Cyclefit mechanic Ed leans into the virtues of the Gen7 Madone SL
Power To The people
The Gen 7 Madone is a race-bike pure and simple. It may have a nod to comfort, but Trek's clearly stated Gen7 raison d'etre for IsoFlow puts aerodynamics & weight joint first and comfort a distant third. Those of us who long ago gave up pinning numbers on our backs, would do well to measure our expectation.
Generation Race
But the SL makes sense to me in that many racers are younger and possibly could not afford to buy the imperious Gen7 Trek SLR? Or maybe mused that crashing a £12k race-rig a couple of times a season in close-combat criteriums, held limited appeal? Not Cyclefit's 1st-cat crit-warrior, Vaughn though. Fair to say he is more than happy to put his Gen7 SLR in harm's way on a regular basis!
"Trek's clearly stated Gen7 raison d'etre for IsoFlow puts aerodynamics & weight joint first and comfort a distant third"
Race bikes live a different existence. Here Vaughn leads the break at a race average of 50kph on his Gen7 SLR
"Gen 7 Madone SL flatters both riding styles - stiff enough to win match sprints in national races and aero enough to pay a significant and increasing watts premium dividend to those that have high long-burn power"
Trek Gen 7 SL/SLR Mathematics
- Gen7 SL uses 500 Series OCLV Carbon against 800 Series for Gen7 SLR. To you and me that means the latter is a wee bit lighter and stiffer (weights below)
- The SLR is 19 watts faster than the outgoing Gen6 Madone, in contrast to the SL which is only 9.3 watts faster - but almost all of this difference is down to the lighter and more aero Madone SLR integrated bar/stem
- SL and SLR both use H1.5 race geometry
- Gen7 SL is 8kg (size 56) for whole bike whereas Gen7 SLR is 7.48kg (size 56). Some of this differential will come from Madone SLR bar on the latter.
- Trek Gen7 Madone SL costs £7,500 and Trek Gen7 SLR costs £10,200
- Both SL and SLR use T47 BB standard (a virtuous thing)
- Neither the Gen7 SL or SLR accepts mechanical groupsets. The past is the past.
"Neither the Gen7 SL or SLR accepts mechanical groupsets. The past is the past"
Gen7 for Gen XYZ?
If I was twenty, thirty or forty years old and still racing, I would almost certainly want a Gen 7 SL Madone, regardless of my personal economics. The 500 grams weigh wouldn't bother me, or if it did I would change wheels or buy the Madone SLR integrated bar/stem and offset at least some of it.
2-Stroke meets V8 Turbo-Diesel
We popped Cyclefit's Tom Dumoulin doppelganger (in looks and riding style), Ed, out on the Trek Gen7 SL. He was impressed way beyond expectation. Where Vaughn revs to full power at the flick of a synapse, Ed unfolds his long levers in a more measured fashion, to arrive at a lower peak but higher sustainable number.
A career in guiding cyclists in the mountains and weekends crossing countries non-stop, has bequeathed Ed a simply huge motor. He can't match Vaughn in a sprint (few can) but he can put a 100 miles up on the dashboard in only a few hours if he as to.
The great thing about the Gen 7 Madone is that it flatters both Ed and Vaughn's riding styles - stiff enough to win match sprints in national races and aero enough to pay a significant and increasing aero dividend to those that have high long-burn power. It is addictive stuff. So I am told.
Rest Ride a Gen7 Trek Madone at Cyclefit
We have a 56cm Gen7 Madone SLR and 58cm Gen7 SL that you can test-ride. You will not be disappointed.
Read Vaughn's review of his own Gen7 Trek Madone SLR
