Trek Emonda SLR/SL 2021 First Look - The Ultimate Climbing Bike? My Thoughts! 

Love Trek! Nice vid. I just bought my first road bike, a 2020 Trek Domane, and I feel like I’ve been reborn

Trek's best secret is, at a fraction of the price, their aluminium frame Emonda ALR will get you into the 7kg range with just a few tweaks, like a change of wheels.

This could be my next road bike in the entry 105 build. Love the Silver paint job

Treks always look better in real life, the old emonda looked so dull in photos, but was a great looking bike

Looks like the previous Domane without the isospeed, absolutely gorgeous

Tire clearance is silly. My 2018 Emonda SL5 with rim brakes is rated for 28mm.

I bought the giant tcr team and have it a few weeks now. The cable routing is one of the things that bothers me the most. I have the mechanical ultegra so maximum cable exposure.. second thing that i don't like are the decals. They are as big as the Trek decals. Sorry both brands are not sexy enough for me to make free advertisement. On the other hand, the most important thing is the included power meter. I can't understand why someone rides a 4000€ bike without Powermeter. Every dude on a 800€ Aluminium bike should perform better as long as he trains properly with the power meter. Second important thing for me was the tire clearance up to 32mm. Maybe I will try such dimensoned tires out one day. Hope I made the right decision😬

Mmm the SL6 or the Giant TCR Advanced Pro 1 disc? Giant comes with deeper wheels that weigh about the same, and has an oversized press fit BB vs the Trek threaded. Giant has the manufacturing quality to pull off press fit with minimal issues. But Trek has the neater cable routing. Man I can't wait for your reviews on these!

So David, if you were in the market for a new bike, would you choose this Trek or the Giant TCR you reviewed a couple of weeks ago? Be honest.

Aero or climbing bike ? Are there enough aero features on this Emonda to not have to spend €€€ more on an aero specific bike ?

Everybody is waiting for the test between the new Emonda vs the new TCR

Hes right, and I'm reaping the benefits!

i’m not quite sure what trek is doing and where it’s headed. their bikes got heavier. it’s hard to call new emonda lightweight and it’s far from aero. they even had to make shallower wheels to keep the weight down. saving 1 min while doing 350 w for an hour, good luck with that! :) threaded bb is the only positive in this new emonda. it almost seems that with every bike they make they want to shoot two rabbits. would love to hear your thoughts comparing new emonda and tcr.

David Arthur , Which is better for climbing slr 6 or slr 7 , I need it to ride to go to school in Japan , for steep road

is it comfortable to do 1200km brevets??

Looks to me like SRAM updated the Red AXS graphics to get rid of the ugly chrome on the levers and crank. I’d love to see more detailed photos.

still not got one to test? I want a better climbing bike I dont get on with the giant TCR ad pro 2

Hello sir, i need advice, i am planning to get this bike. I am 5'10 with around 31.5- 32ish inseam. According to trek's website the seatmast cap of size 56 comes with a taller version. Does it make a difference? Should i get a size 54 or a size 56? Thank you.

When the time is right, can you please compare it to the new tcr?

2.15kgs heavier than the previous range topping model. I'll have the old bike please. If it's a dedicated climbing bike I would prefer it lighter. Gone backwards I'd say. No brakes used going uphill mate!

Wow those colorways are amazing...

Wonder why Trek did not go dropped seat stays? Was aesthetics part of the reason? This is what Emonda customers like? Would Dropped seat stays possibly make the bike lighter because less material needed? Most manufacturers are saying DSS are more aero too. It would be very interesting to know the real reasons not the marketing blurb they tell us.

Some odd colour ways. I liked the red/black, I didn't like the others. 😁Especially the blue with yellow side walls - not for me. 😜 I also didn't like the rainbow and gold splash versions. Did I spot the handle bars are different for SL - not the aero version. 😢 (see 7:37 in video).

Who cares about data, this thing is gorgeous!! Love it! 😍😍😍

Guess you never got one to review? I was trying to get TCR Advanced Pro but none available. Was going to follow your build with Rival Etap. Was waiting on a shipping quote from a shop with the frame and found 2022 Emonda SL6 Rival Etap in stock at my LBS. the red black color way is stunning. Love the bike if a bit heavy. Still kind of pine for the TCR duplicate of your build but with FFWD wheels. Would have cost $900 more built and would been 6 weeks or so longer to ride. TCR would have been lighter and probably faster. Feel the Chameleon Galaxy might have looked better and definitely rarer. But the Emonda red is dead sexy and beautiful bike. Still torn! Sigh. Tempted to still build TCR and keep one I like best, though that’s a definite loss financially. Still tempting 🙄

How does it compare to the 2021 TCR?

Impressive bike.

I can't even make 250W per hour at 72kg, lol. I've plateaued, so that means I only gain 1% speed with the Emonda.

Why no down tube storage. ? 😔

great review, no bla bla nothingness just great information and no bs !!

Your audio is very low my friend.

4:35 nay lad, cant do that anymore!!

That SLR is nice!?!

The rear seat stays looks like Tarmac SL4

Bit dissapointed tbh with the sl weights seem quite heavy - heavier than the the tcr pro 1. Think my money would go on a tcr

Aero Bike with non Aero discs.... OK! Ultegra Rim Brake version would probably weigh the same or less as the top of the range disc model at 25% of the price tag. Sorry it's all a load of marketing dribble. Plus, 60 sec (667m) faster at 350w for 1 hr on flat (approx 40kph for a 70kg rider), sounds highly ambitious. You can ride at 350W for an hour Can't you? In fact I would think that the majority of viewers can't.

I purchased EMONDA SL6 pro. The screw which constraints the turn of the handlebar was broken. Thus the turn went beyond the limit and the ring marked go-go-go hitted the frame. The paint got damaged. I brought the bike to my supplier and they talked to TREK. TREK put a new screw and new ring go-go-go. TREK didn't want to repair the scratches on the paint of the frame caused by the limitless turning. Now I have a new super bike with scratches on the frame. I didn't expect that from TREK. Low customer support and poor warranty. Bad experience. I feel dissapointed. The bike itself is a super bike but the warranty service does not work as it should.

Please check your recording volume. Way too low. Thanks

Only the top of the range model is lightweight - at $16500 CAD that's out of budget for all but a very select few. Drop down to the SLR7 at still over $11000 CAD and you're riding a bike that with pedals and cages is going to be close to 17 lbs. Not a heavyweight....but in that price range it is absurd for a "climbing bike". Go down to any of the SL models and you're now in the 18 lb range with some of those models upwards of $8K.

Only thing that I hate about the bike, that seatpost the whole bike went aero, but that seatpost didn't, sorry the bike is beautiful but that just kills it for me.

Disc brakes, brake rub, it's best to get rim brake model from any top brand

Makes the TCR look like the ugly sister with cables everywhere, 6.75 with disc brakes is plenty light for me, makes it the same weight as my Madone pro rim brake and that’s plenty light.

Very skeptical of super light frames. They usually sacrifice pedaling stiffness to be under 700grams. A bike must have excellent pedaling efficiency to be a good climber. I guess I will find out on a test ride.

Emonda slr looks like the madone 5.9 e2

Fastest climbing bike, but I don’t see the engine?

Disc brakes screwed up the look of this bike. It's really sad.

I do feel like it’s a bit heavy, even for a disc brake bike.

its too much expensive

Who buys Emonda SL? Emonda range is about being lightweight, and I've plenty of frames under 1kg and cheaper.

I think the Giant TCR is a better bike all round

"the handlebar/stem will look best slam".... only 10% of population will do that.. which means the 90% of the time this bike will look hideous with the ugly new front end. Dont know why Trek designed it like this. They got so many other competition to copy off but instead they decided the way it did. I saw pics of a normal non slammed handlebar/stem and it is very very ugly. Go google it yourself and see.

Too expensive.

opportunistic reviews. You haven't even seen it in person.