Video: Trek Madone 3.5 Review - BikeRadar

I totally agree. I bought 1 of these a few weeks ago, I narrowed it down to this or a Specialized Roubaix and on the test ride I thought the Trek was much smoother. It also has higher spec components and a cheaper price tag than the Specialized. The final clincher was the mud guard mounts which are a real bonus for winter riding. It is a sweet ride and makes me grin every time.

The entry level Madone was to a degree neglected by Trek while it was making all the OCLV frames in the US, but with the switch to having Giant make the 3 series along with another 90% of their models has created a series of better riding bikes branded with the Trek name. Its both a great thing for riders, but disappointing that Trek themselves couldn't quite get it done properly.

3 Series Madones? This makes the 13th or 14th Trek Madone with a number on it, excluding special/custom/wsd editions. Market saturation much?

I think this kind of marginalizes the Madone name.

What will this do for IBD's who are trying to explain how the madone x.x is better than x.x to the entry level dentist trying to buy his first road bike?

Trek roadbikes are the best, but not so cheap. 3 series might solve that issues. Quality frames absolutely! i own a madone 5 series, from years of abuse, races, and what not, it still holding up "like" it was new! (cosmetic damage like scratches of the clear coat are normal when u ride it for yrs, it has now 27K+ miles on it). Downside of trek are the damn outrageous pricing!

@wolverine: Hi, if I might clarify one thing for you: the production location of the 3 Series Madone is completely independent of the design of the bike. It is very much designed by Trek, and the layup schedule of the carbon is also ours. The factory has no involvement in how the bike is designed. The reason why the 3 Series has improved this year, is because we redesigned it, not because we changed where it is being manufactured.

What has also changed is that now all Madones are made using the OCLV process, not just those produced in the US. So, it is also very much still our process that is being used to make carbon bikes, in any location.

It is the combination of the redesign, and the sharing of OCLV that has resulted in the quality of the new 3 Series.

@WV Cycling: We provide various training options for our retailers to bring them up to speed on the technological advancements, and changes within bike lines. They receive this new information starting with our retailer show in the summer. They then have different avenues for further training that involve in-store visits by their reps and our two retail trainers, house seminars that we run from our training room in Milton Keynes, and Trek University, which is an online program that can be accessed at any time. We also provide them with printed reference materials that will help them to demonstrate the differences between one version of a Madone, and another.

The range isn't as complicated as you might think, either. All 3 Series Madones, for example, have the same frame. As do the 4 Series. What will vary between them will be the components. This is what differentiates one price point from the next. That's pretty easy for a salesperson in a store to explain.

Those wheels really that heavy?

Great review. I went to have a look at one at the cycle show this week and was told although it has mudguard eyes, there is not enough clearance to fit them. Such a shame.

2012 Cycling Plus Bike of the Year .....no if's or but's!

I have gotten a trek madone like this back from warranty (2e time) warranty scheme by trek is brill! Now to the bad news, this frame is not really for racers, the front end is very high which makes it hard to get racing position. Also, the seat post has a limited height, 12,5 cm if this not enough you have to buy a separate one (no cheap options available as it's carbon) i have 2 mm left with this option. so it can be too short. On my previous 2 treks, the bottom bracket broke after 2 years @ 12,500 km a year = 25:00 km per frame, and although the bracket looks a little different now, i still don't trust that they solved this issue (so make sure you keep your receipt to claim your warranty.)all in all a very bad review: it didn't tell about the integrated options for cadence/speedo meter etc. it didn't really tell how to handle the seatpost and so forth. personally i would recommend this bike for people who ride distances but not really race and don't do full power sprints, although i do.

Trek Chris - I'm still skeptical as to why the marketing side of Trek sells bikes with different model names when they are still the same frameset? Shouldn't all framesets be called the same number? Yes, components make up most of the bike, but the bike name should be related only to what/how the frame and fork are made. Otherwise, you're going to have 1 series madones in a half decade, then you're going to need to start getting into decimals on the lowest end... And who the hell wants a Trek Madone 0.73? I feel the madone name has suffered a lot of market saturation. Get some other kind of bike to become famous and have a different popular name instead of having nearly every single carbon road bike you make called a madone... :(Didn't cannondale get into this problem in the late 90's/early 00's with their aluminum frames, where they used the same frame for like ten different bikes?

"Over the years we’ve been a little underwhelmed by the lower model Madones." - translated means "we have given Giant and Cannondale a top rating and win as the bike of the year and now we need some more ad revenue from Trek."I still can't figure how they let Stork in the door last year.

It didn't win.

@Ivanhoe - think you're confusing the 3 series with a higher series Madone with seatmast/seatcap assembly. The 3 series doens't have the duotrap capability, you get that on the 4 series now. If you want a lower front end for racng get the 6 series, after all if you're that serious you would wouldn't you?

@WV Cycling - the 3 series frame is diferent to the 4 series which in turn is diffeent to the 5 series and 6 series. 4 serie gets duotrap isnert and is lighter, 5 series gets seatmast/seatcap and is lighter again, 6 series is U.S. mader and lighter again and then the 6 series SSL is the lightest with different material and layup.

Pretty sure forks get upgraded as you go up too.

I bought one of these last week, and I have done 100 miles on it so far. And so far so good, it's comfortable, it's quick, and it look great too. It seems to be difficult to get hold of at the moment though, shops dont seem to have them in stock and I'm told wont be getting them any time soon.Anyway it's great bike and spec for the money, though I might upgrade the wheels at some point.