For 2010 Trek have taken their road bikes to the next level, and are the first company to incorporate a fully custom bike production into their product line.
I’ve been riding a 2009 Madone 5.2 for the last year – a stock standard model, white finish, speced with Shimano and pretty much the same look as most similar quality road bikes out there.
Not this year. With Trek’s Project One option, you can select from an umpteenth number of colour, groupset, wheelset, stem, bar, bartape, cables and tyre colour combinations. We’ve been having a ball creating all sorts of dream bikes using the Project One website, even participating in a competition with the Trek Head Office to see who could make the ugliest bike!!
So, how does it ride? The ride of the 2010 Madone 5 is really something special. The acceleration is amazing and the anti-road vibration properties of their OCLV Black Carbon is truly unmatched. Lateral stiffness is improved thanks to the oval shape of the tubing, and fork flex is also minimized thanks to its oversized fork crown.
The wheels have also been upgraded to a custom built wheelset – White Industries hubs, DT Revolution spokes and Mavic Open Pro rims - which weighs in at just under 1500 grams for the pair.
All in all my green machine is a little pearler and will serve me well for the next year. You never know, you might even see it make a cameo at a few crit races.
Madone 5 series Project One bikes start at about $5999, and can be assembled and shipped from the US in as little as 3 weeks. Come check her out on our Saturday morning road rides.