MacAttack1115

My pleasure. Good luck with the purchase!

FWIW, it was mentioned previously that the difference in the SL6 vs. SL8 models is only Dura-Ace. That drops the claimed weight by a half a pound but adds about $1300 to the price tag. I find nothing wrong with the Ulegra 6800 as it shifts very smoothly (especially after a RD hanger adjustment).

MacAttack1115

I got mine in Maryland. The shop had a few choices to choose from for the SL6 which included the bike purchased which was a SL8 frameset with a build kit. You could try going to an authorized Trek dealer and seeing what your options are. When I was looking for my bike, I did a search on Trek's website with a 50 mile radius and started looking at the inventory of each shop.

I agree that the SL6 color choices could be better. If I had to go with the red or matte black...It'd be the red with black saddle and black handlebar tape.

PaulRivers

Yeah, I don't know about the wheels/handlebars/etc, but the frames seem to be designated with the prefix. "S" is the 300 level carbon, "SL" is the 500 level carbon, "SLR" is the...whatever's above that that's to pricey for me to bother looking up, lol...

The # is the component level. 6 is Ultegra, 8 is Dura-ace.

MacAttack1115

Thanks Paul. I actually think it was you that explained this in an earlier post.

Just to clarify, there are other changes in tires (R2 vs. R3), saddle (Paradigm R vs. Paradigm RL), and stem (Race Lite vs. Race X Lite). This drops the weight a little bit more, but nothing crazy (probably under 100 grams).

iofs527

I purchased a Red Emonda SL6 last week and after two short 15 mile rides I took it for a 'REAL' test and rode it at the Jeremiah Bishop Alpine Loop Gran Fondo (107 miles, 11,000+ ft of climbing). The ALGF is an excellent course to fully test a bike, it throws a little of everything at you... Rollers, long road climbs, long and steep climbs on gravel, fast descents on nicely paved roads, descents on gravel, descents on bumpy roads... You name it, you can get it at the ALGF. To put things into perspective, I've been cycling for the past six years, and my previous road bike was an aluminum Trek 2.3. The only changes to the bike prior to the ride were changing the tires to 25's and I put a Specialized Toupe saddle.

Here are my thoughts:
1. Bumpy roads -- the bike in combination with the 25 tires, smoothen the road a bunch, specially compared to my old aluminum frame. To me it felt like the bike was somewhat 'floating' over some of the bumpy surfaces. Unfortunately I did not ride it on 23's to comment on the differences.
2. Road climbs -- when climbing seated I don't think I felt a whole of difference between this bike and my old bike, but when I stood on the pedals the difference was huge. When standing it felt like the bike really wanted to go and accelerated a lot better.
3. Dirt/Gravel steep climbs -- This was the situation that truly 'WOW'ed' me. The bike was amazingly stable, and the traction when standing on the pedals was great. These were super steep climbs where many were walking up, or having issues with traction. Every time I stood on the pedals the bike kept on moving forward without losing hardly any traction... Truly amazing for a road bike. This one steep climb in particular would be tough on a mountain bike, so much more on a road bike, but the Emonda was super efficient.
4. Fast road descents - when riding on fast descents the bike truly felt like it was riding on rails.. Gave me alot of confidence to ride fast.

Campag4life

Good praise for the new Emonda. You mentioned gravel descents. How about lateral power slides on down hill gravel? Were you able to kick the tail out and power around curves?

iofs527

Speaking of descents.... hydraulic disc brakes would've been very useful on some of the rough descents... My hands were killing me from holding on to the brakes on the rougher descents... So there, hydraulic disc brakes would make the bike perfect