I chose aluminium on purpose for my gravel bike because I didn't want to check the 5Nm Torque on every mounting equipment and to be honnest, my 9.5kg gravel rides almost as good as my 6.5kg Race Bike. About the comfort, it's difficult to compare since the gravel bike has larger tubeless tires, so even though alu I supposed to be less comfortable, it doesn't matter, depending on the tires
I have an original version Emonda ALR from 2016. Fantastic bike and I have carbon bars and seat post and recently updated to eTap AXS (rim brake) and it is just an awesome ride. Bike weighs in just a few grams over 16 lbs
Thanks for the review! I'm new to road cycling and I bought this bike about a month ago. So far I have no complaints. Went for a couple rides both for distance and climbing. I'm probably too weak but I can't feel anything wrong stiffness-wise. I also have no issues with the tires despite some rough surfaces, no punctures either. No idea what people are talking about with them being all "sluggish" or whatever. Yes, surprisingly comfortable too and I seem to be getting along with the stock saddle. Planning on getting the stem lowered and see if that makes it any better. Perfectly happy with this one for now, though I imagine that over time, as I get stronger and more tuned in to the different ride characteristics, I will be better off on a stiffer carbon frame and wheels.
As a first (relatively) cheap upgrade try getting some nice tires, say GP5000s. You’ll notice the difference right away. I currently own a CAAD13 and a carbon race bike. There isn’t that much difference between them. Aluminum frames are great!
Hi there, as of today would you recommend this bike? Is still everything going well? I would like to buy it and still thinking about it. thanks for your help
Carbon frames are great, but there seems to be this perception that they are 10x better than any steel, aluminum or titanium frame. They aren't. I'd rather a good quality aluminum frame vs cheap carbon frame for the same price.
Back in late 2020, I almost bought a Giant TCR Advanced (rim brake) with 105 R7000. It's my lack of readiness for carbon bike ownership that stopped me, knowing how I'll have to baby it just to prevent it from breaking from stupid mistakes (ex.hitting an edge from falling from an unstable prop), even though I'm not too much of a klutz.
My custom titanium Seven cost $12k in 2006. I'd take pretty much every modern bike over $4000 over my Seven. I loved that bike and it has over 200k miles on it but it's on lifetime trainer duty now. My new Domane was just over $5k and better in every way other than impact resistance. That Seven would be over $14k today. I'd take the carbon bike over titanium nearly every time so definitely aluminum too
Aluminium is still cool.. Just purchased the Trek Checkpoint Driftless with mechanical 11 speed GRX.. no problems - comfortable and fun. Cycling should be fun, and a bike should bring a smile to your face.. 😊
Last year, I bought a 2019 Trek Emonda ALR 5 Disc to enter the "serious" road cycling world. The bike offers excellent value for money with all the components an entry cyclist like me might need without unnecessary excesses. It's a nippy ride and aesthetically pleasing with its metallic purple and red paint scheme. My only niggle is that the next-generation ALR has a much neater internal cable routing, otherwise the bikes are very similar. I'm entering my first triathlon in about a year, so I'm finally fitting clip-in pedals and Zipp 303s to my ALR; however, it's a great ride even without those additions.
I bought one of these a few weeks ago to get back into the sport. Had a few issues and ended up with an Emonda SL6 as a loan bike (carbon & ultegra) whilst mine was in the shop (Trek Westlake in California - great guys). My main criticism of the alloy Emonda is the wheelbase is very short. Don’t expect to be taking a low speed turn / u turn whilst pedalling as the front wheel will be obstructed by your feet. A real pain in the ass for track stands / trying to stay clipped in at stop lights. The geometry is quite different to that of the SL5 / SL6 I find the alloy model a little bit more of a stretch in a 54. A different set of bars / stem may do the trick. Overall nice bike and the paint job makes it look a lot more expensive than it really is!
Alu beats carbon all day long for the non pro rider - negligible stiffness or weight difference and don't have to x-ray it after a crash or drop to check for cracks. Plus if traveling by air a lot less to worry about regarding possible damage.
I agree with all this. Alu frames are also more comfortable because the flex is anisotropic while the biggest lie in carbon frames is that they are vertically compliant. However, nothing is better than a carbon fork.
If the difference between ALR and SL is less than 100 g on the frame i guess the weight argument is out the window. All other components are just place holders on a shimano 105 and cast iron wheels.
Being a bit of a lighter rider, I'd look at this bike as a light gravel bike if it could take 38mm tyres. It could potentially reduce the bike stable with a second set of wheels.
my last gen trek crockett uses a lot of the same tubing as the alr and clears 38s front and rear it rules often surprised by how comfy it is for an alloy bike
This is my first "real" high-end road bike. I love the colors, too. Love everything about it, except I must get used to the short wheelbase and twitchiness.
I bought the exact same bike for my son and he loves it.I got to my bike last week and found I had a ou ture and decided to take his bike as we ride the same size.I’m currently on a Domane SL 6 and really enjoyed the racy geometry of this bike.This is a mid level race bike and definitely not a entry level bike.Just put some nice race wheels on it👍👍
This bike was really easy to assemble ru-vid.comUgkxMesz3KOGEmwmvyKQfLfrRSUXLFzfVHZA and required very few adjustments out of the box. The wheels did not require any truing/adjustments. The frame had some small scratches, but nothing major.I did replace the seat though - the seat it came with was very uncomfortable. The tires need to be re-inflated every 4-5 days, but this appears to be quite common for the narrow 700x25 tires.Overall, in my opinion, this bike looks and rides like a much more expensive bike.
my 2021 TCR aluminium SL1 105r7000 weights circa ~9.2kg in stock form for ~usd1260(after conversion) when i got it in late 2021. i thought i paid too much due to covid price. it turns out was a good bargain by todays standard. its now at 8.5kg for my racing use
How about Scott Speedster Alloy 2.0 ?.. alumunium Bike with an internal cable routing..lek the carbon bike Scott Addict RC..same geometry..but the 2.0 version still use Tiagra 10 speed..but is already Hydrolic brake.. I thing Caad 13 cable routing still outside and the Allez Sprint is little bit expensive than a scott speedster alloy internal cable
I bought those bontrager new takeoff saddles for dirt cheap and put those on all my bikes. Original ALR owner here. The first gen was too great that I got no motive to buy new road bikes. Now I spent all my money in MTBing
Honestly I have to disagree to a certain extent with you. I found Emonda SL to be heavy and sluggish, not worthing a single penny of its money. What is the reason to buy something heavier and definitely harsher in ridding? There are far better frames in the market.
Yes, it probably does go fast like other race bikes. It's probably so stiff your fillings rattle out while riding. I got rid of a Specialized Allez because of that. So unforgiving. Fast, yes, but soooo insanely stiff.
If you want a great bike, yea it is. But if you plan on racing crits, I’d go with carbon. You can fix carbon and steel, but if an aluminium frame is toast in a crit crash, it’s toasted. 😆
My bike trek Emonda ALR be 130g heavier than a trek Emonda SLR 9 AXS with about half the price and no annoying seatmast, aimed more at durable and aero so might use dropper, also bell to weigh it down
It definitely won't be more durable. Aluminum fatigue life isn't so hot. And in the event you may dent your frame, there may be a crack on the inside of that dent. Carbon is quite resilient and in the event that it does crack, it's very easily repaired. Very thin aluminum isn't easily welded and the tubes on an Emonda are extremely thin the closer you get to the middle of each tube
@@veganpotterthevegan I would of gone SLR if I knew from experience they last over 20 years and had no seatmast but a seatpost instead and that carbon is fine as a daily commute bike (I worry someone yank a lock through the carbon more than would aluminium), just I keep reading carbon don't life as long as aluminium at the moment (I know someone with aluminium frame over 30 years old) In future I can change it if I want to though
@mlee6050 there aren't many carbon bikes out there that are 30yrs old anyway but if you worked in a shop, you'd see a few a month so they're definitely out there. The Trek seatmast is very simple and quite good at not slipping compared to everyone but Giant. Carbon has much better fatigue life than aluminum. People that buy carbon simply tend to upgrade even though they don't really have to.
@@veganpotterthevegan yeah like in future I could upgrade frame if want, just mainly I like to know the build will last my whole rest of life, I don't want seat mast as I want to use the rockshox axs dropper on same bike at times too and that was main issue, I went trek Emonda as thought best aero one with still a round seatpost for the dropper, got nice white era paint design too, maybe in say 5-10 years time if see people on carbon from all the years ago I might swap alr to SLR if can get seat post one
@mlee6050 Carbon is much more likely to so that than aluminum. My highest mileage bike is a titanium Seven with over 200miles on it but ti doesn't fatigue. I have 1000% confidence my Domane will get to 200k miles and beyond. I most definitely wouldn't expect that with aluminum with my size and wattage(I'm a 190lb cat 1)
I really appreciate bike designs with normal sizes and shapes of seatpost, stem, and bars. All these special integrated parts are getting out of hand. I'll gladly skip the 4.823 watts saved at 50 km/hr. Whatever.
@@Avioto Titanium is about the same weight as a 'high end' carbon frame, while being more comfortable to ride. It is also indestructible. So, it is as light as high end carbon, without the potential to be broken,more comfortable than aluminum and doesn't deteriorate like steel or aluminum. I have had several friends break high end carbon bikes in simple falls. I have high end carbon, titanium and aluminum bikes. Titanium bikes are very hard to build because of the basically manual requirment to weld the frames in a very clean environment, so they are expensive, but, no more than high end carbon which, if anything are much cheaper (the carbon) to build. Plus titanium bikes get 'round holes for things like the bottom bracket. The reason carbon bikes have gone back to threaded bottom brackets is that the manufacturers can' t make round holes with consistent thicknesses, so now they hype 'threaded' because their manufacturing tolerances are crap. Titanium is for life.
@@stanislavkindiakov6334 True, but, in all my years of cycling I have never seen a titanium frame broken while I have seen several carbon frames broken and a couple of aluminum ones
Aluminium can compete with carbon, but this is very much the aluminium version of an "identikit carbon bike". For the price you pay there are multiple smaller manufacturers out there who offer better value for money and ultimately better bikes. Trek bikes are horribly overpriced in comparison to their competition, you can spend a little more than this and get an aluminium or steel bike with my better component choice, and top quality wheels. if it was under £2k with better wheels and tyres then it would make sense, especially with the big clearance.
@@sjurk81 Depends on your budget, but for under £2k you can get bikes from Kinesis, Canyon, Giant, Forme with the same spec. Then if you want to spend the same and a bit more there are companies like Mason and Condor, who build up bespoke aluminium bikes to your spec for not much more money, and they have off the peg bikes at a similar price. Even the likes of Ribble and Orbea have cheaper bikes with a similar spec, that you could upgrade wheels on for the same money as the Trek. Personally I've been looking at Condor and Mason, but I have also been considering the Fairlight road options in steel, which can be had for similar money with similar finishing kit (better wheels too, if I remember rightly). I haven't looked but I would imagine Genesis also offer good options in aluminium, or steel. Then the direct competitors, such as the CAAD13, which by all accounts is a better bike, if you wanted to go in that direction.
I still have my pristine 1998 cad 4, made in USA aluminium bike. Running mostly dura ace / Ultegra Weighs around 7.8kg, love the bike. Just bought a full carbon Giant tcr 2022 pro disc modded with Utegra, weighs more than cad 4 at the moment. They both have attributes i like, and enjoy riding both! I do think aluminium will make a come back, especially as tech has moved on massively and weight etc will only reduce to compete with carbon at some point imo.😁
The problem with making aluminum bikes lighter is their impact resistance goes away. Aluminum also has bad fatigue life and making walls thinner makes that even worse. Carbon does too but not as much. Also, injection molded frames are coming. There is little use for high end aluminum now and that's only gonna change for the worse.
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@@bikeradar so your happy to say you believe an alloy emonda is good value? And better value than any carbon bike that is similar or cheaper value? I’ve ridden alloy bikes. There is a difference - a noticeable difference. The value way is second hand not alloy. Or the bike that won bike radar value bike a while back a boardman slr… yes rim brakes but I’d personally take a rim brake carbon over alloy and discs. Again I’ve owned both Tim and disc bikes so yes I know discs work better
@@gregkane8635 Hi Greg, I'm happy to say everything I said in this video - I wrote the script myself, and then said it on camera. If you want to read my full written review, you can find it here; www.bikeradar.com/reviews/bikes/road-bikes/trek-emonda-alr-5-review/ I'm pretty sure I didn't say this bike is "better value than any carbon bike that is similar or cheaper value" - I said I think it's better value than the carbon Trek Emonda SL 5 (which costs about £1k more for a similar spec). Buying second hand can be a great value way to get a good bike, yes (I've done that myself in the past), but this is a review of the Trek Emonda ALR 5 rather than a guide to getting the best value bike - it's not that I don't think that's an important subject, it's just not what this video is about. Again, we've no issues with rim brakes, but this isn't a disc vs rim brake video either ;-) Cheers for watching. Simon
@@bikeradar hi Simon thanks for the reply appreciate it. I still don’t think at 2200 it’s good value - a 105 tcr could be got for similar money. I know we’re id spend my cash
@@gregkane8635 No worries. That's absolutely fine - the TCR is also a great bike (if you watched the whole video, you'll know I own one!), and it makes no difference to us if anyone buys this bike or not, we've just giving you our honest review of it! Cheers, Simon
I miss the Alloy and Carbon mix bike frames. Also, where did the sub 1k us dollars go? This is still a very big pill to swallow if you're getting into road riding.
I just got an Cannondale optimo 4 for 1000. I have a 105 groupset, carbon wheels, carbon one piece handlebar, and seatpost. All the stuff are just spares, so no additional cost for me. I got the bike for the frame and to use the groupset to convert a mountain bike into a killer gravel bike. You just need to get inventive.
Life is too damn short to ride aluminum bike with that all rough looking welding every sections of the tube connected from seat post to down tube between the crank is just unattractive, yes indeed, life is too short to ride ugly bike, unless designed engineer can find others way to make a aluminum frame set without welding it
