First NBD in 15 years – Madone

TL; DR: Gen 6 Madone SL6 Di2 dream machine.

I’ve been riding an aluminum 2009 Orbea Aqua Flèche since buying it brand new 15 years ago. Have made some upgrades over the years, but it was frame limited to 25mm tires, incompatible with Di2, and also incompatible with disc brakes. Nevertheless, it’s been a fantastic bike and currently has all Tiagra 4700 level components and 25 mm GP5000s. It’s plenty fast and I love the simplicity of a 10 speed rim brake bike, but I’ve been looking for an upgrade for a while.

My absolute requirements were clearance for 28mm tires and hydraulic disc brakes, along with potential for upgrading to Di2 in the future. I also really wanted to go to a carbon frame if the budget would allow. I’ve always been a big fan of Trek and had settled on the Emonda. The Madone wasn’t justifiable at an MSRP of $5299 for a Gen 6 SL6 or $5599 for Gen 7 SL6 and the Domane just didn’t have the feel I was looking for. Felt too much like a big ol’ Cadillac, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but just not what I was looking for. I’m fortunate to have several Trek stores in my city, including a clearance center. While looking at an Emonda, I spotted a 2023 Gen 6 Madone SL6 Di2 (yes I know Gen 7 came out in 2022 but Trek’s website calls it a 2023 since that’s when 105 Di2 became an option on the SL6 trim). It was in my size and only $3299! That’s about $40% off retail and yes, I’m sure that the recent new releases had something to do with it, but I could justify about $3000 but not much more than that. The Emonda SL5 I was planning on getting at the sale price of $2699 was only 11 speed mechanical 105 and didn’t have the deep carbon wheels, instead opting for Paradigm 25’s. An absolute no-brainer to spend the extra $600 when I’d already decided I was gonna spend $2699.

It’s been about 1200 miles and 3 weeks since I bought the Madone, so it’s not technically new bike day, but it’s close enough! Although I’m quite happy with the performance of Tiagra 4700 and really don’t think mechanical 105 was that much of an upgrade (not because 105 is bad, but because the current Tiagra 4700 is just surprisingly good), the Di2 105 is a total game changer. It’s so fast, smooth, and reliable. It just works flawlessly, and the integration of Di2 into a bike computer is a really nice perk that I didn’t realize I’d care so much about, but I love that too. I will never even consider a mechanical groupset again. The deep wheels are so sweet, but definitely have a learning curve when it comes to crosswinds, especially at high speeds. That weird “whoosh” sounds is so cool though!

Anyway, enough rambling. For me, this is 90% of a World Tour bike since I don’t care much about weight. It’s truly a dream bike for me, and it’s been an absolute joy to ride. Yeah, somehow it’s a 2023 model yet is now 2 (TWO!!!!!!) generations old, but that doesn’t matter much to me because I wouldn’t be willing to buy the Gen 7 or 8 at $5000+ anyway. Just 2 years ago, this was basically a slightly heavier version of the SLR frame racing the TdF, and to think that I’m riding around on it is super cool!