About the Madone

It looks like I'll be going in to look at the Madones on Thursday, and I have a few questions for my wonderful team of advisors.

--My options are the 5.1 and 5.2. The 5.1 uses Trek's white OCLV carbon, whereas the 5.2 uses the black. Is it worth the extra cost to go with the higher-level carbon? Weight is not important (either bike will be a huge improvement over my current bike), but I am concerned about strength and durability.

--The bikes appear to only come with either a compact double or a triple (whereas I would prefer a standard double). Is it true that the triples don't shift as crisply as a double? Is that sufficient reason to prefer the compact double, despite my strong preference for a standard?

--The wheels! Sheldon informs me that the ideal setup would be 28 spokes up front and 36 in back. He really does not like the low-spoke wheels currently in vogue. The Trek store only has Bontrager wheels, and their highest spoke count is 24. The Mavic dealer has more options, but they are going to be pretty expensive. Bear in mind that I ride on fairly rough country roads. What kind of problems am I likely to have with the 16-spoke wheels? Should I upgrade immediately? If so, what do you recommend?

Thanks!

It is said a double will shift more crisply but I find my well tuned triple shifts like butter. If the front deraileaur gets out of whack it may jump rings but I have not thrown the chain completely off in over 5,000 miles on my bike. That being said a compact double can give you close to the same size smallest gear so if you prefer a double then go with it.

I don't have any input on the other two questions. :)

As far as the carbon is concerned:
Ride both. The difference between grades will not be in durability or strength (I believe Trek has a nice warranty on all of their carbon frames, and I"m sure all of the carbon fabrications are tested for strength, etc in a lab). You will, however, likely notice a difference in ride quality, and it may be significant. (I haven't ridden any of the 2008/2009 Treks, so I don't have specific input, but I know for 2007, there was a huge difference between their OCLV line and their TCT line).

As for wheels, my boyfriend has a 2007 Madone 5.2. He is using the stock wheels -- I believe they are Bontrager Race X Lites, but I'm not 100% sure of that. He has not had too much trouble with the wheels going out of true (They might go out a little with a really big hit, but no more than normal, I would say), and our terrain in Vermont is sort of medium in terms of roughness, I think :). Since the winters are relatively extreme the roads can develop some pretty big cracks and potholes, and the road budget is notoriously too small :). He has had no problems with spokes breaking, etc, but he is not a big guy (135-140 lbs). They're probably neither the lightest nor the most durable wheels out there, but if you are not trying to shave every last gram and/or not a clydesdale/athena rider, I think they're pretty good.

As for the cranks, it's worth asking the shop if they would switch out the stock cranks for the cranks of your choice. Every shop is different, but they will frequently do this on a new bike for no more than the the difference between the two parts.

Excellent choice.

Trek tunes the Madones to ride basically the same regardless of carbon used. All are durable and strong. If weight doesn't matter, the 5.1 is a perfect choice.

A triple can give you excellent results if properly adjusted, just like a double. If you want a regular double you can buy larger chainrings to fit the smaller crank pattern. I would go with the compact and play with new cassette or new chainrings if you need to make a change. I really enjoy my compact.

Spoke counts guru's make me nuts. Bontrager makes excellent wheels. They have a 5 year warranty, and no weight limit - no one else comes close on either. RaceXLite are great all around wheels, the RaceLite, and Race are ok, but start getting heavier. I'm currently running RaceXLite-Aero with 16 spokes (f/r), no problems! I'm pushing 190 and have hit plenty of holes. I good friend toured cross country on a set of RaceLites - 0 problems and he pushes about 230 lbs. We also run Bontrager Tandem wheels on our tandem, 0 problems. Maybe 20 years ago, low spoke count = bad wheels, not anymore.

What do you mean when you say rough country roads? Chip-seal? Gravel? Potholes? I'm not heavy and I don't carry any luggage on my road bike, but FWIW I've had no problems with my 20-spoke radial front wheel or the 24-spoke x2 rear. I ride lots of chip-seal and frost heaves, try to avoid gravel and potholes but there's no avoiding them completely here. My wheels needed truing at about 3000 miles and they weren't that far out then, just a minor touch-up.

I have this year's Madone 4.7 WSD, which is the TCT carbon. The ride is awesome! I came off a Giant TCR to the Madone, and the Madone has a much better ride IMO. It's responsive without being twitchy. I'm very pleased with it. I am a lightweight but the roads on my training grounds are old chipseal and the Madone smooths them right out.

As for cranks, I ride a triple because I do a lot of riding in the mountains. Like a previous poster said, it shifts like butter. The new Ultegra is much better than previous versions. Mine came with a double but the shop swapped it for me. On the Giant I had a compact double and I missed the bigger big ring for fast descents - it seemed like I ran out of gears before everybody else. With the triple, I've got the best of both worlds - a bigger big ring and smaller small ring. :)

As for wheels, mine came with the Bontrager Race wheels. I've got over 1300 miles on them so far and they've been great. No complaints at all, no need for truing.

My $.02 FWIW

I haven't ridden those bikes... But the $660 difference between them is for Ultegra SL over regular Ultegra and also the lighter carbon. As you're already spending a lot, if you can afford that little bit more for the significantly lighter bike, I would go for it if I were in your position.

I have had my 5.1 for a few weeks now and I love it. I didnt try the 5.2 cause the 5.1 was on sale and significantly less. I didnt want to be tempted by the other bike...lol

Anyway, I left everything stock for now and the shifting on the triple is very smooth.

This is great--it sounds like I win no matter how I go! Good news on the tires. If I don't have to replace them right away, that makes the 5.2 more feasible. I'm still confused as to the double versus triple. I was surprised to see that 50X12 has a higher ratio (is that what it's called?) than 52X11. That bodes well for the compact double. I currently use my 52x13 a lot, and I was afraid of losing that range of options with the compact.

I did it! I bought the Madone! I wound up going with the 5.1, in a 52 cm frame and a compact double crankset. I was surprised to find that the store had a WSD in a 51 cm, but it was a 2007--and with DA instead of Ultegra, so it was really expensive ($6k). I think they would have come down on the price a bit, and it sure was pretty, but in the end I just couldn't justify spending that much money. I kept thinking about how I ride and where I ride, and it seemed best to keep my extravagance in check.

I won't be able to ride it until the weekend, since I have to change the cleats on my shoes. (My old pedals are the original Looks; these are Keo classics. I would have preferred the sprints, but the red really clashed with the yellow accent on the bike.) I can't wait!

Congratulations on the new bike. I hope pictures are forthcoming. I like to drool....

Jen, how exciting! I'm sure you'll love it! :D

New bikes are fun! Please post pictures and have fun!