Publication-Bicycling

Date-April 2006

Title-Trek Madone 5.2 $3260

Findings:

• "Trek developed the original Madone for Lance Armstrong and his team with the goal of building as light, stiff and aerodynamic a bike as possible to save precious seconds in the Tour de France, price be dammed. A top-of-the-line Madone SSLx goes for three times the price of the 5.2, the least expensive model in the Madone line. (Its 120-level carbon weighs 120 grams per- square-meter, compared to the 55 grams-per-square-meter used in the flyweight Madones.) But don't let the 5.2's place in the food chain fool you--It's a lot of bike."
• "The Madone 5.2 delivers a crisp, snappy ride, eager to jam up climbs and burst out of corners. The frame strikes a nice balance, falling on the stiff side, but stopping short of bone-shakingly rigid like the first Madones, which were deemed too stiff even by Armstrong."
• "Credit goes to more than the frame for the stiff ride: A full Shimano 10-speed drivetrain shaves grams and shifts with deft precision. The stiff-as-an-oak-tree Ultegra cranks are well-matched to the Trek Chassis, begging you to try torquing the frame with big ring bursts for hilltops."
• ..."Penny-pinchers might note that an Ultegra-equipped, carbon framed bike can be had for a grand less than the Madone if you shop hard, but some of the bargains might have inferior frames or some no-name parts slipped in. The Mado
• ne 5.2 doesn't cut any corners with frame or components, and it claims a pedigree that other bikes can only pine away for."

Publication-Bicycling

Date-April 2008

Title-Trek Madone 5.2 Pro $3630

Findings:

• If it ain't broke, make it better.
• Trek is known for lots of things: Lance, Yellow jerseys. Stellar high-performance bikes, like the Madone, that looked positively vanilla, if a fine French vanilla, on the sales floor. Instead of cruising along on its laurels, Trek took the Madone back to the test kitchen and added some new flavor for even a sweeter ride.
• At the heart of the change is a 90 mm-wide bottom bracket, 22 mm wider than the standard, but with conventional bearing spacing so that pedal stance is the same. The new system, which uses standard-size cartridge bearings integrated into the bottom bracket shell, is lighter, and fully compatible with major external bearing cranksets. While in supersize mode, the engineers fattened the down tube and beefed the lower end of the steerer tube, to 1 1/2 inches. They iced the redesign with a seatmast system that offers 95mm of saddle-height adjustment without having to take a saw to the frame.
• On the road, pedaling was so efficient we barely felt the bike; the frame was so shock absorbent that the pavement all but vanished. It floated up hills and ramped up so quickly in one sprint that my legs forgot to call for mercy. The 5.2 descended and cornered as if it were on rails. Some might find the Madone almost too well mannered, like driving an automatic when you're used to a stick, but those racking up miles will appreciate the work the bike does for them.
• BUY IT IF: You want a bike to deliver all-day speed.
• FORGET IT IF: Refined rode feel is a top priority.