# 2014 Madone 4.3



## johnfoster1 (Feb 13, 2015)

I bought my first rode bike. A 2014 madone 4.3. I am about to give it my first ride tomorrow from the store. My only problem is.....I have yet to hear even ONE review about this bike. If anyone out there has this bike I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'll give it my own review after my 10 mile ride home from the store. I figure if no one else has reviewed this bike I ought to pay it its dues. BTW I'm new to this site but hope to come often. Bye fellow bikers!


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## johnfoster1 (Feb 13, 2015)

My 11 mile journey from the Trek store to home was something like this. Keep in mind I am used to riding a hybrid Fuji Absolute 1.4

I LOVED the handlebars on this Trek Madone 4.3. The handle bars feel like feathers. Going from a bar to being able to change the grip was SO much more comfortable on the back as well. I could go maybe....6 miles on that Absolute before my back would start paining me. On the Madone I got off at 11 miles and felt like I could have handled quite a bit more riding... 

On the other hand, I didn't feel like I was going as fast as I had on that Absolute. Downhill I could go 34 miles per hour on the Absolute. On the Madone, I could only go about 28 miles per hour. My Absolute has 27 gears, so I am used to being able to pump heavy downhill. The Madone didn't have the ability to pump heavy. I was surprised by this. I admit at one point I was thinking....I wonder how much faster Lance Armstrong could have gone if he had the 27 gear Fuji Absolute.

Regardless, this is my first road bike. I admit, I LOVED the handlebar. I loved it so much I ended up bike 35 miles on my first ride. As for speed. Who knows, maybe I simply need to get more arrowdynamic with my body position. Any tips on speed I'm game folks.


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## Srode (Aug 19, 2012)

What do you mean when you say 'pump heavy'? 

You might be slower going downhill because the bike is lighter - heavy bikes go faster down hill - wind direction makes a difference too. You should be able to go much faster downhill in the drops in a tuck though than the Absolute in a more upright position. Look at some videos of people going down hill to get an idea of position for getting aero. But don't try sitting on the top tube like the pros do on mountain descents.


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## tihsepa (Nov 27, 2008)

johnfoster1 said:


> . I admit at one point I was thinking....I wonder how much faster Lance Armstrong could have gone if he had the 27 gear Fuji Absolute.


Thanks for the morning chuckle. 
For the record, Lance would be faster than most on a rusty Schwinn with two flat tires. 

Glad you enjoy your new bike, now go pile on the base miles and forget about speed. Remember, everyone is faster, better looking and has a bigger unit on the Internet. Especially around here. RBR, home on the 26mph average century. Solo.


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## fuzzwardo (Sep 16, 2014)

I bought the same bike last fall, first road bike and first carbon bike. So far I have been happy with it but I don't have much experience with road bikes. The more miles I have put on it , the more my body has adjusted, coming from mountain bikes, it's a whole new world. I also searched a lot for reviews on this bike but never really found any, so I just took a chance.


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## johnfoster1 (Feb 13, 2015)

Srode said:


> What do you mean when you say 'pump heavy'?
> 
> You might be slower going downhill because the bike is lighter - heavy bikes go faster down hill - wind direction makes a difference too. You should be able to go much faster downhill in the drops in a tuck though than the Absolute in a more upright position. Look at some videos of people going down hill to get an idea of position for getting aero. But don't try sitting on the top tube like the pros do on mountain descents.


I'm a road bike noobie. Maybe I just need to get adjusted to the gearing. The Madone 4.3 is a 10 speed Tiagra bike. Do all 10 speed bikes have the same pressure on the speeds? Yes, I need to improve my bike terminology.  




tihsepa said:


> Thanks for the morning chuckle.
> For the record, Lance would be faster than most on a rusty Schwinn with two flat tires.
> 
> Glad you enjoy your new bike, now go pile on the base miles and forget about speed. Remember, everyone is faster, better looking and has a bigger unit on the Internet. Especially around here. RBR, home on the 26mph average century. Solo.


I'm glad I got you to laugh. Anyone who says their bike is perfect IS a liar. I was actually thinking I would do that but I wanted to be honest. This bike IS comfortable and I'm going to ride it for a good 10+ years. But its a 10 speed tiagra and the wheels made people give me sad looks. BUT I biked more than I ever did in my entire life yesterday 30+ miles and saw places I never saw before. I felt like I was riding a horse in some Charles Dickens novel. Its a great ride. 




fuzzwardo said:


> I bought the same bike last fall, first road bike and first carbon bike. So far I have been happy with it but I don't have much experience with road bikes. The more miles I have put on it , the more my body has adjusted, coming from mountain bikes, it's a whole new world. I also searched a lot for reviews on this bike but never really found any, so I just took a chance.


Finally! I found someone else out there who got the 4.3. Thank you very much for replying. It is good to know that someone else has the same bike you do. Have you been able to beat my 28mph speed barrier going downhill? What is is your average mph on a ride? I'm glad you like our ride. Its fun and I've biked places I never knew when speeding in a car.


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## fuzzwardo (Sep 16, 2014)

Finally! I found someone else out there who got the 4.3. Thank you very much for replying. It is good to know that someone else has the same bike you do. Have you been able to beat my 28mph speed barrier going downhill? What is is your average mph on a ride? I'm glad you like our ride. Its fun and I've biked places I never knew when speeding in a car.[/QUOTE]

I have broken 30mph, but that was on a long somewhat steep hill that I was hammering down plus I am 255lbs. 

Average ride was around 18 MPh if I remember correctly, and that's on a 20 to 30 mile ride. I ride to enjoy the scenery, probably could go fast but it's my mind clearing time. 

My biggest gripe is I am not a fan of the color , white is definitely not my first choice but I bought it to ride , not to look at lol.


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## robt57 (Jul 23, 2011)

My wife has a 4.3 Madone. And her 'other' bike was a really nice Traitor Ruben disc done up nice. Which never got ridden by her again after her 1st leg over on the Madone. She does not ever go over 20 probably [unless on the back of he tandem], but I can say at my weight, any descent pops 30 with minimal pedaling and some tuck. Not sure what the correlates to if anything other than weight and gravity work in my favor. I never have a max ride speed on my speedo less than 33 or so. Not sure that has anything to do with the bike beyond being safe to do it on... Obstacles notwithstanding...


Agree totally, just go burn some tires off it and smell the roses...


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## johnfoster1 (Feb 13, 2015)

Yesterday I was wondering why all the cars driving so slow and why I'm passing all of them up, I look at my speedometer and I was hitting 34 mph. I'm sure many of you have gone faster than that but here I was trying to get that speed and I did it by accident. 

Fuzzwardo - 18mph is impressive. My fastest average so far is 14mph. I live in California and these hills around town are a drag. I did bike 40 miles this weekend and I loved it. Thank you for responding.


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## skinewmexico (Apr 19, 2010)

Sowhat cassette do these bikes come with, that you can't get more speed downhill? Or do you just need a bigger hill?


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## johnfoster1 (Feb 13, 2015)

The 2014 Madone 4.3 isn't high end cassette but good enough. Shimano Tiagra, 10-speed: 12-28. It may be a bit psychological. I find that I push the envelope and go faster when the hill isn't steep than when its REALLY steep and I worry about acceleration and the ability to stop well. Also, in california every hill has a red light at the very bottom of it. Its some kind of unspoken rule. ;-)


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## johnfoster1 (Feb 13, 2015)

*Fubar*

Well, that didn't last long. Keep in mind in this post, I bought my 2014 TREK bike used.....I began a ride today and got about 1 mile in when suddenly my bike seemed to explode. I came to a complete stop and looked down. Shimano 105 derailleur was snapped. But did not snap until causing: 

-my back wheel to become bent,
- one of the wheel spokes to break, 
-my chain to break, 
-and worst of all, the back fork of the frame to have questional scrapes.....
This bike is only about 6 weeks in my possession...Bad luck ...The frame is my most worrying aspect. As nice as the trek store is the bike frame is not guaranteed for used bikes even at only 6 weeks. They also don't have the ability to fix scraped carbon, even if they wanted to..I am envious of aluminum riders today. Anyway, my bike has some repairing to go through...Any tips appreciated.


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## glenn (Feb 17, 2015)

Odd, because I have a 2012 Madone 4.6c (Sram Rival) and put 6500 trouble free miles on it. Not even a flat and I changed the chain at 4500 and tires once.

If you're having problems, I suggest finding a different mechanic.


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## gabedad (Jul 12, 2012)

I have the madone 5.2 and I love it


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## johnfoster1 (Feb 13, 2015)

I'm glad you both like madone. Care to switch your bike with my 6 week from Trek store cracked frame?


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## ibericb (Oct 28, 2014)

If you need to consider carbon frame repair, you probably can't do better than Calfee Designs. They're in CA near Watsonville.


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## johnfoster1 (Feb 13, 2015)

Maybe California... But 7 hours away from San Diego. There should be more people who can fix carbon frames. That's crazy. Thanks for the help though....I may need to do that drive.. I'll see.


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## ibericb (Oct 28, 2014)

There probably are others closer, but Calfee is generally considered to be one of the best. If you want someone closer, then you can probably find someone - ask shops in the area. Is the damage to the frame mostly pant, or are there torn fibers showing?


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## johnfoster1 (Feb 13, 2015)

Note my advice would be road bikers. Buy aluminum. The chances of a bike cracking are high and aluminum is a lot likelier to be fixable. Madone is FUBAR after 6 weeks! No guarantee from TREK.


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## Srode (Aug 19, 2012)

johnfoster1 said:


> Note my advice would be road bikers. Buy aluminum. The chances of a bike cracking are high and aluminum is a lot likelier to be fixable. Madone is FUBAR after 6 weeks! No guarantee from TREK.


What happened?

On edit - never mind, I read further back and found what happened. Did you buy the bike from the Trek store or a private individual? Curious, when the event happened, were you just pedaling along or shifting, stopping?


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## ibericb (Oct 28, 2014)

johnfoster1 said:


> ... Buy aluminum. The chances of a bike cracking are high and aluminum is a lot likelier to be fixable.


Honestly, the probability of cracking a frame is really quite low. Aluminum frames are generally considered non-repairable because of the complexity and cost for repair relative to the cost for a new frame. Aluminum frames generally should be viewed as a lower-cost disposable frame.

Your situation sucks. Your real warning should be about the perils of buying a high value used bike, and the complete absence of warranty coverage or loyalty support if something does go wrong.


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## johnfoster1 (Feb 13, 2015)

I did buy the bike used but I bought it from the TREK store....I didn't have much choice...The model I wanted was not in the store at the time and 2015s are too expensive at the beginning of the year. . Regardless.. if TREK doesn't guarantee their used bikes then why not get the bike from Craig's list for an even better deal. It can be argued that TREK makes sure that the bike is in good used condition but I disagree with that argument..What incentive do they have to check the bikes condition if they don't back it up with any guarantee? Anyway I'm not giving up with the bike yet TREK is trying to see if they can fix it for me.....but not without a lot of money on my side.


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## ibericb (Oct 28, 2014)

johnfoster1 said:


> I did buy the bike used but I bought it from the TREK store....I didn't have much choice...The model I wanted was not in the store at the time and 2015s are too expensive at the beginning of the year. . Regardless.. if TREK doesn't guarantee their used bikes then why not get the bike from Craig's list for an even better deal. It can be argued that TREK makes sure that the bike is in good used condition but I disagree with that argument..What incentive do they have to check the bikes condition if they don't back it up with any guarantee? Anyway I'm not giving up with the bike yet TREK is trying to see if they can fix it for me.....but not without a lot of money on my side.


As far as I know, Trek Bicyce Corp. does NOT engage or participate in the selling of used bicycles. Many of their dealers do. Trek Bicycle Corp. does NOT provide warranty coverage for used bicycles, and their warranty policy is very clear on that. There are a number of Trek Dealers that operte under the name of The Trek Bicycle Store ..., such as this one in Santa Rosa, or this one in San Jose, or any of the Trek Bicycle Superstores, and many more including those in other states identifying themselves via the Trek brand. Those stores are really nothing more than an LBS.

Your issue is limited to the local LBS. Unless your purchase of a used Trek bicycle included an explicit warranty, offered by the LBS from which you purchased the bike, I can't see that Trek Bicycle Corp. has any responsibility for your loss. What role did Trek Bicycle Corp have with the sale of the bike you purchased?

Finally, and perhaps the most relevant point, warranties cover only defects in workmanship and materials. You haven't offered anything to suggest that the rear derailleur failure you had was a result of either of those. Given that it was used when you bought it, and you had ridden it for 6 weeks, it is more likely that any failure was a result of an external force or agent (derailleur being bumped in handling, etc.). Even if it was a new bike, with full OEM warranty, if the failure and ensuing damage was a result of an external force or agent you would still be on your own.


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