Trek Madone 5.9 SL – Project One – Full Dura Ace – 60cm

Description

Trek Madone 5.9 SL “Project One” custom road bike

full OCLV-110 carbon fiber frame + Race XXX Lite carbon fork = an EXTREMELY light frameset

frame size = 60cm

This bike was a special order from the Trek Factory Racing / Project One custom paint program–which added about $600 to the original $5000+ MSRP on this model.

The 2005 / 2006 / 2007 framesets for this model (Madone 5.2/5.5/5.9 “SL”) were all basically identical… only the factory paint schemes changed from year to year.  What differentiated the models (5.2/5.5/5.9) was the type of carbon fiber used in the frame (OCLV 120 or OCLV110)–and the “build kit” that was used; this includes the groupset / gruppo (Ultegra or Dura Ace), the wheels, the seatpost, the stem, the handlebars, etc (Race / Race Lite / Race X Lite / Race XXX Lite).  So, once you strip all the parts off, the the geometry and construction of the frames are identical.

When we bought the bike some knucklehead had built up the frame with some really shitty / random components.  And, not knowing these frames the way WE know these frames–from buying / selling–and riding–dozens of them over the years, they probably had no idea what they had.  So we had the bike boxed up and shipped down to us (from the midwest) and stripped it down to the frame and started over with top of the line Dura Ace parts from our inventory.  The wheels are basically brand new “take offs” from a 2017 or 2018 Trek Domane 5.9 that a friend of mine bought and immediately put $2000 carbon fiber wheels on.   About a year before that we sold him a REALLY nice Madone 6.9 SSL Pro–but that’s a straight up racing bike–Tour de France level–and he was just getting into cycling–and he really doesn’t ride that much, that far, or that fast.  We tried to talk him out of that bike–it was just too much bike for him–and the frame (58cm) was a bit long for his height–but he fell in love with the bike–and with the idea of being a bad ass cyclist–and (as a doctor) he has plenty of money… so, he bought it anyway.

After spending a fair amount of money on custom fitting and changing out a few parts on that bike–he could never quite get comfortable on it–but he had definitely been bitten by the biking bug–so he went into the local Trek dealer and bought himself a brand new Domane 5.9–in a 56cm–and sold the 6.9 SSL back to us–along with the take-off wheels from the 5.9 Domane… which we decided to use on this bike.  (The original factory wheels on this bike would have been Bontrager Race X Lite’s… which are decent wheels… if your bike is under warranty… and you’re under 175 lbs.  But to get those wheels super light, they have to shave every spare gram of material off the hubs and rims with CNC machines.  This obviously makes the wheels much more prone to failure since thinner / lighter = weaker.  And since they also reduce the number of spokes on those wheels to the bare minimum (typically 16 to 20 in the front and 18 to 24 in the back), the main points of failure are the spoke holes in the hubs and the spoke holes in the rims… because those have to be under tremendous tension to keep the wheel true.  (The more points of contact you have on the hubs / rims (i.e. the more spokes), the more evenly the stress is distributed around the wheel.)  If you bought the bike new and your wheel(s) fail within a year… two years… three years… etc–as long as they weren’t involved in a crash–Trek would generally replace them for free.  But if you’re not the original / registered owner–you’re out of luck.

The Bontrager Paradigm Comp TLR wheels that came on the new Domane are heavier than the Race X Lite’s… but also STRONGER.  And they are WIDER–to accomodate 25mm and 28mm tires more effectively–since that’s been the trend the past 10 yrs or so… wider rims and wider tires–even on racing bikes.  Also, the “TLR” in the name = “tubeless ready”… meaning you can opt for a tubeless set up on these rims if you prefer… particularly useful if you are reading in an area or conditions that are prone to causing puncture flats.  And if you DO run them tubeless… you’ll also bring the total weight down to pretty close to the factory Race X Lite wheels–which require tubes.  And both wider rims / bigger tires and tubeless set ups allow you to run lower air PRESSURE… which also results in a more comfortable ride–and better corning–since you have more rubber on the road.

The bottom bracket, chain, cables, housings, drop bars and bar wrap are all brand new.

For tires we special ordered a gorgeous pair of Continental Grand Prix 4 Season “Black Edition” 25mm’s that look amazing on the bike.  We’d never used this particular model before–but I ran across them online a while back and remembered them when I was ordering misc bits and pieces for this build.

Same with the bar wrap–SupaKaz Sticky Kush Starfade Bling Platinum (two-tone black & silver)–which was also special ordered just for this build.

As is, this bike is in excellent condition.  A bit of typical wear from normal use (a scuff here… a small rock chip in the paint there).    Perfectly tuned.  Wheels dead true.

From the factory these are very light bikes.  +/- 16 lbs stock.  Currently closer to 17 lbs–which is still a very light road bike relatively speaking.  But could easily be close to 15 lbs with some tweaks to the build kit and some lighter wheels.

Extremely high users and professional reviews and ratings on these bikes:

http://www.roadbikereview.com/cat/latest-bikes/road-bike/trek/madone-sl-5-9/prd_338764_5668crx.aspx

The “flames” motif was first used by Trek in 2005 on Lance Armstrong’s special Discovery Team bike for the Tour de France (which he won… but was later stripped of for doping).

That bike got so much press at the time that Trek decided to duplicate the colorway for a special edition bike in 2006 called the SSLX… which–at $10,000–was the most expensive production bike ever at that time–and of course, Trek’s most expensive bike to that date.

https://archive.trekbikes.com/uk/en/2006/trek/madonesslx#/uk/en/2006/trek/madonesslx/details

Since then, the “flames” have been available from Trek / Project One in a variety of color options and variations that continues to this day.  This particular bike has a more subtle / muted version that is a combination of dark gray / charcoal / silver / white–all metallics / pearls that shimmer in the sunlight.  It’s really hard to capture in photos.

Add this bike to you your WishList and come give it a spin.  Or we can ship it to you.  This is a pro level racing bike for less than the price of an entry level carbon endurance bike.  This baby has thousands of worry free miles ahead of her.