Looking for a truthful answer

[brok]

bluerider - no, I'm looking at the '05 http://www2.trekbikes.com/Bikes/Road..._WSD/index.php but the '06 would be work too

[bluerider]

Ooooh la la...me like, me like...

[Crankin]

I am no technical expert, but I ride a Trek 5200 47 cm WSD with 650 wheels (the "old" version of the Madone). I love my bike. I am 5 foot 1. This summer I went on a bike trip with Trek travel and rode a Madone 47 cm with 700 wheels. I don't know how they fit the bigger wheels on such a small bike, but I hated it. The whole bike felt different; I felt like I was up on a higher bike and generally it took me a while to get used to it. I noticed no difference in my speed, but a lot in the handling. I don't race, but if i were you, I would buy the bike that fits. Most people will tell you not to get the 650 wheels, but they don't know what it's like to be short!

[brok]

Robyn, how was there a 47cm with 700 wheels? Was it a test bike for the possibility of putting 700s on the small frames in the future?

[Crankin]

I truthfully do not know if it was a test or not. From what the guides said, i don't think it was. Two of the three guides were my height and rode the same bike. The only difference I noted in the frame was the slope of the top tube; it was slightly sloped instead of straight across. I crashed doing a tricky manuever crossing a highway and going up a curb cut that was to the left/then having to make a quick right because the bike just felt so different. As I said before, I don't see why people feel that they have to have 700 wheels. We just buy a bunch of tubes at the beginning of the season and stick one in my seat bag. I have been riding for 5 years and I have never had a flat (shhhh!) except for the ones I did myself in the basement for very stupid reasons. But the different tube size should not be the excuse to get a bike that doesn't really fit you. I have increased my speed from an average of about 12 five years ago to about 15, without a very strict training program. So I don't think that the smaller wheels compromise your speed. I can easily maintain 18-19 on the flats on my bike. There's just not a whole lot of flats around here!
So, from what I saw, this was the new configuration for the bike. Maybe you can check the Trek site.