# New Madone 5.2SL



## shoerhino (Aug 13, 2004)

All winter I have been considering getting a new bicycle. I currently have a Trek 2100 that I've ridden for 2 years and it's been a great bike to ride but now that I know I love road cycling, I wanted to get a top of the line road bike. The Trek 2100 has served it's purposed - I've learned how to properly care for a bike and understand more about what I wanted in a bike after spending so much time in the saddle.

That being said, I rode a few different bikes and ultimately settled on a Trek Madone 5.2. I choose the Madone I really liked the fit I had dialed in on my 2100 and the Madone geometry is very close so I should be able to get the same fit. Additionally, the Madone rode very well during my test ride and frankly, I was a little surprised at how much better it rode than my 2004 2100. Other bikes I rode just didn't seem to measure up in fit our ride quality.

It's been rainy here for the last few days so I've not had a chance to really give it a good test ride on familiar courses but I'm looking forward to it. I'll give a better review then.


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## acid_rider (Nov 23, 2004)

*nice, I have the same "problem"*

Nice.

I have a size 54cm 2005 5.9 (upgrade from 2004 Trek 1000!) and it looks like we have the same "problem", a lot of spacers. I have 30mm of spacer and looks like you are close to me in this area. Just about 80% of Trek road bikes seem to end up with a lot of spacers. It is very rare to see 20mm spacer on Madone, unless it has a flipped up stem.

How long is that stem btw? 110 or 100? I have both and seem to be able to ride both. Go figure.


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## shoerhino (Aug 13, 2004)

Thanks!

This is a 90MM stem. It came with a 100mm, which I think will be a hair to long, although I have yet to even ride my bike more than 10 minutes. The weather has not been cooperating.

I also have 30mm of spacers also and you are correct, it does seem like many Treks seem to more spacers than other bikes. There must be something in the geometry that causes this, but I'm not sure what exactly. I do know that I with the 30mm stack of spacers and a shorter (90mm) stem, I can get a very comfortable fit on a 54 Trek. 

Do you have quite a bit of mileage on your 5.9? Does yuour 5.9 have Bontrager wheels and if so, are you happy with them?


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## crisbay (Apr 9, 2006)

Plan on retaining that rear spoke protector? You can buy a single 30MM spacer from Zipp, it looks better.


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## acid_rider (Nov 23, 2004)

*some answers for you, FWIW*



shoerhino said:


> Thanks!
> 
> I also have 30mm of spacers also and you are correct, it does seem like many Treks seem to more spacers than other bikes. There must be something in the geometry that causes this, but I'm not sure what exactly. I do know that I with the 30mm stack of spacers and a shorter (90mm) stem, I can get a very comfortable fit on a 54 Trek.
> 
> Do you have quite a bit of mileage on your 5.9? Does yuour 5.9 have Bontrager wheels and if so, are you happy with them?


I am no expert but here is what I understand to date.

Trek road bikes like Madone tend to have relatively long top tubes compared to their seat tube height. A 54cm Madone (same size as I have) also has steep-ish 74 degree STA meaning you may need to sit 5mm-10mm further back to maintain the same BB relative position as you would on a 73 or 73.5 degree STA bike in 53-54cm size from Look or Orbea or Bianchi or Specialized or Cannondale etc. If you have a relatively long upper body and relatively short legs (or you pedal heel-down and hence have a lower relative saddle height) then you might find Madone a good fit. I pedal heel-down and it seems to fit me ok but with a 30mm of spacer which is not a pretty sight, IMO. And I only have ~1 inch (25-30mm) of saddle to bar drop and 100mm (82/98 degree) stem so if I ever develop better flexibility I could remove one 10mm spacer. The Madone geometry means short head tubes, more spacers and shorter stems than other road bikes from other mainstream makers in similar frame sizes. Even pro-racers Madones seem to show this if you look at many photos on cyclingnews.com. Armstrong raced on 110mm stem on his last TDF (and it looked like 20mm of spacer to me) which is relatively rare in pro-peloton, other riders seem to use 120-130-140mm stems, for example, and 0-10mm of spacers. Armstrong has a well known back problem though but even other riders in Discovery team seem to have more spacers and shorter stems than other teams. I could be wrong though.

I have done over 3000 miles on my 2005 5.9 Madone in ~9 months of riding, so not much. So far no problems but the frame finish is far from perfect given its price. It's the Lance factor price, I think.

The Bontrager Race-X-Lite wheels are fine, but I weigh only 66kg (145lbs, 5 feet 8.5 inches short) so they should be perfect anyhow. I got hit by a car, on the rear wheel (a slight hit, low speed) and it just needed to be trued and held up well a kew thousand km later. I replaced the bars with Deda Newton shallow-drop classic bend because I found the stock drops to be too far down for my comfort. I also put Fizik Aliante on it because I found stock saddle did not suit me. The other good surprise is that Bontrager Race-X-Lite stock tyres are still ok, close to needing replacement on the rear, but I did not expect them to last that long. So far, 4 flats in 3000 miles which is ok for a soft, sticky racing tyre. But I ride on relatively good roads in dry weather mostly.

Stay Upright.


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