So after MUCH hemming and hawing I just ordered the 2018 Domane SL5. Now comes the harder part. Waiting for it!

Congrats.
The riding is so much better than the hemming and hawwing.
Enjoy.

Don't forget follow-up pics and ride report.

And rubber side down, you new bike owners sometimes get carried away with joy and new-found legs/speed.

Ok, brief first ride observations after a 15 mile get-to-know-you ride.

• 105 groupset is the star of the show so far. Incredibly smooth, and the ratios are nice and close - never without a gear that's "right".
• I limited my downhill speed because this bike is so much more twitchy than what I'm used to. Feels like it will just go wherever you think about pointing it, which will take a bit to get used to.
• Power to the pavement. Compared to my "old" comfort-hybrid, it feels like every watt is making you go forward. In fact at one point I could actually hear the wind noise increase/decrease with each pedal stroke. Of course that means that my circle pedaling is not very efficient... But I never got such action/reaction before.
• It's geared low enough. One of the things I was really concerned about is whether I was ready for a 34/32 low gear. I know the tires are smaller than my Raleigh with its 28/32 low gear, but the gear-inches are still around 25% higher IIRC. However, I was able to ride it up my "home hill" in roughly the same gear sequences as I do on the Raleigh (i.e. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc). In fact, I bested my previous best time of 17:00 by nearly two minutes - 15:12!
• It's a work of science/art. I find it beautiful. I realize some people care only about function. And while I agree that function should trump form, if form can have a say without compromising function, I say - bring it on! There are just so many little details you have to see to appreciate. I love how integrated the brakes are; from how the cables take the shortest/most direct route, to the aerodynamic profile and sheer small size/low profile. And the matte finish is really nice. I got the dark blue with CA blue accents.

Note that I was riding in sneakers on plastic platform pedals, as the shoes I ordered had not showed up. Tentatively planning a longer ride (40 miles RT) over to the LBS to pick them up tomorrow.

I found the same thing with my Shimano 105 5800 that I just put on my Paramount. The gear transitions for the ones I use the most are just one or two teeth. So changing to the next higher gear ration while accelerating doesn't kill my cadence like it did with my seven speed.
I noticed that when I went from a 44 pound bike to a 23 pound bike. Less weight equals faster acceleration. How much did your previous bike weigh? I think your Domane probably is 19 or less.

Sounds like a good choice for you. Don't forget to go back for the tune up.

Sounds great, how about a picture?

My "old"bike was 35# (by my scale). The Domane is advertised at 19.1 for a 56cm frame. Mine is a 58, so I assume it must be close to 20 between the larger frame and adding pedals.

Believe it or not, the only pic I took was for my wife after I loaded up at the LBS. Not that great. And since Photobucket tanked I haven't come up with a good hosting method. Here's the stock photo from Trek. It really does look exactly like that, other than not having pedals (envision Wal*Mart grade $69.99 kids bike plastic pedals for the moment):



Well, I did add a couple bottle cages and my top bar bag plus my iPhone holder on the handlebar stem.

Nice! Like the blues with red accents.

Very good choice, nice looking bike, you probably won't be able to remove the smile from your face for quite a while now. Enjoy it!

Bill

The interesting thing is, when I was first looking at the bike (online) I thought the only choices were the accent colors of red or blue. Then I finally realized that the main bike color was either charcoal or dark blue, and decided on the dark blue. It's subtle, but noticeably not black/near black. The very small amount of red really does stand out. Personally, I do wish they did it in traditional Trek Red, but really, what's most important is how it RIDES! And I have absolutely NO complaints there.

Similar to when I first bought my '72 MG Midget.

Ok, took it for a real ride today - 40 miles.

"Twitchiness" is already basically non-existent.

Butt is learning the new seat.

Body is getting used to the new position. Good variety of hand positions helps greatly.

Overall, it keeps getting better, with one snafu. I had just crested a hill on the small ring and as I went back to the big one, holding the lever until it "seemed" to be engaged. However, when I let go, not only did it skip back to the small ring, it jumped completely off and jammed between the ring and frame.

For a while I thought I was going to have to call my wife to come get me, but I eventually figured out the sequence of things I had to do to get it out.

That's not the worst of it. Apparently as the chain came off it dug into the frame and gashed the CF. It doesn't look "too bad", i.e. going to fall apart, except that it's a brand new bike! Only 20-25 miles on it when this happened. If this happens with any regularity the frame will certainly become structurally compromised.

I will be taking the bike to the LBS in the next few days to get my SPD pedals put on and pick up my shoes and will talk to them about this. But before I do I'd like to be better prepared.

• Is this entirely my fault for not holding the lever long enough? I was told that you have to hold the lever "a bit", but was never warned that not doing so could cause the chain to jump off and cause damage to the frame.
• Was something not installed or adjusted correctly?
• How likely is it that Trek will cover this under warranty?
• Anything I've missed?

Ooops. Forgot the pic:

Your chain should not have dropped off the inside but it happens. Tell the shop. They will likely check the adjustment of the front derailleur and inspect the damage. There are chain catchers that can reduce the chance of this happening and protect your frame. Ask your shop.

Took to LBS yesterday. After removing the crank and getting a good look at the damage it appears to be cosmetic. What looked like fibers sticking out was just the "gel coat" or whatever it is they put over the CF to make it smooth, that for some reason kind of shredded when it got dug into.

There already was a chain catcher installed. Not sure how the chain got past it, but they adjusted it so that it's really tight to the chain.

Readjusted F&R derailleurs. Rear was already quite far out after just 55 miles.

Took it out for a trial run last night to get used to the new clipless system and start breaking in the shoes. Shifts quieter/smoother/quicker and no discernible chain noise when pedaling (it was almost as loud as the freehub the rear derailleur was that far out).

The two times I shifted up to the Big Ring I held the lever over until I was past certain the chain was fully on. Realistically I almost never need the Big Ring, as the 11 cog will take me over 20 mph and I can't pedal that hard for too long unless it's at least slightly down hill. Anything more than that and I generally coast and recover. And while there is (or was, before yesterday's adjustment) noticeable chain drag when going big/big, little/little seems to be about as smooth as butter.

Congrats on the new bike and sorry to hear about the chain mishap. I just picked up my Domane SL6 yesterday and after reading this it's one of the first things I looked for to see if there was a chain keeper.

My LBS told me to not to run small chain ring to small cog and large chain ring to large cog, I believe they call it cross chaining.

Yes, I know you're supposed to generally avoid it, but I was surprised how smooth/quiet it was even so.