Originally Posted by WalksOn2Wheels

Sweet lord, every damn time with the complains about the seatmast. Every chance you get.

Again (we've had this conversation many times), I worked for a Trek dealer for over two years. In all of that time I saw ONE bike in the shop with someone complaining about the saddle slipping and tilting up/down. The problem was that they threw a bunch of grease at it. If you want something to not slip, you need to use fiber grip, not grease. In that case, we had to pull the whole assembly apart, clean it off and apply just a little bit of fiber grip.

Also, on my Domane, I don't even know if it came with grease or carbon paste or whatever in the rail mount assembly. I built it new out of the box and I've never, ever once had to mess with it after tightening the bolt to the proper torque. And I have switched saddles 4 times, including loosening and tightening it once or twice for fit adjustment. Not a single slip in many miles.

So would you PLEASE stop complaining about the seatmast that you have, as far as I can tell, never worked on or owned yourself? And you can't just go on the complaints you see on the internet because the internet is where people go to complain in the first place. I'm getting tired of you applying your assumptions as fact and propagating misinformation.

Furthermore: the Domane in question is the 4.3 which has a 27.2mm seatpost.

/end rant


Actual info: both are great bikes. People are usually very happy with either decision. I've been anywhere from 210-235 pounds on the Domane, and I really haven't noticed a night and day difference between the front and the rear as many people like to complain about. The difference is there, but it doesn't create any cognitive dissonance in my mind when I ride it. I mean, the front fork is rigid (though the shape definitely offers some deflection) and the rear has a friggin' pivot in it. It's going to be different but the front end is not overly harsh compared to any other bike I've ridden.

In terms of bottom brackets, I have owned a Cannondale CAADX with BB30 and now the Trek Domane and Crockett with BB90 and BB86 respectively. I prefer the Treks because their BB uses a standard Shimano 24mm Hollowtech crank, which in my experience is a much nicer design than any BB30 crank I've used/installed on a bike. The BB30 crank did come loose at one point on the Cannondale, but a quick turn of the wrench fixed that. Zero issues so far on the Treks.

If I had to give a recommendation I would go with the Trek Domane, but I can't say the Synapse is bad because it's not.