango, Colorado, he enjoys riding and testing any and all kinds of bikes, so you’re just as likely to see him on a road bike dressed in Lycra at a Tuesday night worlds ride as you are to find him dressed in a full face helmet and pads riding a bike park on an enduro bike. He doesn’t race often, but he’s game for anything; having entered road races, criteriums, trials competitions, dual slalom, downhill races, enduros, stage races, short track, time trials, and gran fondos. Next up on his to-do list: a multi day bikepacking trip, and an e-bike race. 

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2021 Trek Emonda review: the semi-aero, ‘faster everywhere’ climbing bike

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First introduced in 2014 , the Emonda has always been Trek’s premier climbing bike, with a keen focus on low weight and high stiffness. However, we now have a much better understanding of the role aerodynamics play when it comes to going fast — even when climbing — and, as expected, the brand-new Emonda SLR and Emonda SL bikes have undergone an aero makeover. The Emonda is still light, and it’s still stiff, but now there’s an extra dose of free speed included, too.

Story Highlights

What it is: The latest iteration of Trek’s premier climbing-specific road bike. || Frame features: Mild aero tube shaping, OCLV 800 carbon fiber construction, internal cable routing, T47 threaded bottom bracket. || Weight: 698 g (claimed, unpainted 56 cm frame only); 365 g (claimed, unpainted fork only); 6.81 kg (15.01lb), complete 52 cm Emonda SLR 9 eTap model as tested, without pedals.|| Price (as tested): US$12,000 / AU$15,800 / £9,700 / €11,000 || Highs: Low frame weight, excellent chassis stiffness, superb handling, intelligently designed internal routing system, traditional shape, no more BB90. || Lows: Somewhat chattery ride quality, no rim-brake option, long-term headset hassles.

The three-legged stool of performance

It has long been the prevailing mainstream sentiment that aerodynamic efficiency is only important when you’re moving fast — and given the non-linear way aerodynamic drag holds a rider back with increasing speed, there’s some truth to that. However, even moderately fit riders are still often going fast enough on most climbs that aerodynamic efficiency can play a measurable role, and given the “free speed” that the existing Emonda left on the table, Trek saw fit to make use of that potential with the latest redesign.

As Giant recently did with its TCR range of light-and-stiff road racing bikes, and Scott before them with the latest Addict RC , the new 2021 Emonda now sports truncated-airfoil tube profiles on the down tube, head tube, seat tube, seatstays, and fork blades. The no-cut integrated seatmast remains round, as does the telescoping seatmast head.

Upper-end Emonda SLR models also get a new Bontrager Aeolus RSL integrated carbon fiber stem and handlebar, the latter with notably flattened tops. Unlike the integrated setup on the full-aero Madone SLR , this is a true one-piece design with no angle adjustment so as to save weight.

Just like that Madone cockpit, though, the previous Emonda’s once-exposed cabling up front has been replaced with a fully hidden setup in the interest of more cleanly slicing through the air, with derailleur and brake lines now entering the frame at the head tube, immediately in front of the stem. Several new Emonda models will come with revamped Bontrager Aeolus aero carbon clincher wheels, too (and you can read about those in more detail here ).

So, just how aero is this thing?

According to Trek, if you were to take two identical riders, each putting out 350 watts, and put one on an old Emonda and the other on the new one, the one on the new Emonda would have a minute lead after an hour — on flat ground, that is. But the Emonda is supposed to be a climbing bike, no? Well, if you took those same two riders and sent them up L’Alpe d’Huez (a 13.85 km-long climb with an average gradient of 8.1% and maximum gradient of 13%), the rider on the new Emonda would finish 15 seconds ahead. On the Stelvio? Twenty-one seconds. And on something as long as the Taiwan KOM Challenge, Trek says the rider on the new Emonda would have 80 seconds to kick their heels up before the other rider showed up.

“We expect the vast majority of riders are going to choose Emonda,” said Trek’s director of road and Project One, Jordan Roessingh. “Madone is still significantly faster, but you’ll see a lot of Emondas under riders.”

Trek says the engineers behind the shape of the new Emonda obviously had to tread a very fine line between making the new bike more aerodynamic and sacrificing the traits that make the bike what it is, supposedly going through hundreds of CFD (computational fluid dynamics) and CAD (computer-aided design) models of various individual tube and frame shapes before arriving on the final form.

In the end, the new Emonda SLR is still primarily a light-and-stiff machine in the classic sense, and claimed weight for an unpainted 56 cm frame is just 698 grams, with the matching fork adding 365 g (the Emonda SL is 1,142 g and 380 g). In either case, paint adds another 25-100 g, depending on design. Overall, the figures are hardly heavy, but still slightly heavier than the previous model nonetheless. Likewise, stiffness figures have fallen off a bit as well, although supposedly not enough to make any difference.

“The key stiffness numbers – Trek Full Frame, Tour BB, and Vertical Compliance — are all within 5% of the old frame,” Roessingh said.

Potential buyers shouldn’t expect any improvement in ride quality, either, which is perhaps a touch surprising given how much Trek has emphasized rider comfort on other performance-minded platforms — including the Madone.

“The [ride quality] goal was to match the vertical compliance of the old bike,” said Trek road product manager Anders Ahlberg. “We were really close, within 7%, so most people shouldn’t notice a difference.”

One nice surprise is an apparent boost in frame durability. For the Emonda redesign, Trek developed a new carbon blend for the higher-end SLR models, dubbed OCLV 800. As expected, it’s lighter than the OCLV 700 mix that was used last year, with Roessingh saying the new frame shape would have been about 60 g heavier otherwise given the increase in surface area. However, OCLV 800 is also said to be 30% stronger than OCLV 700 and absorbs more energy, thus offsetting the brittleness that usually accompanies increases in fiber modulus.

Fewer geometry options, no more rim brakes

Trek has resisted temptations to follow other industry trends like dropping the seatstays (doing so apparently would have added 50 g of weight), and the Emonda retains its semi-classic double-diamond configuration with just a modest slope to the top tube. Although it’s a very different machine than the one it replaced, it still sports a traditional aesthetic, which plenty of potential buyers will appreciate.

More controversial will be Trek’s decision to only offer the new Emonda with disc brakes ; there is no rim-brake option, even for Trek-Segafredo team riders. According to Trek, its mainstream customers haven’t expressed any interest in “investing in old technologies”, and with an increasing number of pro teams and riders already making the switch, there was seemingly less motivation than ever to develop parallel models.

That said, it’s worth mentioning that the vast majority of Emonda buyers will never see a race (and, thus, will never be subject to UCI minimum weight rules), so the loss of a true ultralight climbing bike from a major brand is kind of a bummer. It wasn’t long ago, after all, that Trek offered the ultra-premium rim-brake Emonda SLR 10, with a claimed weight of just 4.6 kg (10.25 lb). Weight-weenies looking to save every possible gram will, of course, be able to build for themselves a custom bike that’s lighter than the stock Emonda SLR 9 flagship model, but being locked into disc brakes will obviously limit potential on the scale.

Somewhat expectedly, Trek has also decided to merge the existing H2 and H1 frame geometries into a middle-of-the-road H1.5 variant across the entire Emonda family, just as it did with the Madone a couple of years ago. As the name suggests, H1.5 is not as long or low as the H1 variant (which was only offered with Project One custom builds and bare framesets), but it’s more aggressive than the H2 geometry that graced every complete stock Emonda previously.

“None of our pro riders needed anything lower than [H1.5],” said Roessingh. “If they can get aggressive enough, the vast majority of consumers should also be able to achieve their fit.”

Trek has also done away with women-specific models for the Emonda range entirely, which is an especially intriguing move given how much time, energy, and money Trek has invested in its Women Specific Design project in years past.

Just as Specialized (and others) have changed tack in recent years on the same subject, Trek’s position now is that the Emonda’s H1.5 geometry is sufficiently accommodating so as to work for nearly everyone, regardless of sex or gender. To Trek’s credit, each Emonda is offered in a generous eight-size range — from 47 cm up to 62 cm — and there are a decent number of stock color options, too. Perhaps more to Trek’s point, the revised geometry supposedly hasn’t been an issue for the Trek-Segafredo women’s road team, either.

Smaller sizes nevertheless get some slightly adjusted spec, and Trek says it has programs in place with its dealer network that allow customers to swap various fit-related components (such as saddles) at little-to-no cost.

Here’s to the mechanics

There are several other updates on the new Emonda, a few of which will warm the hearts of home and professional mechanics alike.

First and foremost, Trek is continuing to transition away from its problematic BB90 press-fit bottom bracket design, opting to equip the Emonda with the same slightly modified T47 threaded shell that already graces the Domane endurance road bike and Crockett cyclocross bike. This should not only reduce the incidence of creaking, but will also make regular maintenance much less of a headache. The move to T47 will also finally allow the use of oversized spindles in a high-end Trek road bike, whereas BB90 would only work with 24 mm-diameter setups like Shimano Hollowtech and SRAM GXP.

According to Trek, the move to T47 did increase the frame weight by about 30 g relative to what it would have been with BB90 given the metal sleeve required. However, the convenience factor more than outweighed that nominal gain — pun intended — and when you consider that most cranksets with oversized spindles are actually lighter than their non-oversized counterparts, the total system often actually ends up lighter, anyway.

Trek’s interpretation of T47 is admittedly a millimetre narrower than the wide-format T47 system that was already on the books so as to provide better tool purchase, but it nevertheless doesn’t present any real compatibility headaches since existing T47 bottom brackets will still work just fine here.

It’s also worth mentioning that while the Emonda has moved to a fully concealed cable system, the way Trek has accomplished this is far easier to live with than most. Instead of routing the lines internally through the handlebar and stem, the Bontrager Aeolus RSL cockpit on the Emonda SLR tucks the brake hoses and derailleur housings (or wires) into channels molded on the underside of the bar and stem. Bar tape holds everything in place further out on the tops, while a single profiled clamp secures the whole lot underneath the stem. Combined with the conveniently split headset spacers, there’s no need at all to disconnect the brake or derailleur lines if you need to swap a stem length or bar width, therefore keeping a 15-minute job from turning into one that potentially takes a few hours.

Those lines do still run down through the middle of the upper headset bearing, however, and the front brake hose also takes a detour into the inside of the steerer tube just above the lower headset bearing. As a result, swapping either headset bearing will be anything but a quick job. The front brake hose also needs to be cut quite precisely for a proper fit as there isn’t a whole lot of wiggle room inside the front end for excess length.

“[There’s] not as much as we would like — maybe about 2 cm?” admitted Ahlberg. “That’s the one downside to the serviceability of an externally grooved system.”

Models and availability

Trek will offer five models each of the Emonda SLR and Emonda SL (specifics vary based on region). The former will feature the top-end OCLV 800 carbon fiber blend and Bontrager Aeolus RSL integrated cockpit, while the latter will use the same frame shape — but a lesser OCLV 500 carbon fiber mix — and a more conventional handlebar and stem combo. According to Trek, the weight difference between Emonda SLR and Emonda SL models with comparable build kits is about half a kilogram or so (1 lb).

Not pictured are the following models:

– Emonda SL 6 Pro, built with a Shimano Ultegra mechanical groupset and Bontrager Aeolus Elite 35 wheels; 8.06 kg / 17.78 lb; US$3,800 / AU$5,500 / £3,350 / €3,880-4,000

– Emonda SLR 6, built with a Shimano Ultegra mechanical groupset and Bontrager Aeolus Pro 37 wheels; 7.26 kg / 16.0 lb; US$6,700 / AU$9,300 / £5,450 / €6,200

– Emonda SLR 7 eTap, built with SRAM Force eTap AXS and Bontrager Aeolus Pro 37 wheels; 7.35 kg / 16.2 lb; US$8,800 / AU$11,850 / £6,850 / €7,800

– Emonda SLR 9, built with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 and Bontrager Aeolus RSL 37 wheels; 6.78 kg / 14.95 lb; US$12,000 / AU$15,800 / £9,700 / €11,000

Trek will also make the Emonda SLR (but not the Emonda SL) available for purchase through its Project One program, which will allow buyers to customize the build kit and paint to better suit their taste (and budget). Going along with the addition of the Emonda SLR model to the Project One ecosystem are several new Icon-level paint jobs, as well as new KOM variants with more minimal finishes to save precious grams. Both of these come at a more premium price than the more standard finish options, but they’re also quite stunning to behold.

The Emonda SL and Emonda SLR will also be offered as bare framesets, with pricing and availability to be confirmed.

Forget about all the tech talk — what’s it like to ride?

Trek may only just be officially launching the new Emonda range today, but the company was actually able to provide me with an early sample of the top-end Emonda SLR 9 eTap model several weeks ago — which I’ve been riding since then. Actual weight for my 52 cm sample without pedals or accessories was a feathery 6.81 kg (15.01 lb), complete with a SRAM Red eTap AXS wireless electronic groupset, Bontrager’s new Aeolus RSL 37 lightweight carbon clincher wheels, the new Bontrager Aeolus RSL one-piece carbon fiber handlebar-and-stem, a carbon-railed Bontrager Aeolus Pro saddle, and 25 mm-wide Bontrager R4 320 tires.

Just as you’d expect, the bike is a superb climbing companion. The low weight is certainly noticeable, as is the impressive chassis rigidity. It’s more of a hot-air balloon on the climbs rather than an anchor — especially on steeper pitches — and there’s a tangible sense of efficiency when you push on the pedals. Gaining altitude just feels easier relative to something heavier and/or less rigid than what Trek has produced here.

I know, I know. A light and stiff bike is good for climbing? Big surprise. And while the Emonda SLR 9 eTap is light, it’s not exceptionally so, so a more exotic setup would obviously feel even better in this respect.

What goes up must come down, of course, and what was far more impressive to me is how the Emonda SLR 9 eTap behaves at high speeds. Some lightweight bikes I’ve ridden — especially ones with lightweight wheels — can feel nervous or jittery when charging down descents, but that’s certainly not the case here. In fact, I found the bike to feel just as calm and composed at 80 km/h (50 mph) as it does at 18 km/h (11 mph). With a 58 mm trail figure, the front end is still appropriately quick and darty, and just as I’ve enjoyed on the Madone, the Emonda is a joy to snake down twisty canyon downhills. However, there’s also a reassuring sense of stability and solidity when all you want to do is hold your line.

The ride quality is a little on the chattery side, but that’s to be expected, not only given the genre, but also the bike’s emphasis on structural efficiency. It’s not unusually rough, however I still found myself wishing for a bit more tire clearance here. The stock 25 mm tires work well on well-maintained asphalt, but riders regularly finding themselves on rough tarmac (or even dirt) would be advised to max out the Emonda’s tire clearance.

Speaking of which, Trek’s track record of being conservative in terms of what will fit and what won’t seems to be holding up here. Although Trek officially only approves the Emonda for 28 mm-wide treads, there’s still more than 42 mm of space in between the pinch point at the chainstays. As for what will actually squeeze in between there … well, that’ll depend on how much leeway you want to leave for yourself.

But is the bike really more aerodynamic than the old Emonda? Unfortunately, I can’t really say since I didn’t have an identical previous-generation model to compare against. However, if you take Trek’s claims at face value, what I like is that they’ve managed to infuse a fair bit of aerodynamic efficiency into the equation without taking away what people really like about the Emonda family — including the traditional appearance, which is much easier said than done.

As a result, the aero bit will be more of a nice bonus to most buyers with no significant downsides that I can see, and I mean that in quite the literal sense as this is a really good-looking machine with refreshingly traditional lines and proportions. I personally could do without the giant Trek logo on this particular paint job, but so be it. Thankfully, Trek’s Project One program gives you more than a few options for choosing something more subtle, and according to Trek’s figures, a shocking percentage of high-end customers go the custom route.

Kudos to Trek, too, for investing some time and energy into making the new bike easier to live with over the long haul.

I didn’t experience any bottom bracket creaking issues on my test sample, but then again, it’s only been a few weeks, and the bike hasn’t seen any water, either. However, if it does occur — let me remind you that even threaded bottom brackets are prone to creaking — it’s a far more straightforward process to take the assembly apart for a quick cleaning, greasing, and reinstallation. There are also heaps more aftermarket options available here as compared to what you could do with the old BB90 setup. Good riddance, I say. Trek can’t introduce T47 on to the rest of the road range soon enough.

As someone who regularly takes things apart for a living, the channeled external routing setup on the integrated handlebar-and-stem combo is not only a huge sigh of relief, but a solution that’s so obvious in hindsight that it’s a wonder why more brands don’t do something similar (for the record, Canyon has long used this approach for its integrated cockpits). Yes, it’s visually perhaps not quite as clean as fully internal setups, and yes, you can feel the housing a bit when you wrap your fingers around the bar tops (which, on my sample, were only partially wrapped, although I’d personally opt to wrap the bars the usual way for a surer grip and improved comfort). However, both of those compromises are exceedingly minor relative to the massive headache that internally routed handlebars can often bring on.

Conversely, though, the fact that the control lines are routed through the headset bearings will eventually be a pretty big pain in the rear end for riders that regularly head out in the wet. At minimum, replacing the lower bearing will require you to disconnect the front brake hose (in addition to removing the fork as usual). If you need to replace the upper bearing, you’ll also need to undo all of the cables completely. In either case, there’s a decent chance you’ll need to rebleed the brake(s) after you’ve got everything back together, too.

It doesn’t exactly help, either, that there’s no supplemental rubber seal between the fork crown and lower head tube, meaning the lower bearing is perilously exposed — a scenario that’s become very common since bike brands started molding crown races directly into the fork crown.

Such is the cost of progress, I suppose.

That said, I’m a big fan of the somewhat unusual dimensions of this integrated setup even with the non-adjustable tilt. Most companies these days have committed to a compact bend, which is nice in the sense that it makes the drops more accessible for more riders, but somewhat silly in the sense that your posture actually changes very little when you move your hands back and forth between the various hand positions.

The drop dimension on the Bontrager Aeolus RSL is pretty average at 123 mm, but the reach is quite long at 93 mm (80 mm or so is far more typical), and Bontrager’s trademark Variable Radius bend lets you utilize every bit of that length instead of forcing your hands further rearward. As a result, there’s ample room to really stretch out your back when you need or want to, and there’s far more real-world position variation than what you usually find on most modern setups. How much do I like it? I’m actually considering using one of these on my personal Seven road bike.

Overall, Trek has done a solid job here of updating the Emonda, infusing meaningful improvements in several key areas, but without breaking the basic formula that has made the bike so popular. I could obviously do without the long-term headaches associated with the headset bearing situation, but aside from that, there’s not much to complain about here, and an awful lot to like.

Just don’t be shy with the grease down there, eh?

www.trekbikes.com

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showdown\"}}\u0027>\n poga\u010dar vs. van der poel: li\u00e8ge-bastogne-li\u00e8ge set for epic showdown\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "}]' > >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>advertise >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>privacy policy >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>contact >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>careers >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>terms of use >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>site map >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>my newsletters manage cookie preferences privacy request healthy living.

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The new 2021 Trek Émonda mixes climbing prowess with better aerodynamics

What happens to a lightweight performance bike when a company reduces its drag.

The new 2021 Trek Émonda has been released by the Waterloo, Wis.-based company. The frame, which has been Trek’s lightweight climber’s bike since 2014, is now more aerodynamic than its predecessors. Adding wind-cheating gains to a bike that is not primarily an aero machine is something Trek has done before. In 2019, when the endurance-oriented Domane was updated , it fared better in the wind. Usually, aerodynamic tube shapes add weight to a bike. In the case of the Émonda, I wondered how Trek could keep the frame true to its climbing roots. Could it really fight gravity and wind?

The top-end model of Trek’s 2014 Émonda weighed in at a little more than 10 lb. or 4.6 kg. The second-generation, launched in 2017, featured disc brakes, while the frame continued to weigh less than 700 g. Still, members of the Trek-Segafredo team wanted more out of the Émonda. “There was just a big gap between the Émonda and the Madone,” says Matt Shriver, technical director of the pro road teams, comparing the lightweight bike with Trek’s aero road bike. “But the team was pushing for a new Émonda that didn’t lose the ride characteristics, the geometry and its snappy feeling.” And it had to be more aero.

One of the designers at Trek who participated in the balancing act of reducing drag while also keeping the weight down is aerodynamicist John Davis. He and his team looked at making the bike faster up the iconic Tour de France climb, Alpe d’Huez, through a simulation. “We know if we reduce the weight, we’ll be faster up Alpe d’Huez,” he says. “But that’s not necessarily the most efficient way to get there. Before we did any engineering at all on the bike, we decided to create a road map. What’s the most efficient way to be faster up Alpe d’Huez? The way to do that was to take the current bike and calculate the time up the climb. Then, what happens if we add 500 g of weight to the bike in order to reduce the drag by 100 g? We did that tradeoff for every single point: plus or minus 1 kg of weight and plus or minus 30 per cent in aero. What we got on our road map was a set of contours similar to elevation contours on a map. If you want the fastest way up a mountain, you go where the contours are closest together. We did the same thing with our road map, where the contours are the time up Alpe d’Huez. We checked where we started, then we saw if we reduced about three times the drag for every unit of weight. That’s the fastest way to go faster up the climb.”

2021 Trek Émonda SLR 7 Image: Nick Iwanyshyn

2021 Trek Émonda SLR 7. Image: Nick Iwanyshyn

The Shimano Ultegra 52/36-tooth crankset on the Trek Émonda SLR 7 sits in a T47 bottom bracket, which should prevent any creaking. Image: Nick Iwanyshyn

Davis employed a lot of computing power not only to run his aerodynamics work, but also to connect with members of the structures team. He would see what effects his changes would have on weight and other design implications.

A climber’s bike—which generally has rounder, shallower tubes than an aero machine to keep weight down—usually goes up an incline at slower speeds and faces gustier winds, often moving at similar rates to the bike itself. These three elements—tube shapes. slower speeds and gusty conditions—create what Davis calls unsteady aerodynamics. It’s a lot harder to manage unsteady aerodynamics compared with the steadier variables that surround a time trial bike cruising in a straight line on a flat course. Still, the tricky aero conditions are what David and his team addressed with the new Émonda’s tube shapes. For example, the head tube is wider and stiffer than that on the previous Emonda. And even though it’s bigger, it’s lighter and more aerodynamic. The down tube has subtle shape changes across its length. At the top of the down tube, it addresses airflow off the wheel rim and tire. Then there’s shaping to smooth the air around the bottle and cage. Trek says this bike saves you 182 g of drag, or about 1.8 N.

Trek could have made more aero gains with dropped chainstays, but of course, that would have added more weight. That kind of change fell outside of the road map Davis mentioned. It seems dropped stays would have taken the frame just a bit too far away from its main purpose.

As with the first two generations of Émondas, the new frame weighs less than 700 g. Trek says a size 56 of the top-end SLR frame comes in at 698 g. One way the company kept the weight down while getting more aero is with the new carbon-fibre recipe used within the frame. It features the new optimum-compaction, low-void (OCLV) 800 series. Compared with OCLV 700, the latest composite is 30 per cent stronger. The 800 gave designers 60 g of savings, too.

The top-end SLR frames are made with the 800 series carbon fibre. The SL models use OCLV 500. At the top you have the Émonda SLR 9 eTap ($16,500) and SLR 9 ($16,500), which run SRAM’s top gruppo and Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 respectively. Both come in at just a little less than the UCI weight minimum, 6.75 kg and 6.78 kg. (Don’t worry. Once full bidon will tip the scale into race-legal territory.) The SLR 7 models go to the second-tier groupsets by each component maker, Force ($11,300) and Ultegra ($10,000). Those groups appear again in the SL 7 and 6 models of Émonda ($8,150–$4,200). There’s also the Shimano 105 Émonda SL 5 ($3,500), which weighs a respectable 9.16 kg.

Trek Émonda SL 5

The Trek Émonda SL 5 comes spec'd with a Shimano 105 groupset.

The Trek Émonda SL 6 comes spec'd with a Shimano Ultegra groupset.

Trek Émonda SL 6

The Trek Émonda SL 7 comes spec'd with a Shimano Ultegra Di2 groupset and is built with OCLV 500 carbon fibre.

Shimano Ultegra disc brakes on the Trek Émonda SL 7.

The new one-piece Aeolus RSL handlebar-and-stem combo ($870) also continues the theme of lighter and more aero. Trek says it’s 10 per faster than the previous setup on the Émonda. The bike’s brake lines and cables run into the head tube, just beneath the stem. The setup means you can change the bars and stem without having to re-hose or re-cable the system. You can also run more traditional bar/stem parts on the Émonda, should you wish. The Aeolus RSL is optimized for Shimano’s electronic Di2 groups (you’ll find the junction box in the bar end) and hydraulic disc brakes, but is compatible with mechanical systems, too. Don’t go looking for a rim-brake model of the Émonda. All new models run rotors. Trek says its sales have favoured disc-brake models so heavily that it will simply forgo making a new rim-brake Émonda.

In 2019, Trek’s Crockett cyclocross rig was outfitted with a T47 bottom bracket. Later that year, the new Domane had the same BB. The latest Émonda continues the trend. Two threaded cups twist into a metal sleeve bonded inside the carbon fibre. This system is in contrast to the press-fit BB90 on the Madone, which can be prone to creaking. The T47 allows Trek’s designers to continue to build frames with a wide stance at the bottom, for better stiffness and ride feel, while keeping creaks out of the cranks.

The Émonda comes in the company’s H 1.5 fit. It’s a less aggressive geometry than the older H 1 fit, but still works for the pros. (It already features on the Madone.) Trek says the Émonda is a bike that works for both genders. Riders can choose different cranks, seatmasts and, of course, bars and stems, to achieve the right fit.

The new bike comes with a new set of wheels. The top-of-the-line Émonda SLR 9 features the Aeolus RSL 37 hoops ($3,199, wheelset). They weigh 1,325 g. They’re lighter than the Aeolus XXX 2, deeper at 37 mm and 17 per cent faster, says Trek. In fact, the company says the aero performance of the RSL 37 approaches that of the 47-mm-deep Aeolus XXX 4. On the Émonda SLR 7, there’s the Aeolus Pro 37 wheels ($1,600, wheelset). They have the same aerodynamic features of the RSL 37, but weigh in at 1,505 g. Lastly, the third-tier Aeolus Elite wheels come in rim depths of 35 and 50 mm ($1,200, each wheelset). The wheels and the Émonda frames are optimized for 25c tires, but can accommodate 28c treads.

With the 2021 Émonda, Trek achieved its goal of making its climbing bike more aero. It was a similar story for the 2020 Domane, the endurance bike that now rides better in the wind. With features from one performance road bike moving to the other – remember, the aero Madone has an IsoSpeed decoupler which used to be only the domain of the Domane – I wondered if the singular purpose of each bike might get blunted. Jordan Roessingh, Trek’s director of road bikes, doesn’t think so. In fact, he says they start their projects by considering the bike’s main function.

“We default back to the rider and our understanding of who our riders are,” Roessingh says “They have different motivations and are doing different things with their bikes. Then we have a rider and a ride that we’re targeting for a specific platform. That’s the foundation of how we design all of our platforms and segment them, from gravel, to endurance road, aero road or climbing/traditional road. The rider we start with for the Émonda is motivated by weight, someone who is in hillier terrain, or rides climbs, and looks to beat personal records up climbs. There’s a racier motivation overall, including with the fit. We always start with the rider.”

Trek Émonda SLR 9 eTap, Trek-Segafredo Team Edition

Trek Émonda SLR 7 first impressions

I’ve had the Trek Émonda SLR 7 for about a week. I was impressed during my first rides. The bike is responsive, but I can say the same about all super bikes. The Émonda does have a certain snap, though. You almost feel you get more out of a pedal stroke than you’d expect, whether that’s on a climb or hammering out of the saddle. I remember that from the first-generation bike I tested in 2014. (Somehow, I then skipped a generation.) It seems Trek’s designers really did keep the bike’s ride feel, just as the pros wanted. The Émonda corners smoothly, as the wheels carry the speed into the bend and the geometry guides it throughout. I’m looking forward to getting more miles on the machine.

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• Rider Notes

2020 Trek Émonda SLR 7 Disc

A carbon frame race bike with high-end components and hydraulic disc brakes.

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A bike with lower gearing will be easier to ride up steep hills, while a higher top end means it will pedal faster down hills.

Émonda SLR 7 Disc

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Have you seen Bontrager’s new Aeolus carbon wheel lineup? Spanning the gap between budget and race ready, the aerodynamic hoops are the perfect complement to another new Trek product launching today – the all new Émonda. Fans of super light, efficient climbing bikes needn’t worry. The Émonda is still as light as ever, but now […]

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Emonda goes aero

The Trek Emonda lineup of bikes has been one of Trek’s lightest road bikes and is defined by their race-ready geometry and performance. With the Emonda SLR bikes, Trek has taken that winning formula and added additional aerodynamic tweaks to make the bikes even faster. In this review, we’ll be looking at the latest Emonda SLR 7 which retail for $8,999.99 and sits in the middle of the SLR range. The SLR 7 combines the 800 Series OCLV carbon fiber frame with fast shifting Shimano Ultegra R8100 Di2 12 speed drivetrain. Aerodynamic tube shaping optimizes the bikes performance while the Bontrager Aeolus RSL integrated bars eliminate any exposed cabling. What makes the Emonda SLR bikes feel special is the H1.5 race fit geometry that provides stability and responsiveness.

In terms of the Emonda SLR lineup, there are quite a few bikes to choose from. The top-of-the-line version is currently the $13.2k SLR 9 AXS which includes all the Bontrager RSL goodies and SRAM Red AXS drivetrain. A step down from that is the $12.7k SLR 9 which features Dura-Ace Di2. Then there are the SLR 7 pairs which includes the $9k SLR 7 we have here and a $9.7k AXS version featuring SRAM Force AXS. The SLR 7 uses a few Bontrager Pro components instead of the RSL versions.  Additionally, there are the $8.4k SLR 6 AXS using SRAM Rival AXS and the $7.7k SLR 6 with Shimano 105 Di2. Trek also offers the SLR Disc frameset for $4.2k which gives you the opportunity to build up your own bike. It’s also important to note Trek offers various Emonda SL and even an aluminum Emonda ALR that are much more budget friendly.

The Trek Emonda SLR 7 combines an aerodynamically tuned carbon frame with stable and responsive handling.

We were lucky enough to receive the Trek Emonda SL7 as a part of the Trek Red Barn Refresh program which is Trek’s certified preowned bike program. That meant we received the bike in used condition but with a full warranty and professional inspection. Unlike other bike boxes, the Red Barn Refresh offers a more user-friendly design that allows the entire front portion of the box to flip open. That makes it easy to access all the bike components and even provides a working surface to stand on. The bike itself came nearly fully assembled with only the handlebars, front wheel and saddle removed. Setting up the bike was a simple process of sliding the integrated bars onto the fork and putting the thru-axle through the front wheel. The proprietary seat mast design allows you to simply slide the seat onto the frame and then torque everything down to factory specs. Trek does include a 5 Nm torque bit, but you’ll want a torque wrench like the Topeak Torq Pro Stick to achieve the proper torque amounts.

FIT AND FINISH

Visually, the Trek Emonda SLR bikes have a classic double triangle frame design with curved top tube that’s constructed from Trek’s 800 OCLV carbon fiber. While the SLR bikes may lack the distinctive wedge cutout of the Trek Madone bike, it’s clear that Trek has optimized the aerodynamics. Starting from the front you’ll find the integrated Bontrager Aeolus RSL aero bars with internally routed cabling. In fact, the only cabling that is exposed is where it tucks into the front of the headset and where it enters the brake calipers. Even the stem spacers are cut to match the headtube profile with a fun “go go go” text printed on the backside that’s only visible at higher steering angles. The headtube and top tube have a sharp curved profile that flow into each other with aerodynamically shaping tubing to optimize the bike’s performance.

Trek currently offers the Emonda SLR 7 in seven different color variations from traditional black finishes to bright metallic and gorgeous color shifting options. Many of the colors are shared across the SLR lineup which means there are plenty of options to choose from. There is also the Project One program which lets you customize the bike colors and logo designs for an additional charge. The bike in this review is the Deep Smoke version which has a matte black finish and a color shifting Trek logo on the downtube for a pop of color. While it’s not our favorite color scheme it’s a sharp looking bike that’s nearly blacked out for a sinister appearance. A small Trek Shield head badge sits on the headtube along with simple Emonda branding on the top tube.

With a retail price of nearly $9k it’s not no surprise that the Emonda SLR 7 comes very well equipped. Unlike budget bikes such as the State Bicycle Core-Line that uses unbranded parts, the SLR 7 features the latest and greatest Shimano and Bontrager parts. Specifically the SLR 7 is equipped with the wireless Shimano Ultegra R8100 Di2 drivetrain which is an ultra fast 12 speed setup. The bike is set up with a compact 52/36 Ultegra crank and 11-30 cassette which provides enough gearing to tackle the steepest climbs. The hydraulic 160mm disc brakes provide smooth and powerful braking to bring the Bontrager Aeolus Pro 37 wheelset to a stop. These are a tubeless ready carbon fiber wheelset with a relatively light 1505g claimed weight and versatile 37mm depth.

Trek has mounted the Bontrager R3 700×25 tires onto the bike which provide nice grip and durability. The SLR bikes all have a claimed max tire size of 28mm but it seems like many have had success sizing up slightly wider than that without clearance issues. Not surprisingly, the SLR bikes also have quite a bit of other Bontrager branded parts such as the Bontrager Aeolus Elite saddle and Bontrager bar tape. Perhaps one of the most notable parts of the bike is the integrated bars which are the sleek one-piece Bontrager Aeolus RSL. Although the integrated bar eliminates any adjustment, it’s a beautiful design with a tapered aerodynamic center section and a nice 124 mm drop with internal cable routing. As with other SLR bikes, the SLR 7 has Trek’s seat mast design which means the seat post slides over the frame. It’s a clever design that is easy to adjust but it limits you to using Trek’s seat masts.

RIDING IMPRESSIONS

We were impressed with the Emonda SLR 7 from our very first ride. The Emonda SLR’s magic sauce is the H1.5 race geometry which gives the SLR bikes responsive handling while still being stable. That means the bike handles instantly to any steering input without feeling twitchy or nervous. It’s an impressive feat as it makes the Emonda SLR equally comfortable to ride on training rides or for high-effort sprints. The stock wheelset feels like and offers plenty of grip to make you feel comfortable even on rough pavement. We suspect that’s partially due to the relatively skinny 700×25 tire setup which feels light and allows the SLR 7 to quickly accelerate. 

Comparing the 56cm SLR 7 to our 56cm ALR Disc, it’s easy to see just how aggressive the bike geometry is. The handlebars of the SLR 7 with the stock multi-spacer setup are at the same height as our slammed ALR Disc with flipped stem. That was surprising for us considering the fact that the SLR 7 bars could be dropped another few inches by just cutting the stem and losing a few spacers. Even with similar seat to handlebar drops, the SLR 7 feels far more responsive then our ALR  Disc and older SL5 Specialized Tarmac.  Despite that, the SLR 7 is still quite compliant and smooth even over rough roads and is comfortable on multi-hour rides. Although it’s not as plush as the more endurance Domane lineup, the SLR achieves an impressive balance of speed and stability.

While we’re still skeptical of integrated bar setups, the Aeolus RSL one piece carbon bars on the SLR bikes fit the bike perfectly. Their smooth aerodynamic shaping and internal cable routing give the bike a clean look while still being ergonomic. The center section of the bars taper which makes them comfortable to hold when you’re cruising while still having a nice drop to them. The Shimano Ultegra Di2 drivetrain is also a highlight of the SLR 7 bike as it offers lightning fast and smooth shifting. In fact, the gears shift happen nearly instantaneously and are completed before you can even lift your fingers off the levers. With the focus of the Emonda SLR bikes on climbing, Trek has done a great job gearing the bike with a compact crank that lets you spin up even the steepest climbs.

THE VERDICT

Overall, we found the Trek Emonda SLR to be a fast and responsive road bike. The combination of the 800 OCLV carbon frame, aerodynamic optimization and fast electronic shifting make the SLR perfect for chasing PR’s on climbs or riding centuries. We were particularly impressed with the H1.5 Race geometry which gives the bike a responsive feel without being twitchy. It’s clear that Trek has sweated the details as the SLR bikes all of a sleek frame design, integrated bar setup and hidden cabling. All the performance doesn’t come cheap though as the base SLR 6 still costs $7.7k and you are limited by Trek’s Seat Mast design. That said, if you’re looking for an aggressive and fast bike that doesn’t sacrifice comfort for speed then the Trek Emonda SLR bikes are tough to beat.

Disclaimer:   The product for this review was provided by Trek . The views expressed on this website are solely those of the authors and are here to help people make an informed choice before a purchase. The authors or the blog itself does not get any monetary compensation from the product manufacturer or third-party websites/vendor links that are posted here.

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New Trek Emonda gets the aero treatment

Trek launches sub-700g Emonda frame with aero tubing, OCLV 800 carbon, H1.5 fit and threaded bottom bracket

Trek has today announced the launch of its new flagship lightweight road bike , the Emonda. The latest iteration of which sees improvements in aerodynamics, new OCLV 800 carbon fibre, H1.5 geometry and comes alongside the launch of new Bontrager Aeolus wheels and all-new an integrated Aeolus bar-stem. 

Best road bikes Best carbon road bikes Trek road bikes

The launch sees two new frames; the flagship Emonda SLR and the more budget-friendly Emonda SL, both of which share the same tube shapes - and therefore the same aerodynamic efficiency - but differ by way of carbon layup and specifications. There are no women's specific models, instead, Trek relies on adjustments such as narrower handlebars and shorter stems for smaller sized frames.

The new Emonda SLR is claimed to be the brand's 'fastest climbing bike', balancing an offset of increased weight and reduced drag to maximise seconds saved over the course of a climb. In Trek's testing, the new bike can save a rider 19.1 seconds per hour on a simulated replica of the 8.1 per cent slopes of Alpe D'Huez, and, It'll even save you 22.8 seconds per hour on Zwift Epic KOM - a sign of the times.

While the new Emonda does see a weight gain compared to its ancestors, an unpainted frame remains under 700g, with a frame and fork combining to weigh just 1.063kg (with hanger, but without paint).

According to Trek, this is made possible by the upgrade to OCLV 800; a new, proprietary, higher-modulus carbon-fibre layup that has been two years in the making. OCLV 800 is 30 per cent stronger than the OCLV 700 carbon used on the former model and Trek was, therefore, able to use less overall material for the same stiffness and durability. The result is around an eight per cent (~60 gram) saving for the same frame shape.

Aerodynamically, the new model halves the deficit between the old Emonda and the current Madone. Thanks to updated tube shaping along with the updated wheels and bar-stem combo, the new Emonda is claimed to be 183 grams of drag faster than its forebear, and save a minute-per-hour over flat ground at an average of 350 watts. 

Traditionalists and rim brake purists might want to look away now, as the new Emonda has committed to disc brakes only for its latest iteration, however, unlike the recently launched new Giant TCR , the Emonda SL and SLR are compatible with both electronic and mechanical groupsets. 

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Tyre clearance is officially restricted to 28mm, which is less progressive than most would expect, however, this does allow for 4mm of clearance and 2mm extra of tolerance. The new model also sees a switch to Trek's latest bottom-bracket standard, T47, a threaded bottom bracket that Trek says allowed a lighter frame weight, and has gained plaudits for being reliable, adaptable, serviceable, and well, for just not being press fit. 

Foregoing the H1 and H2 fit options which allowed for two different levels of 'aggressiveness' in fit position. The new Emonda is given H1.5 geometry, which unsurprisingly, sits halfway between the two former options. Compared to the competition, the new Emonda remains a relatively racy proposition, sharing a geometry chart with the brand's aero Madone. 

Available models and Project One

The new Emonda will be available via Project One, Trek's custom paint scheme, with ICON and KOM colour schemes, as well as Project One Ultimate, which equates to a fully custom option from any of Trek's colour palettes and specification options. 

Off the shelf, the following models are available:

The Emonda SL, as mentioned, shares the exact same tube profiling as the SLR, but is made using OCLV 500 carbon fibre, a heavier - and cheaper - layup. Spec also differs in that it doesn't get the new Aeolus RSL wheels or bar-stem, instead topping out with the Aeolus Pro 37 wheels and either SRAM Force eTap AXS or Shimano Ultegra Di2 groupsets. 

• Emonda SL 5: (US$2699 / €2599 / £2275 / AU$3999.99)
• Emonda SL 6: (US$3299 / €3299 / £2900 / AU$TBC)
• Emonda SL 6 Pro: (US$3799 / €3799 / £3350 / AU$5499.99)
• Emonda SL 7: (US$5499 / €5499 / £4850 / AU$7499.99)
• Emonda SL 7 eTap: (US$5999 / €5999 / £5250 / AU$TBC)
• Emonda SL Disc Frame Set: (Pricing TBC) 
• Emonda SLR 6: (US$6699 / €6199 / £5450 / AU$TBC)
• Emonda SLR 7: (US$8299 / €6699 / £5900 / AU$10249.99)
• Emonda SLR 7 eTap: (US$8799 / €7799 / £6850 / AU$TBC)
• Emonda SLR 9: (US$11999 / €10999 / £9700 / AU$TBC)
• Emonda SLR 9 eTap: (US$11999 / €10999 / £9700 / AU$TBC)
• Emonda SLR Disc Frame Set: (Pricing TBC) 

New Bontrager Aeolus wheels

Alongside the launch of the new Emonda, Bontrager, Trek's component subsidiary, has announced the launch of an all-new wheel range. 

The new range comprises the range-topping Aeolus RSL 37, the performance-on-a-budget Aeolus Pro 37, and the most cost-effective, entry-level Aeolus Elite in a choice of 35 or 50mm depths. All new models are tubeless-ready and come complete with rim strips, traditional rim tape, and a tubeless valve. None of which have a rider weight limit and all are backed by Bontrager's lifetime warranty. 

• More info: Bontrager launches three new wheelsets alongside new Trek Emonda

New Bontrager Aeolus Bar-stem

There is also a new Bontrager Aeolus one-piece bar-stem combo, available in widths from 38cm to 44cm, and with stem lengths ranging from 80mm to 120mm, although, as is often the requirement from pro riders, we expect longer stem lengths to follow. Weights range from 272g to 295g. 

The Aeolus bar-stem is Blendr compatible, and is claimed to be worth seven watts over the previous XXX bar-stem, and has cleverly hidden external cable routing that combines aerodynamic performance with hassle-free maintenance. A true win-win in our eyes. 

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As the Tech Editor here at Cyclingnews, Josh leads on content relating to all-things tech, including bikes, kit and components in order to cover product launches and curate our world-class buying guides, reviews and deals. Alongside this, his love for WorldTour racing and eagle eyes mean he's often breaking tech stories from the pro peloton too. 

On the bike, 32-year-old Josh has been riding and racing since his early teens. He started out racing cross country when 26-inch wheels and triple chainsets were still mainstream, but he found favour in road racing in his early 20s and has never looked back. He's always training for the next big event and is keen to get his hands on the newest tech to help. He enjoys a good long ride on road or gravel, but he's most alive when he's elbow-to-elbow in a local criterium. 

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Trek Emonda SLR 9 eTap Long-Term Review: Light for Climbing, Slippery for Speed

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Trek has touted the Emonda as its climbing bike since introducing it in 2014. But the 2021 revision threw aerodynamics into the light-is-right alchemy, producing a road race bike that blurs category lines.

Editor’s note:  Trek issued a recall on this bike and is replacing the integrated stem and handlebar free of charge to the customer. Learn more in our full article .

The claimed aerodynamic gains over the prior model are huge. Trek states that the current Emonda is 60 seconds faster per hour at 350 watts of output on the flats. The claimed gain on an 8% grade is 18 seconds.

And the bike is still substantially lighter than Trek’s aero road race bike, the Madone. The current equivalent Madone has a claimed weight of over 1.3 pounds heavier than the Emonda SLR 9 eTap.

I used the Trek Emonda SLR 9 eTap as a long-term review bike, putting it on the roads for 18 months. The bike rolled across super smooth, new tarmac and neglected country blacktop. I tested other parts on the bike and took it on several trips to ride terrain different from my home in the Hill Country of Central Texas. It has been in my testing rotation longer than any bike.

In short: The Trek Emonda SLR 9 eTap is a pure race bike at the highest end. Although it may be called a climbing bike, the new aerodynamics vault it into a well-rounded road racing machine of the highest caliber. And it still satisfies the weight weenies.

How Aero Is the Emonda?

Aerodynamics on a bicycle frame is mainly dependent on tubing shapes. And often, going “full aero” means losing vertical compliance, which hinders comfort. Super aero tubing also often adds weight.

Trek had to walk fine lines to keep the weight and compliance advantages and maintain lateral and torsional stiffness. But engineers wanted substantial free speed offered by improved aerodynamics.

Modern bike designers use CFD (computational fluid dynamics) and CAD (computer-aided design) to help them in their quest for the ultimate alchemy of shapes to produce the intended results. And Trek claims they scrutinized every inch over hundreds of CFD and CAD models.

The result is truncated-airfoil profiles other than the seat tube, which is still round. Trek also went integrated, with a one-piece bar and stem that hides the cables from the wind.

The claimed reduction in drag is 182 g, with the claimed frame weight for an unpainted 56 cm size being 698 g.

Somewhat surprisingly, Trek kept the non-dropped seat stays. This greatly pleased my antiquated tastes in bicycle aesthetics.

Other Significant Frame Changes

Trek didn’t stop at the truncated airfoil. The brand incorporated several other significant changes.

Trek used to offer aggressive (H1) and more upright (H2) geometries but split the difference on the new Emonda SLR with the middle-of-the-road H1.5. This singular geometry follows the lead of the full aero Madone.

Surprisingly, Trek omitted women’s-specific Emonda frames. But it does offer a full spread of sizes, from 47 cm to 62 cm.

T47 Bottom Bracket

Gone is the BB90 press-fit bottom bracket. A T47 threaded bottom bracket takes its place, pleasing home mechanics everywhere. The BB90 was reportedly problematic, although I never experienced issues with any Trek BB90 bottom brackets.

Not only does this follow the current trend to a homologated bottom bracket standard, but T47 also allows oversized crank spindles where BB90 did not.

800 Series OCLV Carbon

Trek’s longstanding OCLV (Optimum Compaction Low Void) carbon on the Emonda SLR frame moved from 700 series to 800 series, purportedly to allow aero profiles without a concomitant increase in weight.

The Waterloo, Wisconsin-based brand claims the new carbon contains fibers that are 30% stronger, with the same amount of stiffness as before, and with no gain in mass. This means less material is required to maintain the same positive characteristics, which translates to aero shapes without adding weight.

Trek also developed over 50 new carbon layups (how the carbon fibers are aligned) to create the new 800 Series OCLV. Real-world testing of the final layup choices was done by the professional Trek-Segagredo team. And the brand builds these frames in Waterloo.

Trek Emonda SLR 9 Ride Experience

Testing high-end road bicycles these days is an act of trying to split hairs that have already been split. All these bikes are sublime. Any differences in performance are minuscule, and much of it is subjective. But here’s my best attempt after 18 months of solid use.

Damn, It’s Light

There is no getting around how light the bike is (our 56 cm tester weighs a verified 14 pounds, 5 ounces with tubed tires). That attribute alone brought me joy when accelerating or climbing. The Emonda SLR 9 eTap floated like a butterfly. No need for more explanation. Remember when race bikes were 21 pounds?

The H1.5 geometry fits me exceptionally well. I have had custom-built titanium road race frames, and if I ever ordered one again, I would replicate the Emonda SLR geometry.

I am 6 feet tall, but my inseam is only 32 inches, making my torso long. My lower back is accustomed to road racing positioning, but my hips and hamstrings are not exceptionally flexible. I found the reach and stack spot on, and the stock-integrated 100mm stem, without spacers, was also perfect.

The 42cm-wide bars of the Bontrager RSL felt correct, but I had to move the SRAM Red brake hoods a touch higher up the bar’s primary curve to feel comfortable. Moving the hoods up the bar created slack in the brake hoses that was hard to manage. The stiff hoses run straight from the underside of the bars through the head tube.

A tiny range of brake hose lengths will provide a clean run. So this is a concern to anyone that wants to change the dimensions of the front cockpit. But lines are not threaded through the bar, simplifying at least that part of the process.

Stiffness vs. Compliance

Climbing out of the saddle and sprinting revealed that the Trek Emonda SLR chassis is plenty stiff laterally and torsionally about the head tube. The bottom bracket felt equally rigid, and I never felt like the frame was squandering energy.

Riding a stiff, efficient bike typically means trading off some vertical compliance and comfort. And I felt the Emonda SLR chassis sat on the efficient side more than the comfortable side. But it wasn’t overly so, as it tends to be with super light bikes. Much of how the bike felt regarding compliance came down to wheels and tires.

The Emonda SLR 9 eTap came with tubeless-ready Bontrager Aeolus RSL 37 wheels, which felt like a great all-around road wheel. But the Bontrager R4 320 tires (with tubes) were 25c. I felt wider tires on hookless rims with lower air pressures would drastically improve the comfort. Trek states that the frame can accept 28c tires.

It was ridden with various wheels and tires over 18 months as a long-term review bike. Using hookless wheels, 28c tires, and lower pressures improved comfort drastically.

I felt like just swapping the tires to 28c on the RSL 37 stock wheels would be such a welcome change. But going to a wheel like a Zipp 404 Firecrest or Zipp 353 NSW with the ability to use lower pressures (for me, on those wheels, I ran under 72 psi) was an absolute game changer.

It gave me the best of both worlds. A light, super efficient bike that kept me comfortable over long hauls on rough chip seal blacktop.

As expected, the Trek Emonda SLR 9 eTap was a snappy, quick-turning bike. On twisty tarmac, it felt like it wanted to turn about the head tube axis, with the rest of the bike to follow — more of a “turn and flick” instead of the other way around. It was one of the quicker-steering road bikes I’ve tested over the last few years.

Yes, the bike required attention on the straights and in groups, but I never thought it was twitchy or nervous. It reacted to small inputs without delay, but that’s what I expect in a WorldTour race bike. The bike wasn’t a lazy café cruiser, and it shouldn’t be.

On wider radius turns on smooth pavement at high speeds, the Emonda was pure joy. I felt the chassis was reading my mind, putting the tire contact patches precisely where I desired, and fed me the tactile information I needed to predict how it would respond to any slight irregularities in the road.

How Fast Is the Trek Emonda SLR 9 eTap?

The bike came with a SRAM Red eTap AXS groupset with a power meter. And I’m familiar with the power output versus speed on my regular routes. I’m not a human strain gauge, but subjective feelings mated with the power output did convince me that for a “non-aero” bike on moderately aero wheels, the Emonda SLR 9 eTap was a rocket.

On calm days on smooth, flat pavement, the feeling of speed while churning a tall gear was palpable and brought a big grin to my face. Trek’s data points to an aero gain while climbing, but I felt the bike’s super light weight and stiffness contributed more to my feeling of speed on ascents.

With either the Bontrager RSL 37 wheels or the mentioned Zipp wheels, I didn’t feel any buffeting or other negatives of aero profiles except in extremely windy conditions. Only once did the buffeting cause an unstable feeling to the point where I tensed up.

I had exited the cover of trees on a speedy descent, and the sudden, super-gusty, 90-degree crosswind got me pretty good. I cannot say that about other “full aero” setups, which I’ve found somewhat puckering when large trucks pass me.

So, in the end, I felt like the aero gains of the new tube shapes delivered free speed without much downside.

Final Thoughts

One trend in cycling that I don’t necessarily like is the continued segmentation of products. The number of mountain bikes one could “need” is astounding. And coming from road racing in the ’80s, the “need” for a climbing bike and an “aero” bike seems superfluous. Now throw in gravel rigs, and you could have a garage full of bikes.

I can somewhat understand having multiple mountain bikes, as different terrains’ travel and handling requirements dictate wholly differing chassis. But road bikes? Most of us will never see the level of competition that demands different chassis and a slew of wheels. But plenty of serious recreational cyclists buy high-end road bikes, and it’s the category that splits choices into “aero” and “climbing.”

Although Trek labels the Emonda SLR 9 eTap as a “climbing” bike, with the aero gains, it makes a perfect all-around high-end road bike. It’s under the minimum legal weight for the WorldTour, satisfying the weight-obsessed.

It has enough aero shaping for legitimate free speed gains, yet it doesn’t ride like a brick (especially with wider tires and lower pressures). And it’s super efficient.

The MSRP of the Trek Emonda SLR 9 eTap is an astonishing $13,000 . It sits at the top of the Emonda SLR lineup. But the pricing is in line with other bikes of the same caliber. And for that money, to me, the bike should perform well in all areas. Which it absolutely did.

Trek does offer Emonda SL bikes with the same aero gains at a much lower price, using 500 Series OCLV carbon.

Trek Domane Gets Racier, Looks to Keep Reputation for Comfort

Trek cut up to 1.5 pounds of frame weight off the Domane, its all-around road bike that cyclists have long known for a comfy ride. Read more…

Seiji Ishii is Editor at Large at the AllGear network and the Climbing and Cycling editor at GearJunkie.

He has been writing about cycling, climbing, outdoor endeavors, motorsports, and the gear and training for those pursuits for 20+ years.

Before AllGear, Ishii was a freelance contributor to print and web publications related to his interests and professional experiences. He continues to pursue climbing and cycling objectives seriously.

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2017 Edition — Trek Émonda S 5 Road Bike: Review

The Trek Émonda S 5 Road Bike

With 300 Series OCLV Carbon, the Emonda S 5 offers riders the best-in-class weight, stiffness, and strength.

With an H2 fit, this optimal fit is a near-perfect fit for most riders, including Pro Team athletes. The H2 fit gets riders in the correct position for performance and power.

Blendr Stem

The Trek Émonda S 5 features the Bontrager Blendr Stem by Trek. This is a highly integrated system for easy and clean stem installation of computers, lights,and other biking accessories. You simply begin with a Blendr Stem and add the appropriate base and finish with a mount that matches your accessories.

The Trek Émonda S 5 is built with an Ultralight 300 Series OCLV Carbon frame. The frame design down to the component parts were designed to serve a goal — to be one of the lightest performance bikes offered. The ride-tuned balance and handling elevates this Trek Émonda to another level.

OCLV is short for Optimum Compaction, Low Void, which refers to the carbon manufacturing process that Trek engineers developed decades ago. This allows them to produce carbon framed bikes with consistent, high quality that was not possible before.

The 300 Series OCLV Carbon offers best-in-class weight, best-in-class carbon, and gives the rider stiffness and strength. The 300 Series is at the lower end of the carbon scale, but it keeps the price down, areal weight low, and quality of the frame excellent for a nice price.

The 300 Series OCLV is a great choice for this bike’s frame, as it is compliments the stiffness and weight ratio well. With the right relationship of stiffness-to-weight, the performance of the road bike increases. Trek tested every part of the frame extensively to maximize handling and pedaling performance, as well as ride feel of this S 5.

Technical Specifications and Features:

• Frame: Ultralight, 300 Series OCLV Carbon — Ride-Tuned Performance Tube Optimization, E2 Tapered Head Tube, BB86.5, DuoTrap Compatible
• Fork: Emonda Carbon, E2 Tapered Steerer
• Wheels: Alloy Hubs
• Front Hub: Alloy
• Rear Hub: Alloy
• Rims: Bontrager Tubeless Ready
• Tires: Bontrager R1 Hard-Case Lite, 700 x 25c
• Shifters: Shimano 105, 11 Speed
• Front Derailleur: Shimano 105
• Rear Derailleur: Shimano 105
• Crank: Shimano 105, 50/34 (Compact)
• BB: Press Fit
• Cassette: Shimano 105, 11-28, 11 Speed
• Chain: Shimano HG60
• Saddle: Bontrager Montrose Comp
• Seatpost: Bontrager Alloy, 2-Bolt Head, 27.2mm, 8mm Offset
• Handlebar: Bontrager Race VR-C, 31.8mm
• Grips: Bontrager Microfiber Tape
• Stem: Bontrager Elite, 31.8mm, 7 degree, w/ computer & light mounts
• Headset: Integrated, Cartridge Bearing, Sealed, 1-1/8 inch Top, 1.5 inch Bottom
• Brakeset: Shimano 105
• Using the 56cm size as an example, the size 56 weighs: 19.55 lbs / 8.87 kg
• Weight Limit: Combined weight (rider, cargo, and bike) of 275 pounds / 125 kg

Key Features

• 300 Series OCLV Carbon — Ultimate Light Material
• Excellently Balanced — Ultra Responsive
• The World’s Lightest Road Line with Best Warranty
• Lightweight, but Offers the Robust Performance of Heavier Bikes

Color Options

• Trek Black / Viper Red

As a very solid 2017 edition Trek, the Émonda S 5 with 300 Series OCLV Carbon and Shimano 105 groupset, will only cost you 1,500 GBP or $2,099.99 USD. For such an excellent bike from a brand like Trek, we highly recommend this model to anyone looking for more out of their road bike.

Trek Emonda S 5 Purchase Link:

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Crazy light, crazy fast

The all-new Trek Émonda

The Trek-Segafredo team wanted more speed, so Trek engineered some. The all-new Émonda has aerodynamic tube shaping that helps riders go faster than ever on flats and climbs alike. And because Trek refused to sacrifice weight for speed, Émonda still has the incredible lightweight ride quality and balanced handling that made it a racing legend in the first place.

Trek’s fastest climbing bike

The new Émonda SLR frame still weighs less than 700g, but all-new aero tube shaping adds even more speed. It’s 18 seconds per hour faster on an 8% grade!

Our best carbon yet

it takes more material to make aero shapes, but Trek refused to compromise on weight- so Trek developed all-new 800 Series OCLV Carbon from Émonda SLR.

Speedy design details

All new Émonda models have hidden cable routing, most come with aero wheels, and Émonda SLR comes with an Aeolus RSL bar/stem that was purpose-built for it.

“The all-new Émonda is the best bike I have ever ridden”

— Lizzie Deignan

“The all-new Trek Émonda is the absolute best balance between aerodynamics and lightness I’ve found on a bike.”

— Vincenzo Nibali

Customize your ride

Émonda is now available for customization through Project One, so you can put your signature style on Trek’s fastest climbing bike ever. Call us to learn more, and start designing your dream ride today.

Faster everywhere

Aero matters everywhere. Émonda's aero design makes it climb even quicker and fly over flats one minute per hour faster than our previous version.

Sleek cable routing

All of Émonda's brake and shift cables are either internally or invisibly routed for a clean, fast look.

Powerful disc brakes

Flat-mount disc brakes are lighter, smaller, and cleaner than traditional disc brakes. They provide superior performance and stopping power even in harsh conditions.

Fit for racing

Émonda's H1.5 geometry, developed with the Trek-Segafredo pro cycling team, puts the rider in the optimal aero race position.

Explore the Emonda family

Balanced ride quality, superior handling, and the added benefit of free speed thanks to new aero tube shaping. Wrought from our ultralight 500 Series OCLV Carbon.

Lightest, fastest, first up every climb- this bike delivers incredible ride quality and aerodynamic advantage. It's made of all-new 800 Series OCLV carbon and weighs less than 700 grams. 

See Émonda for yourself. Shop online or visit us to get yours.

Trek bikes range: which model is right for you?

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The humble beginning of Trek bicycles took place in the "red barn" - once a carpet warehouse - in Waterloo, USA. The first bikes were steel touring frames , but within three years the brand had expanded substantially.

Eventually outgrowing the barn, Trek moved into a much larger headquarters - still in Waterloo - in the year 1980. From there it began to manufacture road racing bikes, then in 1983 created its first mountain bike before moving into accessories come 1984.

Having started out in steel, Trek moved into developing aluminium bikes in 1985. The first Trek branded full carbon frame came in 1989 - the Trek 5000 had a frame weight of 1.5kg. It was built by an outside manufacturer and discontinued after a year. Trek made its own efforts at carbon, with an in-house production, in 1992 to much greater success.

>>> Trek mountain bikes: which model is right for you?

Now, Trek offers the Madone (aero bike), Domane (endurance bike), Emonda (lightweight race bike) and Checkpoint (gravel bike) as well as the Boone cyclocross and Speed Concept time trial machine.

Trek's OCLV Carbon

You can trust Cycling Weekly. Our team of experts put in hard miles testing cycling tech and will always share honest, unbiased advice to help you choose. Find out more about how we test.

Trek's carbon bikes have always used their own patented 'OCLV carbon' - this stands for Optimum Compaction Low Void. It believes this carbon creates the best compromise between low weight and high strength and stiffness.

Optimum Compaction refers to the way sheets of carbon are layered into the mould, and optimised via heat and pressure - in Trek's opinion the two treatments are administered to the perfect ratio. Low Void refers to the minimisation of space between the layers of carbon, which might otherwise reduce strength and durability.

In 1995, Trek opened an independent facility inWhitewater, Wisconsin. The idea being that the Waterloo factory would work in frame development only. For those who want to customise their ride, the'Project One' custom paint programme arrived in 2001.

Trek's pro cycling support

Trek supported now disgraced American cyclist, Lance Armstrong, through his peak years. In 1997, it helped him sign with their sponsored team, US Postal Service Pro Cycling. He won his seven editions of the Tour de Frances on bikes bearing the brand name, but all of said wins were later taken from him following doping violations.

In 2014, the brand sponsored the Trek Factory Racing Team, now calledTrek–Segafredo. In that role, it provided bikes for high profile winners such as Fabian Cancellara and Alberto Contador,as well as Jens Voigt, and notably his Hour Record in September 2014.

In 2020, Trek continued to support the Trek-Segafredo men's and women's race outfits, two highly successful teams.

Trek's acquisitions

Over the years, Trek has made a number of high profile acquisitions. The most famous, perhaps, Gary Fisher bicycles - the mountain bike brand which it took over in 1993.

Later came Bontrager Cycles in 1995 and Electra Bicycle Company in 2014. Bontrager, now Trek's component and apparel brand, maintains the same name as does Electra, the creator of leisure bikes and accessories.

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Trek's road bike models

Trek is able to offer a wide range of different bikes, each tuned to a slightly different purpose. Some model families are available in a selection of standards (SLR premium carbon, SL carbon, ALR premium aluminium and AL aluminium), and then these come with assorted levels of componentry to suit your price bracket.

To add even more depth to the range, Trek offers many models in two different 'fits'. The Madone and Émonda come as standard in an H2 (traditional) fit, but there are versions in what it calls 'H1' fit. This is more aggressive, shaving off about 30mm on the head tube to create a longer, lower ride. The Domane comes in an H2 'Endurance' fit, with a few models in 'Pro Endurance', again with a longer and lower stance on offer.

Here's a look at the key model families...

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Trek Domane

Our expert review:

Reasons to buy

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The Trek Domane was introduced in 2012. It was created to offer a comfortable ride, the key feature being an IsoSpeed decoupler which separated the seat tube from the top tube, thus reducing vibrations and fatigue.

In 2016 it gained theFront IsoSpeed, which helps to reduce vibrations at the front end without impacting handling. This came alongside a new slider, which alters the level of dampening offered by the rear.

In its most recent update , the Domane took notes from the Madone with an aero fork profile, whilst becoming more versatile thanks to clearance for 38mm tyres (without mudguards, 35mm with). It also gained a downtube compartment for stashing tools (or snacks!).

Though comfort is important to the Trek Domane, it's still a racing frame, and its prowess has been demonstrated by UCI WorldTour riders at major one-day Classics, such as Strade Bianche and the Tour of Flanders. The top Domane bikes come with an H1.5 fit, which was developed with the Trek-Segafredo teams to offer the optimal balance between aerodynamics and endurance.

The Trek Domane - available as a men's build or with women's specific componentry - is a fast selling model, which comes in a range of frame materials.

The Domane SLR uses the lightest carbon Trek offers, the SL is one step down, whilst the AL uses aluminium and is the cheapest of the range.

Trek Madone

The Trek Madone is quite another beast, and the bikes come built for men and women; the latter's models with women's saddles and narrower handlebars . With an aggressive geometry and stiffness to boot, it's a road race hero, and aerodynamics have become part of its lifeblood. When we tested five aero bikes , head to head, the Trek Madone came out fastest.

Modern Trek Madone's feature a high level of integration, with the cables tucked away yet reachable via an access point at the top of the down tube.Wind tunnel testing has helped Trek to create theirKVF (Kammtail Virtual Foil) tube shapes, used on the frame and fork. These unconventional tube shapes are designed to further reduce drag, helping the rider/bike unit to slice through the air efficiently.

Because being bumped around doesn't make you faster, the Madone also features an IsoSpeed decoupler at the seat tube and more recently an adjustable one at the head tube, which offers greater compliance whilst still being integrated to prevent adding drag.

The newest model, according to Trek, can offer 17 per cent more compliance through to 21 per cent more stiffness, depending upon your chosen setting. A damper at the seatpost is also said to cut rebound by 13 per cent. All of these stats add up to a bike that can be comfortable and stiff at the same time - and one that earned a place in our 2018 Editor's Choice awards.

The majority of the bikes come in a more relaxed 'H2' geometry, save for the Madone SLR, which is in an 'H1.5' fit - this is designed to allow riders to achieve an H1 fit or an H2, depending upon their set up.

Trek Émonda

Adding more depth to the Trek family is the Trek Émonda, launched in 2014. Designed to be a climbing bike, newer adaptations are capable of negotiating mixed terrains - with disc brakes available and tyre clearance to 28mm.

>>> Trek Émonda range explained

Trek continues to work on developing the Émonda, dropping the weight of the top end Trek Émonda SLR to 640g in a size 56cm (665g with discs) and 1091g for the Trek Émonda SL (1149g with discs). The weight difference is largely achieved by the use of700 Series OCLV carbon on the SLR, as opposed to 500 series on the SL.

The aluminium model has seen some major work and the result earned it a place in the Editor's Choice 2019 awards. The key characteristic we loved was the way it simply didn't look, or ride, like aluminium. A lot of this is down to Trek's 'Invisible Weld Technology' which increases the surface area of the frame, adding to strength and reducing weight. The ALR model's frame weight comes in at a competitive 1112g, or 1131g with discs, and it uses the brand's 300 Series Alpha Aluminium.

The carbon models are available in 'SLR' build or 'SL', the former being the lightest and the latter more affordable. The majority of Trek Émonda bikes cone in an 'H2' fit, but they can be purchased in an 'H1' geometry, if you choose the top end 'Race Shop' version.

There are a few nods to neatness and integration around, such as the use of 'Blendr Integration' which seamlessly mounts Bontrager’s cycling computer, Ionbike lights or even Garmin computers directly to the handlebars. On SLR versions there's ‘Control Freak Cable Management’ which allows for shifter and brake cables to be housed through the frame.

Trek Checkpoint

With gravel and adventure bikes a fast growing category, the Checkpoint is Trek's offering to fill that sector. The crucial element here is that both the SL and ALR frame options come fitted out with 35c gravel tyres, and can accommodate rubber up to 45c. They've all got internal cable routing, to ensure much stays out, whilst the higher end models use 'Control Freak' routing which is neater.

>>> Best gravel bikes: the top models reviewed

If you opt for the carbon SL model, you get vibration dampening from an IsoSpeed decoupler at the rear, too.  To provide stability and confidence on light trails as well as comfort on all-day adventures, the geometry is not as aggressive as the road bikes elsewhere in the range. Such all-day rides warrant plenty of kit, so there's mounts for racks and mounts. Similar to elsewhere in the range, there's AL, ALR and SL models.

Trek Speed Concept

Trek's Speed Concept time trial bike has been raced by the pros yet is still seen on the amateur race scene as a popular option.

>>> Check out Fabian Cancellara's 2016 Speed Concept

The frames use 500 Series OCLV Carbon, boasting the KVF (Kammtail Virtual Foil) tube shapes described in the Madone, plus a carbon fork with integrated brake and stem - the key goal being cutting through the air quickly.There's space to fit Trek's SC Draft Box and SC Sped Box, largely used by triathletes carrying snacks.

Trek Boone 5

Trek's got plenty of experience in the muddy realm of off-road cycling - and they've got a selection of cyclocross bikes. The Trek Boone 7 model comes with hydraulic disc brakes, a one-by crank and 12-speed cassette and they've all got Bontrager's own 33c cyclocross tyres.

The frame material is Trek's 600 series OCLV carbon, and there's front and rear IsoSpeed decouplers to help riders negotiate the mud without excess transfer of vibration. Combining the mud ready tyres, disc brakes, 'cross focused cable routing and geo into an aluminium package is the Trek Crockett family.

They key differentiation is the frame material, which is300 Series Alpha Aluminium, and there's no decoupler. However, it's still a performance bike that's ready to race.

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Michelle Arthurs-Brennan the Editor of Cycling Weekly website. An NCTJ qualified traditional journalist by trade, Michelle began her career working for local newspapers. She's worked within the cycling industry since 2012, and joined the Cycling Weekly team in 2017, having previously been Editor at Total Women's Cycling. Prior to welcoming her daughter in 2022, Michelle raced on the road, track, and in time trials, and still rides as much as she can - albeit a fair proportion indoors, for now.

Visma-Lease a Bike rider broke his collarbone, sternum and several ribs in a high speed crash at Dwars door Vlaanderen

By Tom Thewlis Published 24 April 24

Bäckstedt recently landed sponsorship from the energy drink giants and joined the likes of Tom Pidcock, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Evie Richards as a Red Bull athlete

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