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TECH NEWS

Trek releases new Emonda ALR road bikes

Aluminium road bike now available with either rim brakes or disc brakes, prices starting at £1,100

Trek has released new versions of its Emonda ALR, the lightweight aluminium road bike being available in rim brake options and, for the first time, disc brake models.

All models feature a hydroformed 300 Series Alpha Aluminum frame, the rim brake version weighing in at a claimed 1,112g (56cm size) with the disc brake option 1,131g. The rim brakes are direct mount.

emondaalr5discwsd_19_24226_a_primary.jpg

For comparison, the rim brake version of the carbon Emonda SL has a claimed weight of 1,091g while the Emonda SL Disc frame is 1,149g – so the disc model is a little heavier than the new aluminium version.

Check out our story on the launch of the newest carbon Emondas

emondaalr5disc_19_24166_a_alt3.jpg

Trek says that it can reduce the amount of weld material needed by hydroforming tube shapes that fit together perfectly. This, it says, allows for larger continuous surface areas on the frame, which increases strength and cuts weight.

emondaalr5_19_24164_a_primary.jpg

Emonda ALR is built to Trek’s H2 geometry, which is designed to put you into a low and efficient ride position, although it’s not as aggressive as Trek’s H1 geometry.   

All models come with a full-carbon fork, a complete Shimano 105 (in the case of the ALR 5 models) or Tiagra (in the case of the ALR 4 models) drivetrain and 25mm tyres. 

emondaalr5discwsd_19_24226_a_alt2.jpg

The Emonda ALR 5 and ALR 5 Disc are available in an iridescent paint scheme called Purple Flip.

Read our review of the previous Trek Emonda ALR

The Emonda ALR is available in five different builds, two of them with rim brakes, three with disc brakes. One of these is the Emonda ALR 5 Disc Women's which comes with a shorter stem and narrower handlebar than the standard version, and with a women’s-specific saddle.

emondaalr4_19_23656_b_primary.jpg

The Emonda ALR and ALR Disc are both available as framesets too. 

Here are the prices:

Emonda ALR 5 Disc £1,750
Emonda ALR 5 Disc Women's £1,750
Emonda ALR 5 £1,350
Emonda ALR 4 Disc £1,400
Emonda ALR 4 £1,100
Emonda ALR Disc frameset £800
Emonda ALR frameset £800

www.trekbikes.com

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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4 comments

Avatar
BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
1 like

Interesting the huge premium on the disc braked bikes, 20%+ in fact, that £400 is a huge chunk of money!

Both myself and my son rode Specialized Alu and I had the original Ridgeback Day series which was a flat bar racer with fantastic handling, Also had a Principia REX e ellipse and an RS6 both of which were fantastic race bikes, the latter very racy.

Still happy with my day bike (Spesh Globe Pro) and has been used almost daily for the last 9 years without any issues plus my audax/tourer/winter racer is a Globe converted to drops and is a very good bike for all sorts of riding. Both utilise the carbon rear stays and carbon post.

It'll be interesting to see how these lighter frames work out fatigue wise, when they claim a 'strength' increase are they talking about fatigue also?

liking the purple colour.

Avatar
60kg lean keen ... | 5 years ago
1 like

Its funny how Aluminum is on the up now, it was put out to grass by the industry and consumers in the race for the carbon plastic fantasic. Seems like the same could be said for rim brakes, a big up to Trek for still going with choice, I am not anti discs and I see there prositives at certain times, but I do not like the push for all things disc which seems like to me history repeating its self.  Direct mount and ceramic brake tracks are the furture of rim brakes and it is nice to see Trek on these frames going direct mount! Perhaps in 10 - 20 years there will be a return to rim brake just like we we see the return to Aluminum in frames today.

Avatar
fukawitribe | 5 years ago
0 likes

To be honest, i've not heard of much going wrong with Trek press fit BBs in operation, and they've used then in a lot of their range for a pretty long time on- and off-road. They must be doing something right. I suspect most people won't find the need to replace the whole thing with any regularity, and may use someone else to do it in many cases anyway, so that particular removal headache may not an issue for them even if not an isolated case. What happened to it ?

Avatar
mtbtomo | 5 years ago
1 like

Shame it's still a press-fit BB by the looks of it. Maybe they can't even get the tolerances of the shell right because using the right tool I had all manner of aggravation getting the BB out on my 2017 model even with the correct tool. (No issue on another carbon press-fit frame I have)

Regardless, it has totally put me off press-fit frames even though I love the paint scheme on these new ones.

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