rollin

While I was out riding my 2006 5200 a guy I met (who was riding a Madone) told me that L.A. had a ridden a 5200 frame to win one of his earlier TDFs - I had assumed L.A. rode Madones - did he ride OCLV 120 frames to victory early on?

Just curious... no dillusions!

voltman

Lance and USPS rode Treks even before the Madone line was launched.

the beef

I'm pretty sure the Trek number designations have steadily gone up. The 5200, or 5.2(?) Superlight /whatever it was called was the top dawg of the Trek line a good six or seven years back. Then came the 5500. then 5.9 Madone. Now it's the "6.9" or something similarly ridiculous. So yeah. That guy with the 2006 'Lance-rode-this-and-won-the-Tour' Trek 5200 is just trying to impress you.

Psimet2001 

That would be correct. The Madone, if you believe the hype, was named based on Lance's input, after he was a tour winner.

Nagedzi

Actually, when I bought my 5200 in 1993, there were 2 models above it--the 5500 and the 5900, I think. The 5200 came with 600 (Ultegra) components. the other two models were outfitted with Dura-Ace. I believe that the person the OP was talking to was referring to the fact that Lance rode essentially the same frame as the most recent 5200 with 120 carbon.

JOEPIPPAS

I think Madone came from a hill in spain that L.A. Used to test his fitness for the season.

roadwarrior

First, don't use bike model number designations...the 5200/5500 originally came from the same frame, different components. The 5900 was the OCLV110 frame. It's easier to use the frame styles.

The OCLV 120, the original, then the 110 (different use of carbon, but lighter and stiffer..the numbers referring to the grams of carbon used per square meter of frame material) which came later were the road bikes that Postal used for the '99 and '00 Tours (Postal, pre-Lance used these too). They had the "tuning fork" seat stays. The frame tubes were round, and in comparison to the ones they make now, did not have a lot of torsional stiffness. But, back then that was "state of the art".

The Madone (named for a mountain Armstrong trained on when he lived in France, near Nice) was lighter and introduced the "A stays"...the current shape with the stays staying separated and coming up on either side of the seat tube. This made the bike handle (much more lively IMO) and absorb shock better. Trek also introduced tube shaping...thus saving weight and actually increasing the torsional stiffness of these frames which made them a lot more efficient and comfortable. The original Madone was the "aero" package with the fin on the seat tube. Again, they made two frames, then a year later introduced the OCLV55 frame (a mere 55 grams of carbon fibre per square meter of frame material). Obviously the trick is to make the frame stiffer and reliable while using less carbon. The 55 material is what NASA uses in satellites. Which is why they cost so much.

Then they got rid of the fin, and made the frame lighter. Now they have the newest bikes, all in the "Six series" that's even lighter. The 6.9 SSL is like eight grand.

Trek was learning about how to effectively use carbon to get lighter and stiffer. Their first frames in the early 90's were, and they admit such as well, pretty bad. The OCLV120/110 tuning fork stay bikes were used to win the first two tours...that frame style is still available in the 5000 (Trek's only Asian made carbon frame) now. It's mid-90's technology.

Personally, I am not a full-carbon fan (given being able to choose), but the newest Madone's are light years better than the original OCLV's...

cycle17

^^you are about 95% correct. The only area you have it wrong is that the "5000" series (5200/5500/5900 etc) OCLV 120 and later 110 frames were ridden by Postal & Lance through 2004. Lance started riding the Madone in 04 in the mountain stages and then the entire team started riding Madones in 2005. The 5000 series frames underwent a design change in 2001 that made them stiffer in the bottome bracket area and have been the same since(Having ridden both..I prefer the tuning fork style rear stay on the 5000 series to the double tube on the Madones btw). Last year the TCT 5000 frame was made (outsourced) overseas but the 5200 was still made here by hand in the U.S. This year they dropped the 5200 design from their line and make just the Madones by hand in Wisconsin. The 5000 is now made only overseas.

BUt to the OP...yes...Lance rode the 5000 OCLV series bikes to five of his seven tour wins.

Psimet2001 

...and now you know the rest of the story....

rollin

Thanks all

GuitarWizard

Yep. A few years back, the only thing that differentiated a 5200 from a 5500 were the components. The frames were the same.

cydewaze

Also note that the original OCLVs were OCLV150, not OCLV120. The first Postie bikes ('99 and possibly '00) were OCLV150, not 120. I dunno when Postal started using the 120, but for us it came around in '01.