The BA Team
Brace yourself, global cycling fraternity. With the Grand Boucle just over a month away, the annual avalanche of product launches is almost upon us. Officially, Bicycling Australia knows of at least three imminent major new bike releases. There are no doubt more just around the corner.
One of the more intriguing so far looms to be from Trek, who has been teasing a new bike for a little while now. What could it be? Well, the odds were already reasonably short it’s some kind of high-end road range consolidation, a likely blending of the aero Madone with the lightweight Emonda. Given Specialized took a similar design path in 2021 with the Tarmac, whilst discontinuing the Venge, this certainly makes some sense – even more so given the recent comments from Trek President, John Burke, who explained the strategic need for “right sizing” the Trek business and reducing SKUs by a whopping 40% by 2026.
A rather hyperbolic email received overnight from Trek’s global marketing team (‘Out of this world’ … ‘Entering the stratosphere’ … ‘Trek’s most earth‑shattering bike to date’ … ‘a revolutionary new ride’) only gives more weight to this theory, especially with the not-so-subtle use of interconnected circle graphics suggesting the combining of two entities to become one.
Maybe we’re wrong. But should this indeed be the way forward for Trek, it will be fascinating to see which core design elements are maintained, such as the radical IsoFlow seat tube. Almost as interesting will be the name. Will one of the current marquee road brands remain (most likely Madone)? Or will both be consigned to the history books, replaced by a new anagram?
The official unveiling happens in T – 14 days and Bicycling Australia will be there. Watch this space.
