The Trek Madone is by far my favourite road bike that Trek makes for a bunch of reasons. First and foremost it’s the coolest looking of any of their road models. I’m very visual with my bikes, the aesthetic is very close to, if not the very top of the list when I’m choosing a new bike. The shape of the Madone is only part of the attraction though, the big deep down tube and seat tube make for a very big canvas for paint. And that’s the second area that I get most excited about.
Up to 2023 the Gen7 Madone has only been available in the top of the range SLR variant which is prohibitively expensive for most riders, but now it’s available in a more affordable mid range, SL version.
The Madone SL6 is available in two colour options Crimson or Black
The differences are in the frame material, the Sl version is built using Trek’s 500 series OCLV carbon whereas the SLR is made with the top of the range 800 series OCLV, the weight difference between these two frames is only 150g in the frames, the SLR is a quoted 1050g in a 56cm size, the SL is 1200 also in a 56cm. The fork weighs 418, in an SLR and 476g in an SL. giving a total 210g difference between the framesets making the SL a very good option.
The main build differences after the frameset is the wheels and cockpit, the SL uses the RSL aero handlebar and the new Trek RCS Pro stem as opposed to the one piece Madone integrated cockpit on the SLR. The other main difference is in the wheels, the SL6 uses Trek’s entry level Bontrager Aeolus Elite 50 wheels instead of the Bontrager Aeolus Pro or RSL on the SLR models.
