5 Reasons to Love the New Trek Émonda SLR Disc

We visited Trek headquarters in June to learn more about the culture and goals of the company in Waterloo, Wisconsin as well as get a chance to ride the new Émonda SLR Disc in its local environment. We were duly impressed on all fronts. Before we get to the important stuff however, we need to quickly point out three things from our visit to Madison that aren’t bike related.  Please repeat after me: The Old Fashioned. Fried Cheese Curds. New Glarus Spotted Cow.

Then, repeat again.

PELOTON

Ok. Here’s why we loved the Émonda.

1. The Fight: The Émonda has always been light so the challenge was to take the lightest race bike in production and make it even lighter (665 grams in the disc version to be exact) and still maintain the legendary ride qualities. Trek doubled-down on 25 years of carbon production and came away with an even lighter ride-tuned frame for the race set among us.

   

2. The Ride: You would expect the Trek Émonda SLR Disc to climb well, but we were pleasantly surprised with the cornering, descending and stability of the race frame. It’s light and stiff, but also encourages long days in the saddle. We are putting it through the paces currently and this morning set out on a 6:30am 10-mile climb up Rose Valley and the Émonda performed exceptionally well on our local loop. Travel tip: If you ever find yourself in Madison, high-tail it to Blue Mounds State Park and get ready for some punchy climbs.

   

3. The Commitment: The lightest road bike line in the marketplace is fully supported by a lifetime warranty.
4. The Design: OCLV Carbon. Blendr Integration. Control Freak Cable Management, DuoTrapS. Aeolus Pro 3 Wheels and a completely updated and ride-tuned frame design that looks and rides fast. The non-disc version SLR frame weight is 640 grams.
5. The Offerings: We had a chance to ride the top-of-the-line SLR Disc (and still are riding it—we plan to tell Trek we are now on a 12-18 month long-term, German print magazine testing protocol so we can ride it for longer) but we were really impressed with the models coming in at a variety of price points––There are models for every budget (From $1599 to $10,999). The SLR has 7 versions, the SL 8 versions and the ALR has for model options. Take your pick.

5B) If you are going to invest in the new Trek Émonda SLR Disc we strongly suggest you take it one step further and design your own version through Project One. We had a chance to tour this amazing facility and for a small additional fee, you can create a one-off bike to fit all your needs. Head to projectone.trekbikes.com

Stay tuned for a full review in the September issue of Peloton Magazine.For more on the new bike head to Trek.