Madone 6.5 WSD
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Once again Trek have have the high notes with their top end road bikes for women.
Trek was until this year pretty much the only bike manufacturer offering women specific road bikes ready for serious competition riding to UK riders. A couple of other companies have caught on to this but in the meantime Trek have upped the ante on the Madone WSD. The 6.5 WSD model retails at £3800, a hefty price we know, but if you are serious about your road racing and want a ready to go top end bike you have to check this one out. Equipped with Shimano Dura-Ace gears and brakes and Bontrager Race X Lite wheels and crankset it's ready for the peleton. The new OCLV Red Carbon frame is Trek's top end high modulus carbon fibre with the most complex lay-up for top quality ride and performance as seen on the TdF Trek team riders frames. Trek now categorize their carbon layering with three colours, OCLV Red is top of the range with 55 gsm, OCLV Black at 110 gsm and OCLV White for more value oriented performance with standard modulus carbon fibre at 120 gsm.
New for 2008 on the Madone bikes is the all carbon seat mast, this fits over the seat tube rather than a standard seat pin which slides inside. The seat mast comes in three lengths and each offer an adjustment of 100mm, 6 degrees of lateral adjustment and Trek claims infinite saddle tilt too. The whole assemblage looks amazing and saves weight too. Also new for '08 is the Bontrager Race XXX Lite fork with proprietary E2 steerer design with carbon steer tube with folded carbon threads and no 90 degree angles making a stronger fork and steerer. This fits neatly in to the tapered head tub with a 1 1/8th inch top and 1.5 inch bottom bearing size for the headset.
Madone 6.5 WSD seat mast
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Madone fans who don't want to spend nigh on £4k don't need to fret, the Madone 5.1 WSD has a £1900 price tag and offers a Shimano Ultegra groupset, the same super cool looks, great geometry and funky seat mast design as the 6.5. The 5.1 has OCLV White carbon frame, Bontrager Race Lite fork with the E2 carbon steerer and Bontrager Race wheels. All in all a good spec list on a ready to race bike, see we said there was nothing to worry about if the 6.5 WSD is a bit beyond your budget.
Aluminium road bikes in the Trek range include the 2.1 WSD retailing at £750 and the 2.3 WSD is £1000 with Shimano 105/Ultegra, Bontrager Race carbon fork. Entry level riders haven't been forgotten either with the 1.2 WSD coming in at £500.
Sizing across the Madone range is as extensive as previous years with 47, 50, 52, 54 and 56cm frames available, except with the 2.1 and 1.2 bikes which also offer an extra small size of 43cm
CJ
