Originally Posted by
Iggz79
Well, domane was made for comfort . Emonda is supposed to be a lightweight climbing bike that sit between domane and madone in terms of comfort. Trek claims emonda doesn't compromise on stiffness. For me that contradicts in a way.
The fact that you can buy carbon fiber bikes that are unquestionably both stiffer and a better ride than the old school aluminum rattle-your-teeth-out designs shows that it can be possible, to me...
Originally Posted by
Iggz79
Something more comfortable must compromise on stiffness in one way or the other. In any case tarmac did feel stiffer. In a test tarmac had the highest stiffness values out of 20 bikes tested for 2013. Shame there are no technical test values for emonda but I bet it will never reach tarmac levels.
I'm sure they'll be out next year...
I'm not sure if the actual stiffness of the tarmac will be more or not. The Emonda felt like just the right amount of stiffness to me, though I'm not a racer.
But even if it wasn't as stiff, does it matter at all? Where's the stiffness point where you get no additional power out of it? The stiffness wars have had diminishing returns since they started - not sure anyone's proven that stiffness actually makes you faster, and if it does, where's the point where your body cannot possibly produce enough power for stiffness to matter? It seemed like from my riding that we had already way overreached that point.
Ironically, the last headline I saw on specialized.com said something like "more comfortable is faster" - referring to their Roubaix's. Even if it was less stiff, and I'm not saying it was, would improved comfort in a less fatiguing ride offset a loss of stiffness that's already more than your body can produce?
Originally Posted by
Iggz79
Also, didnt buy it thinking I'm getting the lightest bike for the money. SL8 mid range bike's weight is only average compared to some German competition - Canyon, Rose with 6.4-6.6 kg within same range and with better wheels. Storck for example offering 850g frame for midrange carbon bikes as opposed to emonda s 1050. Clever marketing to waive a 15000 USD bike as lightest in the world to sell a more affordable range with average weight values and below average wheels.
By the way, its not really super hard to create a sub 5kg bike sold for 15000 bucks. Try creating a sub 6 kg bike offering it for under 5000 bucks while still making money on it. Now that's a tough one and not worth going into for trek. As they say, they know what they are doing
Lol, well that may be.
I know it was the ride, not the weight, that I found impressive. I didn't really care about the weight personally, it was the ride quality that motivates me to try a test ride.
I would agree with not finding the Emonda as "exciting" of a ride as some other bikes. It's not as laid back as the Domane, but it's not sharp balls to the walls in it's feel either. But it's ride quality and vibration reduction were kind of amazing....but while it's the best road feel bike I road that did a great job with vibrations, bumps, and potholes, I would definitely agree that there were other bikes that handled vibrations bumps and potholes worse that had a more "connected to the road" feeling.