Anyone had a chance to really put the new Trek Madone through its paces? I really like the seatmast concept (no cutting) and the bottom bracket. I'm no fan of Trek, whom I consider to be the GM of the bicycle business. But this design really does seem to break new ground and offer some potential advantages over other CF framesets by attacking a couple of key weaknesses in more traditional design.

TIA.

I got in a few miles on the new 5.2 last weekend. I really loved the bike. It feels stiff, it corners well, and the 56 seemed to fit me right out of the box.

I loved the bike, but I'm currently in the Campagnolo camp, and I really like being able to dump the chain...having said that, I really loved the Shimano brake hoods, so I'm thinking about converting back...

I rode the '08 Madone 5.5 (Performance Fit) which is outfitted with Dura-Ace, a few weeks back when I was looking to buy a new bike... Ive had 3 treks since Ive been road riding (pilot, 2 madones) and its finally hit me why many people dislike trek... They are way too commercialized, and really have down right dull designs... and definitely too many bland proprietary components... but when you get into road cycling they sure do seem like the best choice...

But to answer your question, it does seem to have improved stiffness over the last generation Madone. Lighter as well. However I ended up just going for the '07 Cannondale System Six Team Si 2, as I wanted a change... twas a little more expensive but a WHOLE LOT stiffer... and weighs nearly a half-pound less than the '08 madone 5.5... and the C'Dale comes with the notorious Mavic Ksyrium ES wheels... bling bling!