This is an explosive bike: it feels as light as a feather and as solid as a steel girder at the same time.Ī small downside to all this fury is the Émonda’s smoothness. But if you have any doubts, they’ll be erased when you ride it. That’s “Holy shit!” impressive.īy 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. 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 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). It’s also, excepting customized Project One builds, the most expensive model at a buck under 12 grand.
#TREK 5200 OCLV CARBON 120 WEIGHT PRO#
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. And through this lens, it is one of the very best.
These are obvious facts, but that’s the lens through which it must be viewed. Going fast on pavement and climbing performance are its only goals. This bike will never be as comfortable or versatile as a gravel bike. The Émonda SLR is a tool made to fulfill the needs of some of the world’s best road racers. The new Émonda isn’t lighter, but it is faster thanks to a dose of aerodynamic tuning. When the races do resume, Trek’s pro riders will be aboard its new third-generation Émonda climbing bike. 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.
#TREK 5200 OCLV CARBON 120 WEIGHT PROFESSIONAL#
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. Price: $11,999 as tested (Émonda SLR 9 eTap)