"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Why no Madone?

anyone know why lance isn't riding the new Madone 5.9? looks like he's on his trusty old oclv 110.

Looking at some photos on graham watson's site and others it doesnt look like hes riding the madone. Definetly an oclv110. There is not aero shaping around the wheel on the seat tube. Surely the bike would have been used in the mountains right?

yeah, that's what i'm getting at. no question he's NOT riding the madone. but it's supposed to be the replacement for the 5900, so what gives? maybe lance doesn't like it? just wondering if anyone had heard any rumblings.

the madone he used was only a prototype and not a production version. Rumblings are that it's not as stiff as Lance would like it.

Found the answer, sort of. Scroll down about halfway and it starts talking about the madone and 5900. Apparently lance is riding a new prototype 5900. The madone is more of an everyday bike, the 5900 is still the mountain featherweight.Madone&5900 (http://www.bicycling.com/tourdefrance/experts/columns/0,6717,5612,00.html)

Dear Distinguished Member:

Thx for posting accurate info instead of ignorant "rumblings" regarding Lance's use of the Madone in the TDF. Interesting link.

thanks for posting that tridevil. i emailed trek a while back about the madone (i'm considering picking up a 5900, but wanted to know if the madone was worth waiting for). they told me that the madone was intended to replace the 5900. i kinda gather that the fact that lance isn't riding the thing is hurting their plans for the madone's roll-out (snicker snicker).

That information is mind-boggling. I had a hard time believing the story about the broken chainstay, but I was wrong. And apparently it's not just true, but also may have limited Lance's ability to shift during that incredible attack and sustained high-cadence climb. Yet he still won it going away.

The word "elite" doesn't begin to describe these guys.

RichC

great info 3devil.

Kind of repeats the info but some new stuff
More info (http://www.velonews.com/tour2003/tech/articles/4647.0.html)

again, though, i wonder if they're abandoning the madone so quickly. trek itself told me the madone was to replace the 5900. i don't know what to make of all this, but it's interesting (to me anyway).

and i will say that all the carbon detractors who ranted and raved about catastrophic failure seem to have been a bit misguided, at least in regards to lance's frame.

they might have just wanted to take the 5900 out for a few moutnain stage spins. Hasnt LA rode the madone in a few races before the tour? so they have something to go on. Maybe too little time to test out all their new stuff, maybe the tour should be lengthened to allow this!haha

I chatted to a trek rep just before the tour started wrt the new bike Lance was riding.
He told me that the Madone was goingto replace the 5500, not the 5900. He said that Trek had something special in the pipeline for weight weenies. It would be light and stiff and cost a lot.
The 5500 replacement it turns out is to be the Madone and the rep said that it would be more of an all round bike ie for use in club TT's, road races and light enough to build into a climbers special. He alos told me that it would sacrifice stiffness to achieve theis 'jack of all trades- master of none' trait.

I only now understand what he was talking about.
It seems Trek will be offering the madone as the 5200 and 5500 next year with the 5900 remaining the lightest and stiffest frame at a price premium.
what the actual names / designations of these bikes for next year will be he did not tell me. of course it could have been a ploy to keep me on edge while i made up my mind what to buy.
However with the info posted here and what the rep told me it seems that the cards have been played.

Cannondale dealers also say that they're been informed that Simoni's carbon dale will not be labelled CAAD8. it wil have another label.. Don't know if this is true but it's what my LBS is saying and they're a bit closer to the ground than I am.

Originally posted by TimB

Cannondale dealers also say that they're been informed that Simoni's carbon dale will not be labelled CAAD8. it wil have another label.. Don't know if this is true but it's what my LBS is saying and they're a bit closer to the ground than I am.

It would be odd to label a carbon frame "Cannondale Advanced Aluminum Design."

RichC

Originally posted by Rich Clark
That information is mind-boggling. I had a hard time believing the story about the broken chainstay, but I was wrong. And apparently it's not just true, but also may have limited Lance's ability to shift during that incredible attack and sustained high-cadence climb. Yet he still won it going away.


i think one other reason that lance didn't shift gears is because the lever was broken. if you watch the eurosport.com stage 15 video, you'll see that the right lever is obviously broken in the fall, and it dangles around when he powers away.

so that's probably why he didn't attempt shifting gears, which was probably a good thing ultimately.

I don't doubt the info from the trek rep. but here's what i got:

"Thank you for emailing us. The Madone 5.9 will be available for the 2004 model year. It is scheduled to be available late fall/early
winter. It does replace the 5900, however, we do not have any
information on what the MSRP will be. The USPS team rides a combination of OCLV 110 and OCLV 120 bikes depending on the race or stage.

Thanks!
****
Customer Service Specialist"

sounds like either my girl was misinformed, or lance's response to the madone changed their plans to use it to replace the 5900. hell, it's named the madone 5.9, after all. i'm hunting for a conspiracy, really.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?id=tech/2003/news/jul25


that article has a bit more to say about it. basically says lance picks the bike he wants for each stage, period. also says the madone didn't have the left downtube shifter he prefers, though i haven't noticed that on the other bikes this year... am i nuts in reading too much into this? really sounds like trek's scrambling to explain why lance isn't using the madone.

oh, and yes, lance rode it in the dauphine and some others.
edit:
just saw one of graham's pics on lance's website of check-in. definitely an sti shifter, not a downtube. the plot thickens...

Originally posted by shrimpx
i think one other reason that lance didn't shift gears is because the lever was broken. if you watch the eurosport.com stage 15 video, you'll see that the right lever is obviously broken in the fall, and it dangles around when he powers away.


I thought he was just shifting. Even after all these years, watching a "brake" lever move sideways (seen from the front) is somehow disturbing to me.

You can see him appearing to shift the right lever just as he's crossing the finish line in that stage.

RichC

Originally posted by Rich Clark
It would be odd to label a carbon frame "Cannondale Advanced Aluminum Design."

RichC

:D True, however it does use aluminium lugs and rear triangle so theres still a lot of al in it too keep using the 'CAAD' designation.

Thanks for the Trek info on the Madone 5.9
However being in the UK, we have a different range over here so What the local trep told me may be aplicable to the UK and Europe. However he may also have been taking out of his **se.
You yankees get all the creme....:(