Trek Madone Stem/Bar

[Uncle Jam's Army]

I don't normally like Trek bikes (and I'm not saying I like this bike), but I do love what they did with their stem/bar combination creating a very clean front end on the new Madone 9.9. There's almost no exposed cables anywhere. I wouldn't want to be the guy to have to set up the cable routing, though.

[ColnagoFan]

The future is here, and it brought a 40-page cable installation book for dealers.

[avalonracing]

Pretty wild but that is some serious proprietary-planned-obsolescence at work.

It is also something that maybe seven pro racers in the world could probably benefit from yet it will be pushed off as a must have so every Cat 5 will be convinced that he needs this to improve is Strava times.

[Cicli]

I saw one of these at our local shop while I was picking up some bar tape. Scary.

[crownjewelwl]

its just a couple of holes...whats the big deal?

[gjc985]

I wonder comfortable they're when resting your hands on the top.

[Uncle Jam's Army]

With aero bikes and aero bars pushing the edge of the envelope on drag reduction already, cleaning up the front end by routing all cabling internally reduces drag further. That may not be a big deal to you, but I'll take the extra 3-4 watt savings.

[Uncle Jam's Army]

Originally Posted by gjc985

I wonder comfortable they're when resting your hands on the top.

I was running the Zipp SL-70's on my S3 until last week and the tops are fine if you're not on them for extended periods of time. These don't seem as wide on the tops as the SL-70's. But you can't rest your elbows on the tops in TT mode, though. Too slippery.

[gjc985]

Do you wear gloves when you ride? I want arrow bars, but worried about numb hands and slipping when sweaty

Originally Posted by Uncle Jam's Army

I was running the Zipp SL-70's on my S3 until last week and the tops are fine if you're not on them for extended periods of time. These don't seem as wide on the tops as the SL-70's. But you can't rest your elbows on the tops in TT mode, though. Too slippery.

[Uncle Jam's Army]

Originally Posted by gjc985

Do you wear gloves when you ride? I want arrow bars, but worried about numb hands and slipping when sweaty

Only wear gloves for group rides and races. The bars are fine even without gloves. Yeah, the tops can be slippery if your hands are dripping with sweat, but I only ride on them very occasionally. Probably not the bar for someone who rides the tops a lot.

[54ny77]

the good things about that wide integrated bar/stem design is the ability to hold small, flat bite-size pastry on the inside.

i say go for it.

[Uncle Jam's Army]

Damn you Jim!

[Gummee]

I built one of those the other week. While it *looks* great, its a real PITA to set up.

M

[hokoman]

Don't care about the aero advantages etc, but aesthetics plays a huge role in consumers. The front end looks awesome.

[sandyrs]

I think it looks bulbous and misshapen. Makes sense to go this route on bikes that already have sacrificed convenience for aero in other places though. And it still looks better than the front end of a Venge Vias.