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Road Bike Trek Emonda SLR Disc 9 non-pro review

Ron

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quick update mini review on the Trek Emonda SLR Disc 9 I was away for a while but I now have about 150 miles on the bike.

Here are some non-pro thoughts:
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:)

overall, this is a Fantastic bike. Very well balanced, handles extremely well. cornering is stable and precise. the balance is noticeable and confidence inspiring. Pedal input is immediate. the bike jumps from the start and at slow speeds. This translates when climbing.

The XXX4 wheels paired with Schwalbe One pro 28's which seat up at 32mm inflated to 65psi provide a very smooth ride that rolls very fast.

The bike climbs extremely well. Standing climbs are really effective and you can remain on the upper 2/3 of the frame and remain balanced and relaxed. Again, the bike reacts immediately to pedal input.

Descents are very stable. Yesterday we were descending 2 very winding roads that were highly wind-effected. Swirling, gusting winds. The bike was very stable and the Wheels (47mm deep) were not affected by the gusts. On some big sudden gusts, I could feel it on the front tire but it was never unnerving. Very predictable. These were some very strong wind gust too. Not just "windy"
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:)

Sram Etap: the more I use it, the more I like it. As It breaks in, its faster and more precise. One you understand how to take advantage of the multiple gear shifts, you can use it to your advantage. If you have the $, go for it. Also, you will see some reviews claiming it's slow, this is just not the case. My friend was paying attention to the shifting as he was evaluating it and commented on how smooth it shifted. Nice to have no wires! the left and right shifting logic is intuitive and makes a ton of sense. left shifter lowers gears, right increases, tap both shifter paddles and the front ring shifts. its brilliant.

Disc brakes: There are 2 controls on the Sram Brakes, one for lever reach/action and the other is for the engagement point. I completely opened up the engagement point and adjusted the levers to my liking (I like to descend with a finger on the brakes) and now they are simply superb. Great modulation and feel. In the hail and rain storm yesterday, they squeaked horribly but worked well. But his was a beyond heavy downpour

If you are looking for a great CO bike, I would put this one at the top of the list for demo.
 

Tricia

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Do you have pictures of your steed?
 

Ken_R

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Ron, C'mon man!

:useless:


:D:D:D
 

BGreen

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If you are looking for a great CO bike, I would put this one at the top of the list for demo.

Beautiful!

Descents are very stable. Yesterday we were descending 2 very winding roads that were highly wind-effected. Swirling, gusting winds. The bike was very stable and the Wheels (47mm deep) were not affected by the gusts. On some big sudden gusts, I could feel it on the front tire but it was never unnerving. Very predictable. These were some very strong wind gust too. Not just "windy"
1f642.png
:)

I have no idea when @Ron was riding, but if it was in the windy part of the day, these were 'rearrange the patio furniture' kinds of gusts.
 
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Ron

Ron

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Lol.

H2 geo.

You can get quite a bir of bike even at the level 5 and 6 levels.

Yes! We were part of that whirlwind. Not the most severe but easily 20 mph and higher gusts. We were in a corridor that funnels wind. The climb out was laughable. I climbed in the drops since the headwinds were juat brutal
 

Tom K.

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I've been slow to come around, but,

My new Trek Checkpoint (review forthcoming) has disc brakes, and,

I'll never have a bike with rim brakes again.

The power and modulation are just astounding!
 
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Ron

Ron

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The power and modulation are just astounding!

yeah now that I have about 800 miles on the bike, the brakes are well broken in and perform as Tom says. With the Sram's, you can adjust the point of contact as well as the reach, I have the contact point opened up all the way, this allows me to descend with fingers on the brake lever. I'm a bit of a chicken and I max out at about 43-45mph so I tend to use the brakes on long descents. You can feather them for very smooth braking but on switchback descents, you can let the bike speed get up to 35 +/- between corners and brake late with confidence and control. Very re-assuring.
 
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Ron

Ron

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a quick update: After having a Retul Fit in Boulder earlier this summer we made some changes to the bike. I got rid of the integrated bar/stem as the reach was a little too long. I have to point out that while the integrated bar stem is a great idea, and saves 100-150 grams, Trek needs to update the bar. The bar states that its a 85mm reach but the spec sheet states its 92mm. When I spec'd the bike, I couldn't get a straight answer from Trek and went with the reach stated on the bar, After all, who makes a handle bar with a 92mm reach??? BTW, the drop is 123 which is pretty standard. Fortunately, I had a Enve bar and stem that was perfect. Retul could not say for sure what the dims are on the bar/stem btw. He was not a fan :)

Retul also recommended a different saddle This was a surprise as I loved the comfort of my Fizik but once he put a Specialized Romin on the bike, the difference was noticeable in the power gained. Comfort is supreme, I still have a Fizik on my Moots and I can tell the difference, I will replace that one soon

Retul also raised the saddle, raised the bars leaving me at a 5.5cm saddle to bar drop.

Repositioned the cleats dramatically!

Performance-wise, I am so comfortable on this bike and despite my hip issues, I am riding faster faster overall and find climbing to be more efficient. The Emonda also descends very well. The frame it very stable and I really think the XXX4 wheels are less wind effected than the Aerolus D3's.

Shifting with the Etap is smooth and I wish I had it on my Moots. The left/right shifting just makes sense. The batteries last a very long time and I bought a spare which I ride with on longer rides but every couple of weeks, I just charge them. it takes a couple of hours.

As I have already said, I love the disc brakes. Very dependable and solid when braking on descents, Great modulation and I have tweaked the reach and engagement for my hands which is great for added comfort and confidence. I still say they aren't essential.

XXX4 Wheels. The hubs still need more miles on them but they roll fast! I can't say how many watts they save but they do look good :). I can without a doubt say they are stable in cross winds. They really did a great job on the design,
 
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Tom K.

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^^^ Love the Retul fits (and the printout they give you allows for pretty darn good self-fitting when moving on to a new bike).

Let me know if those bars are cluttering up your garage -- I've got $50 of excess cash in my wallet that needs to find a home!

Two serious questions:

1. How did they reposition your cleats? Current trend seems to move cleats back from the old "classic" position.

2. How about seat fore/aft? On my Retul fits, they slid my seats forward, and I liked it immediately.
 
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Ron

Ron

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^^^ Love the Retul fits (and the printout they give you allows for pretty darn good self-fitting when moving on to a new bike).

Let me know if those bars are cluttering up your garage -- I've got $50 of excess cash in my wallet that needs to find a home! Although that's all its worth (Bontrager charges $600 for it :).

Two serious questions:

1. How did they reposition your cleats? Current trend seems to move cleats back from the old "classic" position.-- Yep, back (towards heel) . Much better power. I also think this is another reason for my movements in speed. it definitely helps on climbs

2. How about seat fore/aft? On my Retul fits, they slid my seats forward, and I liked it immediately.
.


Let me know if those bars are cluttering up your garage -- I've got $50 of excess cash in my wallet that needs to find a home! Although that's all its worth (Bontrager charges $600 for it :). My LBS was happy to take it on trade for other gear I needed, seriously, trek needs to really fix this if they are going to move forward with the integrated model. I think its a great idea but it needs some tweaking. Trek was also kind enough to send me a Ballista helmet for all the trouble which was very cool although they could have offered to take the bar back or replace it with another that worked, My LBS owner called trek on my behalf about this issue. He got some kind of answer that really didnt make much sense (the 85mm reach was for theProject one bar but since this bar came stock on this build, its 92???). btw- they don't sell 2 different versions. why not just say they need to fix it??

1. How did they reposition your cleats? Current trend seems to move cleats back from the old "classic" position.-- Yep, back (towards heel) . Much better power. I also think this is another reason for my improvement in speed. it definitely helps on climbs


2. How about seat fore/aft? On my Retul fits, they slid my seats forward, and I liked it immediately.[/QUOTE]. Yep again, forward slightly. I already had my seat pretty forward, I've been a fan of that for a while.

raising my seat about 5mm's to what I would have thought as being too high was also a big help. The program showed I needed it higher than what most riders have but it works,
 
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Ron

Ron

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I think the seasons done here for the road bike. Final thoughts on the season. I love this bike. There's nothing I would change and dont plan on other than power meter Quark pedals. Otherwise, I am so enamored with the Etap, I am going to put it in the Moots gravel bike. It works flawlessly and the shifting is so intuitive. Plus the blips are so user friendly on long climbs and I love the ability to shift quickly through multiple gears quickly. handling is quick and the stability at speed and in head/crosswinds is exceptional even with the XXX4 47mm deep wheels. I ended up running my 28 Schwalbe Pro Ones at 65 front, 68 rear. Its comfortable and seems to be the lowest roll resistance for my weight. Although I love the disks, I still say they aren't required but they really dont add much weight and do provide much better stopping power and allow plenty of tire clearance. Absolutely no squealing either. The bike is nimble and super responsive, plenty comfortable.
 

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