Comfort and joy
Trek Domane+ LT 7 £7050 Plush endurance bike with an e-kick
Trek’s latest e-road bike is similar to its first Bosch mid-motor-equipped bike based around the Domane. Here, however, it has turned to an alternative Germanmade motor system. Out goes the heavyweight Bosch system and in comes the lightweight Fazua Evation, making this most modern of e-road bikes drop to just 13.8kg (58cm). And that’s not the full tale: the Fazua system is removable, so if you shell out for the optional down-tube cover (around £70), you’re left with a ‘standard’ bike just shy of 11kg.
The Domane is the ideal choice for e-assistance as the chassis is highly versatile. Its on-road manners impress, while plush IsoSpeed front and rear design means it can handle light gravel duties, with the big-volume tubeless tyres playing their part, too. As a reminder, IsoSpeed is essentially a pivot (or ‘decoupler’, as Trek terms it) that replaces a traditional join between top and seat tubes, and provides a suspension-like softness to the bike’s rear without compromising bottom-bracket stiffness. Up front, the IsoSpeed takes a different form, where a traditional headset is replaced with a rocker cup. This design locks in the steerer tube laterally, but allows the steerer to flex fore-and-aft as you ride over bumps.
The LT 7 comes with the superb Ultegra Di2, featuring a gear range of 50/34, 11-34 that’ll suit most riders and ease you up any slope, even without the Fazua assistance. Trek’s component partner, Bontrager, provides every other element of the bike. The Aeolus Pro 3V wheels have great build quality and an excellent modern shape, with a 25.2mm internal rim width that plumps up the tubeless 32c tyres to near 35mm. Then there’s the slick cockpit that includes ‘Blendr’ accessories. We’re talking an integrated GPS/light mount with the carbon IsoCore drop bar that was designed for the Domane chassis and offers vibration-killing technology. Finally, there’s the slender but wellpadded and comfortable Arvada saddle.
Comfort is what the Domane is all about in its ‘standard’ trim and Trek has mirrored it here, even accounting for the extra 2.9kg of motor system. You enjoy the same smooth ride over rougher surfaces, and same assured and swift cornering. Its rough-crushing abilities did result in this tester taking it beyond its edge, however; a 30+mph gravelly descent ended in a torn sidewall. So beware: if you take it way off the beaten track, you may want to beef up its boots.
As for assistance, the Evation system delivers a maximum of 250W (unboosted). You access this power via a neat control unit that’s flush-mounted into the top tube. It has an on/off switch, +/switches and five LED coloured lights to notify you of charge level. With the Fazua software and