The Trek Madone SLR 9 Gen 8 tears up the roads and conquers climbs

Living in northeastern Illinois, I lacked opportunities to try the new Madone on extended climbs. Traversing the rollers in the far northwestern suburbs of Chicago, however, the bike’s utility on climbs was apparent. Compared to my usual ride, an endurance-focused road bike, I felt like I was getting the first few seconds of a climb for free. The Madone felt lightweight, nimble, and responsive each time I hit an ascent.

What surprised me the most about the Madone was its performance on long rides. I went into testing with the assumption that I would be trading speed for comfort—and I was happy to be proven wrong. The combination of Trek’s aerodynamic frame design (which it calls IsoFlow), carbon wheelset, and tubeless tires really makes a difference on uneven pavement; there was almost no trade-off between pace and comfort.

What didn’t I like? The water bottles, mainly. My review bike came equipped with a pair of Trek RSL Aero water bottles, which fit in a specially designed cage. Trek says the bottles offer 1.8 W of savings at 22 mph compared to round bottles. That’s not worth it to me. The bottles hold less (~650 ml) than a regular water bottle, are irritating to fill, and getting them in and out of the RSL Aero cages takes a bit of awareness during the first few rides. Thankfully, you don’t need to use the aero bottles; normal, cylindrical water bottles work just fine.

The price bears mentioning again. This is an expensive bike! If your cycling budget is massive and you want every last bit of aerodynamic benefit and weight savings, get the SLR 9 with your favorite paint job. Drop down to the Madone SLR 7, and you get the same frame with a Shimano Ultegra Di2 groupset, 52t/36t crank, and a 12-speed 11-30 cassette for $7,000 less than this SLR 9. The SL 7, with its 500 Series OCLV carbon frame (about 250 grams heavier), different handlebars and fork, and the same Ultegra Di2 groupset as the SLR 7, is $2,500 cheaper still.