TREK DOMANE SLR 7 £4400
› Radical front- and rear-cushioned race machine
Okay, this isn’t the full WorldTour-spec model, which is in short supply. But as the new Domane promises to be one of the year’s most radical and compelling frames, we had to feature it. And it’s not like a 7.58kg Ultegra Di2-equipped model is exactly slumming it…
Trek’s original Domane was groundbreaking, with its IsoSpeed decoupler effectively creating a pivot in front of the junction of the seattube and top-tube. It worked too, offering a soft-tail-feel that smoothed bumps and damped vibrations. The new incarnation takes things a step further. IsoSpeed remains, but the pivot is now in line with the seat-tube with the seattube itself split, allowing the two halves to work independently. Even more radically, you can adjust the amount of flex the system offers using a slider that runs the whole length of the seat-tube. Trek claims that the new design delivers a 14 per cent increase in vertical compliance over the previous model.
There are changes elsewhere too, with this Domane also featuring ‘Front IsoSpeed’. It’s a system that builds in float in the top section of the headset, which sounds, er, interesting, but Trek assures us that SPECIFICATION
Weight
7.58kg(58cm) 600 series OCLV carbon Carbon Shimano Ultegra Di2, 50/34, 11-28 Bontrager Speed Stop Bontrager Paradigm comp
Frame Fork Gears Brakes Wheels Finishing kit
Bontrager stem, carbon IsoCore bar, Affinity Elite saddle and Ride Tuned seatpost, 28mm Bontrager R3 tyres this has no effect on steering, handling or strength. What it does deliver is a claimed 10 per cent increase in vertical compliance. The final touch is the new ‘IsoCore’ bar, which retains the earlier bar’s elastomer pads but with the addition of thermoplastic elastomer layers to damp high-frequency vibrations.
We were expecting a soft and bouncy feel as a result of all these features, but what you actually get is a positive, rapid and responsive ride. At its shallowest setting the ride feels like the Madone’s, with just enough damping to keep road buzz at bay. At the other end of the scale we expected the difference to be
We were expecting a soft, bouncy feel – what we get is a positive, rapid and responsive ride