Domane 5.9 long term-ish review
01-02-15, 05:24 PM
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Vain, But Lacking Talent
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Domane 5.9 long term-ish review
I say long term-ish because I've had it for nearly half a year, but have also been recovering from an ACL surgery I had at the end of June and haven't put as many road miles on it as I would have otherwise.
Yeah, it's pretty badass. If you're bothering to read this far, I'm sure you've already read enough reviews about this bike, so I'll keep it simple.
One of the biggest complaints about this bike is the front end harshness. I would both agree and disagree with that assessment. Out of the box (alloy bars with foam pads for the 5.9), it is definitely not as plush as the rear, but that only means so much because the rear is REALLY plush. The front end really isn't bad at all, but it's different enough from the rear that it stands out. I've talked about it in other posts, but compared to most "endurance" bikes, the rear of the Domane is designed to take major hits as opposed to eliminating high frequency road buzz. The front end takes out a lot of road buzz by design, but doesn't deal as well with big hits in stock form.
To remedy this, my first plan was to upgrade to carbon bars, which helped even more with road buzz, but not big hits. It was a definite improvement, but not a solid "fix", not that the front end was that bad to begin with. I eventually swapped out the stock tires for 25c tubeless Bontrager R3 tires (great tires and tubeless system). This was a VAST improvement on the overall ride quality and made the front end feel great over bumps. On the stock setup, I was running 25c with 105 rear and 95 front. With tubeless I first tried 95/85, but now usually run 90/80. I went down to 80/70 for a part gravel metric century the other day and it still did great on the paved sections. I probably could have gone even lower on that ride.
The bike is awesome as a whole. Other than the aforementioned tires and bars, all I've changed is the seat for personal preference. The Dura Ace 9000 is pretty amazing. Like really super sweet. I was a big critic when it first came out, but riding it has made me a believer.
A note on the fender mounts: if you are buying from a dealer and want the fender mount hardware, you need to bring it up at the point of purchase. They are included in the box with the bike, but lots of the Domanes go home without them. I thought about doing the fenders, but eventually decided against it. It's still something I consider, but be aware that just because it has fender mounts doesn't mean you can buy and standard set of fenders for it. The best ones I've seen for the Domane are some by Portland Design Works. A google image search for "domane fenders" should bring it up. I'd much rather build a separate bike, but haven't gotten around to that, yet.
Standard stuff: Downtube and chainstays are super stiff for rigidity while climbing, iso speed decoupler is magic, yada yada yada. I like it.
Yeah, it's pretty badass. If you're bothering to read this far, I'm sure you've already read enough reviews about this bike, so I'll keep it simple.
One of the biggest complaints about this bike is the front end harshness. I would both agree and disagree with that assessment. Out of the box (alloy bars with foam pads for the 5.9), it is definitely not as plush as the rear, but that only means so much because the rear is REALLY plush. The front end really isn't bad at all, but it's different enough from the rear that it stands out. I've talked about it in other posts, but compared to most "endurance" bikes, the rear of the Domane is designed to take major hits as opposed to eliminating high frequency road buzz. The front end takes out a lot of road buzz by design, but doesn't deal as well with big hits in stock form.
To remedy this, my first plan was to upgrade to carbon bars, which helped even more with road buzz, but not big hits. It was a definite improvement, but not a solid "fix", not that the front end was that bad to begin with. I eventually swapped out the stock tires for 25c tubeless Bontrager R3 tires (great tires and tubeless system). This was a VAST improvement on the overall ride quality and made the front end feel great over bumps. On the stock setup, I was running 25c with 105 rear and 95 front. With tubeless I first tried 95/85, but now usually run 90/80. I went down to 80/70 for a part gravel metric century the other day and it still did great on the paved sections. I probably could have gone even lower on that ride.
The bike is awesome as a whole. Other than the aforementioned tires and bars, all I've changed is the seat for personal preference. The Dura Ace 9000 is pretty amazing. Like really super sweet. I was a big critic when it first came out, but riding it has made me a believer.
A note on the fender mounts: if you are buying from a dealer and want the fender mount hardware, you need to bring it up at the point of purchase. They are included in the box with the bike, but lots of the Domanes go home without them. I thought about doing the fenders, but eventually decided against it. It's still something I consider, but be aware that just because it has fender mounts doesn't mean you can buy and standard set of fenders for it. The best ones I've seen for the Domane are some by Portland Design Works. A google image search for "domane fenders" should bring it up. I'd much rather build a separate bike, but haven't gotten around to that, yet.
Standard stuff: Downtube and chainstays are super stiff for rigidity while climbing, iso speed decoupler is magic, yada yada yada. I like it.
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