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A New Day in Carbon Performance For Trek Bicycles - Monday 3rd July, 2006.

A New Day in Carbon Performance For Trek Bicycles

For the last seven years Trek Bicycles has redefined the notion of high performance, carbon fiber bicycles. Before Trek and Lance Armstrong reached the start line of the 1999 Tour de France, not only had no other rider ever ridden a carbon fiber bicycle in every stage of the race, but no carbon fiber bike had ever won the overall victory. Lance and Trek did just that in 1999 and would continue doing so for seven consecutive years!

As a technology driven company, Trek engineers saw in the Tour de France an opportunity to push the boundaries of carbon fiber technology. The Tour de France was the ultimate test and each year Trek would use the Tour to introduce both the newest designs and latest evolution of their proprietary OCLV Carbon technology. Over the years, some of the highlights included the lightweight OCLV 110 frame used to build Lance Armstrong's vaunted 5900 climbing bike in 2001, the OCLV Carbon technology used to build Lance his treasured Bontrager Race XXX Lite climbing wheels, and in 2005, the revolutionary Madone SSLx which used OCLV Boron to provide Lance with a bike that optimized his two most important attributes for a frame – light and stiff.

For the 2006 Tour, Trek engineers continue to break new ground in support of the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team by introducing a high performance race bike capable of winning the world’s toughest bicycle race. That bike is the Madone SSL 6.9. Until now, no other bike company has ever produced a frame that uses actual Defense Grade High Modulus carbon fiber. The 2007 Madone SSL 6.9 uses a hybrid laminate of Trek's proven OCLV 55 Carbon with the addition of a totally new OCLV HM Carbon to produce the world’s first sub-900 gram, traditional/horizontal top tube frame.

The Trek Madone Six Series Has Arrived

For the last three years the Trek Madone has been the all-conquering bike in the Tour de France. The bikes were designed around the needs of one man – Lance Armstrong. What Lance wanted was a bike that was not only stiff and light, but one that delivered both durability and an unmatched ride quality. He found all that in the Madone and used it to rewrite the record books.

So how did Trek create the only sub-900 gram traditional frame? The design goal for Madone SSL 6.9 was to significantly reduce weight while maintaining the Tour de France proven handling and ride quality that made the bike so dominant. Trek engineers attacked every single part of the frame to get maximum weight reductions. New rear dropouts and housing stops are half the weight of the previous versions. The custom machined bottom bracket and head tube inserts from the SSLx are used. Both the down tube and seat tube are now molded instead of roll-wrapped. Most significantly, Trek will now be using true Defense Grade High-Modulus carbon fiber. As if all that wasn’t enough, to even further reduce weight, Trek also pursued new paint technology.

Until now, only sloping top tube bikes have existed in this stratosphere and frankly, few are actually below 900 grams. However, what those frame weights don’t include is the additional weight of the longer seat posts which the sloping frame design requires. The Trek Madone SSL 6.9 is the one bike that gets to the sub-900 gram weight without using a sloping top tube design. The bottom line is this - a new era of Madone performance and technology has arrived.

Trek's Number One Question.

What is the difference between High-Modulus and Medium Modulus carbon fiber? High-Modulus carbon fiber offers significantly increased stiffness. It is used as a supplement to the OCLV 55 Carbon material found in a majority of the frame. This material is strategically placed in the bottom bracket to resist bending in specific directions. These were the same benefits derived from using OCLV Boron on the Madone SSLx, but without the weight penalty. Several other brands claim to use “high-modulus” carbon fiber, but they are actually measured by lower sporting goods standards – not by true aerospace standards. Trek will be the first bicycle manufacturer to use real Defense Grade High-Modulus carbon fiber. Also, true Defense Grade High-Modulus carbon fiber cannot be sold in Asia – another benefit of Trek’s dedication to controlling the process by hand-building every OCLV frame at the Trek factory in Waterloo, Wisconsin.

Tech Facts:

  • The Madone SSL 6.9 uses the same frame design that won both the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia.
  • The unique one-piece top tube/ head tube design offers a significantly stiffer head tube for improved handling.
  • One piece dropout is 50% stiffer than standard two-piece and improves shifting performance.
  • All bikes are handcrafted at the Trek factory in Waterloo, Wisconsin
  • Made with Trek’s proprietary OCLV Carbon – no one else has it.
  • Frame weight reduced 15% via the following changes:
    • True High-Modulus carbon fiber is used in bicycles for the first time.
    • The down tube and seat tube are now molded at the Trek factory.
    • Seat lug was redesigned to reduce weight in seat post interface area.
    • New rear dropouts weigh half of the current design.
    • All cable stops were redesigned to reduce weight.
    • New “Low Solids” paint reduces weight by up to 20 grams.
  • The Madone SSL 6.9 is available in seven sizes to offer improved fit options versus other brands who typically offer only 4 to 6 sizes.
  • Available with a limited lifetime warranty.
  • Two production models will be available. The Madone 6.5 and 6.9 share the same frame platform and are exactly the same frames as used by the team. Since 1999, the same bikes that have won the Tour de France are the same bikes that are sold at your local Trek dealer - we race what we sell!

Simply put, no other bike in the peloton better reflects the time honored tradition of handcrafted bicycle manufacturing while simultaneously utilizing the latest advances in material technology. Like the fabled European artisans who put their stamp of quality on every racing bike they made, every OCLV Carbon Trek is handmade one at a time in a special factory within the factory at Trek headquarters in Waterloo, Wisconsin. With so many of today’s bikes machine manufactured, Trek remains committed to the century old tradition of bike building craftsmanship where each frame builder is held to the highest standards of construction, and each bike to the highest standard of performance.