For the first time ever, Primoz Roglic, Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel, winners of ten of the last thirteen Grand Tours, will all be side by side at the startline of the 2024 Tour de France.The presence of the so called 'Big 4' of Grand Tour cycling, has made the 2024 Tour de Fr...

The US brand has merged two platforms to create one performance race bike, the Madone SLR Gen 8

Trek merges its top-end road bikes, with the Madone Gen 8 said to be as aero as the previous model and 320g lighter, marking the end of the road for the carbon monda. Full builds start at 3,250 for the SL model, rising to 12,500 for the flagship SLR

Joo Almeida will be making his Tour de France debut in an edition that he considers to be the "strongest ever", saying that he would like the route to be tougher and more mountainous."I think it might be the strongest Tour de France peloton ever, we'll have basically all the strongest riders: Remco...

Last week it was a pair of new entry-level e-bike motors for casual riders. This week its a race-specific tune offered as a firmware update for their top-of-the-line EP801 drive system.The new tune option comes from feedback from their Enduro eMTB racing team, and a few of the features are also available for the EP600 series motors, too.Shimano eMTB Race Tune updatesDesigned to help their racers shave seconds and have more control over the motors performance, these updates focus on maximizing output and operational speed. Key features include:Higher assist level in Boost ModeCustomizable max speed cutoff progressionExtended carry-over assist when riders stop pedalingBasically, this means the 600W motor more quickly and easily achieves the maximum 400% assist when its in the highest boost setting. If youre on a really steep climb or hit a steep pitch unexpectedly, this helps you out more and more quickly.The progressive cutoff feature lets you customize how sharply the assistance tapers off when you get near the maximum assist speed. You can have it gradually taper off for a more natural feel, or drop off a cliff as soon as you reach the top speed so you can eke out every last ounce of assistance.Lastly, you can set the extended assist to keep the motor going for Short, Medium, or Long durations when you stop pedaling. This helps if you have to stop pedaling through a really rough, technical section so you dont clip your pedals but also dont want to lose momentum. Backpedaling cancels it, giving you a quick, easy way to cancel it in a pinch.Auto Shift updated, tooThis update also delivers faster automatic shifts while braking hard or accelerating quickly, helping it keep you in the right gear without you having to lift a finger. It also temporarily cancels AUTO SHIFT if you manually shift on a descent.Shimano says this is crucial for setting up for scenarios like G-outs and rapid braking into tight corners with hard pedaling out of them where only the rider can choose the perfect gear. Itll then resume auto-shifting after a few seconds.Available nowor laterThe new firmware is available free to all EP801 bike owners now, just visit you local dealer to have the firmware update applied. All new EP801-equipped bikes assembled after June 25 will come with the update pre-installed.Not in a hurry? Shimanos E-TUBE PROJECT Cyclist smartphone app will be updated this autumn to allow riders to perform this firmware update and customize their EP801 setting on their own.EP601 owners will see the new firmware add the Max Speed Cutoff and AUTO SHIFT updates to their bikes.Bike.Shimano.comThe post Shimano EP801 Race Tune Now Available as a Firmware Update appeared first on Bikerumor.

CyclistNew Trek Madone kills off lightweight mondaThe new Trek Madone aero bike is claimed to be just as fast (with proprietary bottles installed) as its predecessor but considerably lighter, with full builds starting from 7kg. As such, Trek has killed off its monda climbers bike, meaning the brand now echoes Specialized by going back to offering a single all-round race bike solution.A new composite blend, dubbed OCLV 900, together with new fabrication techniques are said to contribute to the Madones weight loss, as do new, slimmer tubes.Trek calls the Madones collection of tube profiles its Full System Foil design, as they are designed to influence airflow over the bike and rider both upstream and downstream.The Isoflow hole is smaller but still there, and the seat post above it has been reshaped to produce 80% more compliance.Sizing has been consolidated, with the range slimming from eight discreet frames down to six, but Trek says the bikes actually fit a greater range of riders than before. Perhaps due to the less costly tooling involved in making fewer sizes, cost is down around 2000 per build compared to the previous Madone SLR. Both SLR and SL tiers are available immediately, with prices ranging from 3,250 / $3,499 / 3,499 to 12,500 / $13,499 / 13,999. Related Posts Aero vs lightweight vs all-rounder: which is the fastest road bike? The complete history of the Trek Madone Trek Madone SLR 9 Disc: In-depth review Best lightweight road bikes reviewed Best aero bikes 2024: Ride faster for less effort An unexpected developmentAmong a flurry of new bike launches ahead of this years Tour de France theres been a Pinarello Dogma F and the Wilier Verticale SLR, and there might be a Canyon Aeroad coming soon too a revision of Treks Madone go-fast bike was one of the more surprising. There have been spy shots surfacing since January of a new Trek race bike, but since the seventh generation Madone has only been out two years it was assumed the model under wraps was a new monda. It was in fact new Madone, but it turns out the incorrect assumption was not an unreasonable one, as the project did start out as an monda redesign.TrekThe Madones Isoflow concept [a frame tube arrangement that combines a cantilevered seat post and a hole in the seat tube to help both comfort and aerodynamics] has been so well-received that we wanted to see if we could apply it to our monda platform, says Jordan Roessingh, Treks director of road bikes. However, going a little way further down that developmental path showed us its full potential, and around halfway through the monda revision we got confident that we could get the best of both worlds in one bike.As such, monda generation four turned into Madone generation eight, with the latter consuming the former: just as Specialized did with its Tarmac SL7 in 2021, Trek now has one all-round race bike solution once again.The motivation has been there for this to be the case for a long time, says Roessingh. As our aero bike got lighter and our climbers bike got faster, our pros have been increasingly unsure over which bike is right to use when. Things have just got very simple, because the new Madone is as fast as the old one, but at the previous mondas weight.Fast gets fitTrekRoessingh says that shedding over 320g versus the previous Trek Madone frameset was in part due to a new composite blend the new model debuts, plus how that composite blend was fabricated.OCLV 900 is 20% stronger than OCLV 800, which allowed us to use less material overall, says John Davis, the Madones lead aerodynamicist. Plus weve used different manufacturing processes, such as an inflatable mandrels, that improve compaction. This reduces excess resin and wrinkles in the carbon that would otherwise add weight.Equally, little is more effective at shedding weight than just making things smaller. The tube profiles on the new Madone are distinctly slimmer in profile.Pete MuirThe frameset cross sections are a result of updated simulation methods, which get better all the time, says Davis. Theyre able to account for more and more variables, plus how different areas interact with each other and the rider, both upstream and downstream, so the tubes have been designed as such. Weve dubbed them Full System Foil shapes, as the tubes in isolation may seem slimmer, but together with the rider they are just as aero.Davis references a cross-sectional slice just above the bottom bracket as an example. From a birds eye view working front to back, the front wheel rim, tyre, down tube, first bottle, second bottle, seat tube, rear wheel tyre and rim all form a fairly complete aerofoil shape. The bottles are specifically designed for the new Madone, though the cages accept regular bottles too.Thick up front, narrow out backTrekTheres further evidence of this cohesive aero picture at the cockpit. Its narrow, flared dimensions promote a similarly aero body position like the last Trek Madone, but the cross section of the tops is actually thicker and, in isolation, slower than before.The new top profile which we dubbed chonky internally slows the air hitting the riders legs, which are the draggiest part of the system, meaning as a complete package drag is actually lower as theres a less dramatic change in airspeed, says Davis.That said, the low-pressure wake is still there behind the rider, acting as an anchor pulling them backwards. Thats why the Isoflow hole, together with narrow and aerofoil-shaped seat tube and seatays are there.TrekThat collection of features lets air flow past the back of the bike easily, re-energising that area to lessen wake drag, says Davis.Airflow is only part of the Isoflow features puzzle though, as the cantilevered seat post it creates is key in the bikes ride quality. Trek says updated profiling on the new Madone introduces an 80% improvement in compliance, and ride quality is likely to helped further by the now-stock 28mm tyres, in place of the 25mm width that was used on the previous bike. Maximum clearance has been set at 32mm.Strength in depthTrekInterestingly for such a mature platform, Trek has had a rethink on the bikes fit geometry. The size range has gone from eight, designated by nominal numerical measurements (54cm, 56cm), down to six, designated by a system more akin to clothing size (S, M, L).There was some confusion over which size was best for certain riders, so we wanted introduce both less overlap and more clarity, says Roessingh. Though there are fewer options, weve spread them as such that they cover a wider range of heights than before.Riders at the extremes should find more appropriate ride characteristics too, as Trek has tuned frameset profiles specifically for each size, rather than just incrementally scale from most popular M/L (the old 56cm).The smaller frames wouldnt see the weight decreases they could actually afford to lose, but now the riders that use them wont be on a comparatively heavy bike, says Roessingh.If it hasnt been long since the previous Trek Madone SLR came out, it has been an even shorter intermission since the more affordable SL version was released as that only came months after. However, this time round both frameset tiers have been released together.Where the SLR uses OCLV 900, the SL bikes use our OCLV 500 composite blend, says Roessingh. The SLR comes with a one-piece cockpit as opposed to a two-piece setup, and the proprietary water bottles come as standard. The SL bike can use mechanical drivetrains, too, but really the only performance difference between the two is in weight.The SL might be heavier, but its still less than the previous generation SLR though, so it seems even at more affordable levels the new Madone should be one hell of a bike.Find out more about the new Trek Madone at trek.comTrek Madone specPete MuirThe 2025 Trek Madone is available in a comprehensive eight-bike range, with four specs available at the SLR tier and four at the SL tier. SL 6 Madones and above will come set up tubeless ready, with the user just required to add the supplied sealant. SL bikes will not be available through Treks Project One custom program.The new bike uses SRAMs UDH hanger standard, a T47 bottom bracket and Treks Universal RCS headset system. That uses consistent headset bearing cover and spacers depending on stem type, which should make swapping components between models that use the system easier.All Trek road bikes will have these standards in future to make it easier for the end user, says Roessingh.Trek Madone SL5TrekPrice: 3,250 / $3,500 / 3,500Weight: 8.7kgGroupset: Shimano 105Wheels: Bontrager Paradigm SLTyres: Bontrager R1 Hard-Case LiteSaddle: Bontrager Aeolus CompTrek Madone SL6TrekPrice: 4,250 / $5,500 / 4,500Weight: 8.16kgGroupset: Shimano 105 Di2Wheels: Bontrager Aeolus Elite 35Tyres: Bontrager R3 Hard-Case LiteSaddle: Bontrager Aeolus CompTrek Madone SL6 AXSTrekPrice: 4,750 / $6,000 / 5,500Weight: 8.43kgGroupset: SRAM Rival AXSWheels: Bontrager Aeolus Elite 35Tyres: Bontrager R3 Hard-Case LiteSaddle: Bontrager Aeolus CompTrek Madone SL7TrekPrice: 6,000 / $6,500 / 6,500Weight: 7.88kgGroupset: Shimano Ultegra Di2Wheels: Bontrager Aeolus Pro 51Tyres: Bontrager R3 Hard-Case LiteSaddle: Bontrager Aeolus P2 EliteTrek Madone SLR7TrekPrice: 8,000 / $9,000/ 9,000Weight: 7.31kgGroupset: Shimano Ultegra Di2Wheels: Bontrager Aeolus Pro 51Tyres: Pirelli P-Zero RaceSaddle: Bontrager Aeolus ProTrek Madone SLR7 AXSTrekPrice: 8,500 / $9,500 / 9,500Weight: 7.43kgGroupset: SRAM Force AXSWheels: Bontrager Aeolus Pro 51Tyres: Bontrager Aeolus RSLSaddle: Bontrager Aeolus ProTrek Madone SLR9TrekPrice: 12,000 / $13,000 / 13,500Weight: 7.05kgGroupset: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2Wheels: Bontrager Aeolus RSL 51Tyres: Bontrager Aeolus RSLSaddle: Bontrager Aeolus RSLTrek Madone SLR9 AXSTrekPrice: 12,500 / $13,500 / 14,000Weight: 7kgGroupset: SRAM Red AXSWheels: Bontrager Aeolus RSL 51Tyres: Bontrager Aeolus RSLSaddle: Bontrager Aeolus RSL Related Posts Aero vs lightweight vs all-rounder: which is the fastest road bike? The complete history of the Trek Madone Trek Madone SLR 9 Disc: In-depth review Best lightweight road bikes reviewed Best aero bikes 2024: Ride faster for less effort The post New Trek Madone kills off lightweight monda appeared first on Cyclist.

The current cycling season is very special due to the presence of the Olympic Games in Paris, which will be held after the 2024 Tour de France. As is logical, some teams will not allow their riders to participate in the two events due to the importance of the Grande Boucle. This has been the case fo...

Developed with the E-EDR Yeti and Orbea teams, this new e-bike software is race-proven and free to anyone with a Shimano EP801-equipped e-bike.Orbea Rise with Shimano EP801 motorShimano has just released a new firmware for the EP801 drive unit that has been developed over the course of Continue reading

With just three American riders in the Tour de France this year, each one will have to be chomping at the bit for a chance to win the U.S.' first Yellow Jersey in three years. Neilson Powless is a favorite for a shot at a Yellow Jersey after his 13-day stint in the Polka Dot jersey in last year's Tour.

Will Wout van Aert and Jonas Vingegaard be helped to victory by staff in a state-of-the-art mobile van?