Philly215

I'm thinking about getting one to start road racing. Mostly crits (hence the aluminum) I was thinking an Emonda ALR 6 pro as its specced pretty good with Ultegra. But it's a pretty relaxed fit.

I heard some guys talk about sizing down one and then running a long slammed stem. What is everyone's opinion on this? I think it could be a pretty sweet bang for the buck setup.

PepeM

My opinion is to get the bike that fits.

85Runner

I have the ALR6(2016) and love it. Don't race it but do enjoy the ride. Also test rode the CAAD12( had to coming off a CAAD10 & 9) and felt the ALR was a smoother ride and a better fit for me.

Also as a bonus it has external cables for ease of maintenance.

gsindela

Heard nothing but great things about the ALR. Would also look at the CAAD12 and Allez.

zymphad

Agreed, get the one that fits. If you're not comfortable and bike doesn't fit properly, likely not going to race well.

Also the Emonda is RACE bike. It's not endurance, gravel, touring etc, it's the race bike of choice for general classification and tour riders, and likely a split between this and Madone for crits and wouldn't surprise me if Emonda takes the edge.

I find it amusing when people talk about the Emonda as if it's some comfort relaxed ride, it's H2 headtube is still aggressive. I don't see anything on it that would imply that, it looks fast, looks like a race bike. I don't see why you need to ride a bike too small to race crits, this bike was made for racing crits!

Unless you are Cavendish who wants to be as low as possible, I don't see the point in riding a small bike.

The Emonda is size specific. The geometry/tubes are adjusted for each size. So I don't see a reason to ride a smaller bike if the frame has been adjusted for your size.

HTupolev

What's an "aggressive headtube"? The overall picture is what matters. Reach is comparable to many "endurance" bikes. Frame stack may not be huge, but I think that's mostly just so that it's easy to slam if someone decides they reaaalllly want to; bikes tend to ship with the stem set to a height close to what most customers in that size will use, and the Emonda ALR comes stock with a pretty big pile of spacers. This tower is how my 56cm was out of the box, and we didn't feel any need to move the spacers in the fitting process:

cyclozone

I'm riding an Emonda ALR and the frame is really sweet - decently stiff at the BB with good handling and decent comfort. I'm running my stem without any spacers currently (H2 fit) but my seatpost height isn't that high. I suppose if I wanted to get lower I might have to run a negative angle stem or a size smaller frame, but maybe a rider with a longer leg-torso ratio would be just fine.

Homer Cooper 

I've got a ALR 4 in Aug of 2016. So far thoroughly enjoying it. This will be the first full summer with the bike. I paid around $1200 at the time.

zymphad

You're right. Put a -10 110mm stem, slam it. And then let me know if it is still an Endurance bike.
- Stock setup of your bike is unfortunate to me, Trek assuming ALR customer would want to ride their bike so relaxed. Rather conflicting considering the marketing for ALR is all about performance and that the ALR is worthy competitor to other carbon performance/race frames.

But I do believe there is a general trend brands are making their race bikes more comfortable. They emphasize the compliance and comfort a lot more, which is probably why pros do ride with extreme stems and smaller sized frames? But I still don't see why CAT 5 racer would need to ride a small Emonda ALR 6.

You have the frame, so you know the ALR better than I do. But those who are curious about it, GCN tested the ALR 6 and SL6. Their conclusion? The ride was the almost indistinguishable. Not only that, both stated they would prefer a ALR 6 w/ higher grade of components than a SL6 with lower grade.
- With same components, a difference of only 280 grams!
- Dan can't feel the difference, he feels both bikes have the same ride quality
- Simon feels the SL6 has slight more muted ride, but also says this could be rectified by using wider tires with lower pressure on the ALR 6.
- In their unscientific measurement, SL6 is 25 seconds faster on 30KM ride.
- They both agreed SL6 was stiffer. SL6 is also thousands more. How big difference? How many riders are as strong as these two? Would average rider feel difference? I bet not.

Philly215

This forum always gets so heated. I think the ALR 6 with a pro fit and some Zipps could be really sweet.

Also seems like the Specialized Allez Sprint is a really popular frame to use. I think I'll see a lot of those at the Joe Martin race this weekend.

Bikeracer123

Jamis icon? Fuji Roubaix?

rubiksoval

AL is not necessary for crits. I'd say the very vast majority of crit riders do not ride aluminum, at least not in the races I do.

Get a bike you like, that fits, that feels nice and makes you want to ride it. If it happens to be aluminum, awesome, but if not, don't fret.

And sizing down with a longer stem is dumb, in my opinion. Even more dumb if you're forced to put half a foot of spacers underneath because the head tube is way too short. Again, get a bike that fits.

rpenmanparker 

Aluminum isn't benficial from a racing point of view. It doesn't positively affect the criterium results. It is chosen by many criterium riders, because it is cheaper than carbon for a nearly equivalent level of performance. Due to the frequency of crashes in criterium racing many folks think they need a bike they could afford to replace in the likely event it is trashed. YMMV, but that is the thought process. To some extent it is a false premise. One might even say it begs the question. Since carbon is more easily repaired than aluminum, it may be the better choice even considering the high likelihood of damage.

Fiery

The key question is what sort of position are you trying to achieve on the bike. What size is your current bike, and how is it set up? What's the stem length, saddle height, saddle to bar drop?

sh00k

that matte red is gorgeous! congrats, your bike looks hotter than many of the upper level trek road bikes!

rubiksoval

But it isn't chosen by many criterium riders. That's my point. So I don't think that actually is the thought process as I don't think many folks are actually thinking that when selecting a bike. Not to mention the fact that a crit is generally one hour or less, and even those that do 20+ crits a year are only doing single-digit percentage amounts of time on that bike in that race situation versus their yearly ride total.

And the whole "lots more crashes in crits" is way overblown. There are plenty of crashes in road races, too, and generally those are quite a bit worse in my experience. Crits are small loops so everything is a lot more visible, but many crit crashes are slide outs and the like that don't cause much damage. Road race crashes, though, can be a whole different story.

I've crashed multiple times in both, and I would never race one frame material over another because I was worried about crashing in either.

rpenmanparker 

You misunderstood me. I did it relate my own beliefs but rather what I have heard from crit riders posting here. Majority or not, rational or not, sensible or not, the rationale does exist.

rubiksoval

I'm saying that the reality does not match what you're asserting.

Regardless of rationale, reasonable or not, the reality of the situation is not as you purport. Most people racing crits are not on aluminum bikes.

That's what I stated in my first post. For some reason you quoted that and tried to argue against it based on hearsay, apparently.

It seems the OP has been subjected to that same hearsay. But that hearsay is not what you're going to find when you show up to a race. So I'll stand by initial post of simply finding a bike that fits and he likes and go from there.

rpenmanparker 

Why are we arguing about what we agree on? I never said most folks rode aluminum for crit racing. I said a lot do. I don't make this stuff up. There is a strong vein of belief on this forum that aluminum bikes are the right choice for crits based on lower cost as well as geometry. Especially Cannondale CAADs. Maybe they are all wrong about how common it is. I wouldn't know. Never seen a crit. I didn't make that up. I learned it here. And I don't agree with the value of aluminum for that application. That was the whole point of mentioning it, to discredit it so that it wouldn't influence OP.

HTupolev

It's not conflicting, it's just the reality of who they're selling it to.

The vast majority of the road-bike-seeking market consists of people aren't high-level racers with strong cores. If a bike is too slammed for someone, they don't suffer through in an aggressive posture; they just stick to the less aggressive postures. If someone's handlebars are too low for them (i.e. the lowest position they ever use is arms outstretched in the drops), they might even end up less aero than if they used a higher bar that encourages occasional use of level-forearm positions and perhaps even (when circumstances call for it) the phantoms.

As mentioned, if you want to rotate the posture forward, the bike certainly allows for it.

I actually agree with this.

Ghazmh

I'd ride with the stock wheels for a year then reevaluate. At that point a wheel upgrade may make sense or you'll realize that it isent necessary.

When I started with a Madone 2.3 that had the Bontrager Race wheelset I wouldn't have benefited from an upgrade. After 2 years and many miles my form improved, I lost 30 lbs, overall fitness improved, discovered the nuances of different tires. At that point I was able to feel and appreciate the benefits of lighter wheels.

sh00k

Smart move. Most people just throw money into whatever they feel they need without appreciating/giving time to what they have. It's just onto the next best thing always. Myself included

jajacobsson

Here is mine, slammed original stem pointed downwards. It's perfect for me. Lets me get low enough on descents I was also a bit confused with the H2 geometry, but I would not call it "relaxed". Sure, out of the box it was kind of relaxed with a huge pile of spacers beneath the stem, and someone at the shop had also mounted the stem tilting upwards. I do have the saddle quite high due to long legs, but the reach is perfect for me. 58cm frame, 188cm tall.

i.imgur.com/aP79n7A.jpg

sh00k

gorgeous ride and loving the setup! i'm also 188cm and ride a 58cm (emonda sl6)

jajacobsson

Sweet! Do you have a picture of it? sl6, I guess that is full ultegra and tlr wheels? May I ask you if you have made any upgrades on it?