I did earn a living riding. It wasn't much of a living, but I got paid to wear GB Carrefour's logo on a jersey (in Europe) as well as a host of other sponsors in the US. So I earned my ego.

So when people are talking about cutting edge, frankly I have serious doubts they know what they are talking about. Since I spend a lot of time talking to retail customers about bikes, and most of us sepnd a lot of time researching and reading about frames and actually get to talk to engineers (at least from the companies we represent) we get an idea of what they are trying to do.

Cutting edge is not a cool looking bike.

That being said, the Six Madone is a cutting edge high mod frame good enough for two professional teams to ride. They provide feedback to the designers. I'll go with the people that actually ride bikes for a living.

Oh, and I don't have a Trek in my garage. I have a relationship with another manufacturer.

None of these frames at this level suck. People I know that don't want to ride Trek is primarily due to their opinion that there are too many of them out there and they want to look as cool as possbile. LOL.

And I know this will stun you, but sometimes companies pay magaizes to review their bikes. If you like, I can tell you what a multi-time men's national road champion and Olympian said about Scott. And it wasn't bad, just a review of the riding characteristics of the bike based on his depth of experience. Not a magazine. Those of us in the business normally talk about riding characteristics, not logos and color or what's cool.

Have a fantastic day.