Using a Trek Domane 4.3 to determine if a road bike is a good fit for me…
It’s Saturday October 4th today and I haven’t ridden anything since Tuesday’s accident on my GT Timberline. My bike is in dock and I’m waiting for a new bike which probably won’t be ready until next Friday. I really wanted to ride today, so I did.
It’s a miserable day today in Door County, a real washout. The temp was around 38 degrees this morning when I set out to Nor Door sports in Fish Creek to pick up a rental bike for the day.
At the time of writing this, around 5pm, the rain hasn’t let up. It’s that wet rain, too. Whenever I say ‘wet rain’ to an American they look at me like I’m stoopid. It’s like saying I have a coffee table made out of tree wood. But being a Brit I happen to know a lot about rain and some of it happens to be more wet than other rain. If you want to get technical about it then it’s a combination of various factors including droplet size, wind velocity, cloud altitude, and barometric pressure. I know all this because I was a Junior Weather Observer in high school.
Anyway, some rain makes you wetter than other types of rain and today’s rain is wet rain.
Before I get to the bike, I should say that today, for the first time in my short riding career, I actually felt quite sheepish about my appearance as I picked up my ride. I have this thing going on where I just don’t want to be that guy with the lycra spandex outfit, the go faster peak on his helmet and the fancy clip-in shoes. The day I shave my legs to gain an imaginary speed advantage will be the day they carry me off into the sunset singing ‘somewhere over the rainbow’.
Part of it stems from the problem of having a physique which was once referred to as ‘utilitarian’ by someone who was trying to pay me a compliment. Insults have ranged from ‘you fat bastard’ to things like ‘it’s a shame you’re not taller’. Anyway, I’m not really self-conscious about being diametrically challenged, I just don’t need to accent any lumps and bumps with a pair of tight fitting shorts. So I’ve developed my own ‘look’, or theme for riding, and I call it ‘stealth suave’. It has worked for me so far with the mountain bike but today, with the brand new Trek as my ride, it didn’t feel right. Also, I don’t have any real wet weather or cold weather riding gear. So I stuck out like a sore thumb with my beach shorts, rambler socks, yellow plastic rain mac, red and white helmet, North Face ear muffs and a pair of canvas sneakers. Shit, I knew I was gonna get cold and wet and I was OK with it, but my stealth-suave was really gonna let me down atop this swanky $2000 full carbon road bike.
Still, I didn’t bale, I just thought ‘fuck it’, and went ahead anyway.
First off, let me explain why I’m doing this. I’m at something of a crossroads with equipment. It’s my first season of serious riding and I’ve sampled off-road single track, MUP’s, road-riding, long distance road riding (a couple 100+) and even camp/touring. I’ve done all of this on my poor mountain bike and have flogged it to within an inch of it’s miserable life. (my bike deliberations can be viewed here).
So I need to divide up the load across two bikes, possibly even three, and I’m renting this demo bike for the day just to get a sense of what a road bike does, how it fits in with my game-plan and what to expect should I go down this route. So it’s basically market-research and the minimal investment of only a few bucks in rental fees might save me a lot of money and aggravation down the line.
On to the bike – the Trek Domane 4.3
Let’s get the specs out of the way.
| Specification | Description |
|---|---|
| Frame | Trek 400 Series OCLV Carbon w/E2, BB90 |
| Fork | Trek IsoSpeed carbon |
| Rims/Wheels | Bontrager tubeless ready |
| Hubs | Aluminum |
| Tires | Bontrager R1 Hard Case Lite, 700 x 25c |
| Crankset | Shimano RS500 |
| Chainrings | 50/34 |
| Front Derailleur | Shimano 105 |
| Rear Derailleur | Shimano 105 |
| Rear Cogs | Shimano 105, 10-speed: 11-32 |
| Shifters | Shimano 105 STI |
| Handlebars | Bontrager Race Blade VR-C |
| Tape/Grips | Bontrager Gel Cork |
| Stem | Bontrager Race Lite |
| Brake Levers | Shimano 105 |
| Brakes | Aluminum dual-pivot |
| Saddle | Bontrager Paradigm 1 |
| Seatpost | Bontrager Carbon |
I picked up the bike at 10 am and had the young wee chappy walk me through the basics. I should point out that this is really the first time I’ve ever ridden a road bike. In fact, it’s the only time I’ve ridden anything other than a mountain bike in over 35 years. The point being, I’ve never used drop bars and I’ve never used the fancy side-shifters / integrated brake levers. (Shimano 105 STI).
No biggie. I wheeled the bike across the street and down the pavement and into the entrance of the Peninsula State Park, then rode around for 5 minutes until I got the hang of the gear shift and riding with drops.
After the brief induction to the world of road bikes I pedaled off through Fish Creek, negotiated the usual FIB traffic without too much issue, and started the climb out of town and towards the Highway.
The first thing that stood out as being considerably different to what I’m used to with my mountain bike is this thing’s ability to climb. Boy does it move quickly and easily up hills!
I was just mightily impressed when I realized how efficient and easy to pedal this thing is.
The second thing became apparent just a few moments later when I tried to get up out of the saddle on the hill and almost came off the damn thing. Clearly, riding off the seat on a drop bar is very, VERY different to using straights on a mountain bike.
On the next hill I came to I decided not to use the drops but to use the flat part of the bar, and to be honest it really wasn’t any easier. I was wobbling around like a clown-rider and I just couldn’t get the hang of it. I figured it’s just a case of needing practice, and now wasn’t really the time to practice, so I pretty much gave up on riding off the seat after the first couple attempts.
The ride on this thing is quite hard. Sure, I expected it to be hard, but it caught me out a little. You feel every minor imperfection in the road surface transmitted with remarkable efficiency straight into your sphincter. Puckering doesn’t help, the best I could come up with was to adopt a semi-side-saddle riding style where I alternated between cheeks every couple minutes or so. More on this later.
Getting down the street was a delight on the Trek, it shifts smoothly, stops quickly and steers nimbly. I found myself shifting gears far less frequently than with the mountain bike I’m used to, which certainly enhanced the riding experience. I found it a little on the twitchy side, however. Nimble quickly became twitchy whenever I tried to look over my shoulder to observe traffic, and I frequently found myself wobbling into the middle of the lane. I’m sure this is just user-inexperience more than anything to do with the bike.
Fit – obviously the only effort to get the bike to fit my body was a couple minutes spent on setting the seat height by the young guy at the store. So I wasn’t expecting it to be entirely comfortable. However, I’ll spot the guy this thing was setup for from two blocks away. He’ll be about 6’6″ tall and he’ll be walking towards me with his knuckles dragging on the floor. As he walks past me I’ll confirm it’s him ‘cos his arse will consist of two chicken wings strapped together with a rubber band.
The seat on this bike was tragic. After 10 miles I felt like I was sitting on a piece of plastic drain pipe. Even with padded shorts it was extremely uncomfortable, so obviously the seat would need to go.
Also, my arms weren’t long enough. I couldn’t get comfortable on the bars, they needed to be setup a couple inches closer or my arms needed to be longer.
I didn’t care for the drop riding position at all. My lower back began to ache after only five miles or so. I then found myself using the flat section of the bar, which is closer to the riding position that I’m used to…..but I can’t get at the brakes from this position!
I didn’t care at all for the side-shift gear change. My hands were frozen solid from about mile 20 and I couldn’t use the crankset shifter properly. Also, you need to move the lever way too far before it shifts, so I regularly found myself swerving around whilst trying to shift onto the large gear on the crankset.
I suppose most of this is the nature of the beast and not really an issue with the Trek, but my whole mission was the determine the nature of the beast and to see if I could tame it. I wasn’t out there auditioning the Trek for a potential purchase, at least not at this stage.
It rained continuously and the temp started out at around 38 and peaked at 40, so by mile 30 or so I was frozen solid. I was soaked through to the skin, my legs were blue and I couldn’t feel my feet or my hands.
I put 50 on the clock and called it a day. I was so cold I couldn’t hold the pen to sign the credit card receipt.
Look – this isn’t a review of the Trek, remember the title of this post? Using a Trek Domane 4.3 to determine if a road bike is a good fit for me…
Anyone looking for reviews of a $2000 machine like the Trek needs to find someone who knows how to ride it. That someone is not me.
Conclusion
If I stuck at it I’m sure the whole road bike thing would become easier and more enjoyable. But to be honest, I don’t think this kind of bike is for me. I need something a bit more forgiving and a bit more comfortable. I need to figure out compatible shifters, bars, a seat and a more relaxed riding geometry, before I invest my hard earned moolah. When I do figure out all these things it will likely result in a ride that looks little or nothing like the Trek. It may even look exactly like the 29er MTB that I already own.
Nice write up…. In the 2 short years I have been back into riding, I have seen how important it was to get fitted for a bike, as I have a couple friends who have struggled with a bad fitting bike.
You might want to find a shop that is certified and set up for fitting and with that knowledge you should be able to come closer to the correct ride as you continue to search for your next bike(s). As I continue on my current search I’m sure it will help me. Good luck!! 🙂
Thanks Al,
The shop did talk to me about the fitting process so hopefully that will resolve some of the problems. Unfortunately the fitting comes after I’ve committed to purchase, and I’m nervous about spending a lot of money on a bike that isn’t so comfortable to ride, even after a professional fitting.
I don’t know that there’s a way around this issue – suck it and see, or don’t, I guess are my two options.
Also, my local dealer has a pretty limited assortment of bikes in inventory. They’re a Trek dealer so they can order whatever, but their bikes on hand are pretty much all road bikes, hardtail recreational MTB’s and some of the fitness hybrids. So if I wanted to take a chance on something like a touring bike or a cyclocross, I’d either have to roll the dice with my Trek dealer and have them order one for me untested, or travel to Green Bay, a 100 or so mile round trip. Then I’d be dragging the thing back and forth to Green Bay for every tune-up and tweak.
So it’s not quite so straightforward trying to figure out the right thing to do. Yesterday’s experience with the Trek has probably raised more questions than it answered.
At least I don’t have any real time pressure, since the season’s almost over here 🙂
Thanks again!
C
I seen and bought so many bikes online that I can practically glance at a size chart and pick out the size that will fit me, only pausing to munch and crunch on numbers that fall just short or just long of the ones ingrained in my brain.
If you ever get the bug again to check out a “relaxed” road bike, day-trip to Appleton or go online to wheelandsprocket dot com and look up the Focus Izalco Ergo, 2.0 Compact in size 60XXL for you. At 6’4″ the top tube should be spot on for you and there’s almost an extra inch more height in the headtube than more aggressive road bikes so your back will thank you. This year’s, or maybe it’s last year’s model is still available and more than half off. I’d pick one up myself at such a deal but the bug in my head says I still have more aggression to get out before sitting up a little higher.
Oh, and when ya stand on a road bike, hands on the sides, just behind the hoods, down on the drops only if you’re sprinting for the town sign and never on top on either side of the stem unless you’re sittin’ down!
That’s interesting about the Focus bikes. I check the Appleton Craigslist pretty much daily and I’ve seen Wheel and Sprocket advertise the Focus bikes at 40-60% off. I was tempted but couldn’t find many reviews on the bikes.
Maybe I’ll take a drive down there in the new year and check ’em out.
You made some interesting comments about the comfort of this bike. I am reading this now because I bought one today.I only rode it for maybe 10 k but I found it way more comfortable than the ten year old Norco CCX cyclocross bike I have been riding for ten years. I loved that Norco, Almost every single part on it has been changed at least twice. The left shifter/brake mech gave up the ghost and after pricing a new one I decided I should just get a new bike.
I don’t ride much for sport, but I have always used a bike to go to work. My current commute is 20k each way. I used to ride a Raleigh mountain bike, but got the cyclocross bike when the mountain bike started to cause so much pain in my wrists that I thought I would have to give up riding.
Anyway, to make a long story short I found your comments about comfort odd. I find my new 4.3 a lot better than my old bike. I also found your comments about standing on the pedals odd. What you experience on the 4.3 was how I felt about my Norco. I was shocked at how easy it was to stand on my pedals with the 4.3. I guess it depends a lot on your previous experience, which is why I went into the detail about my old bikes.
Anyway, I enjoyed reading your story.
Hey minuteman,
Congrats on the new bike!
I think I made it clear that the issues I encountered were more rider than machine. I was coming from the relaxed geo of a hardtail 29er with fat under-inflated tires, to what is basically a road-race machine. It was too stark a transition.
I recently bought a Gravel bike and I do find that a lot more suitable (for me) than the Trek. But it won’t be anywhere near as fast on the pavement as the Trek.
There’s a lot to look at and I think I went the right way with something a bit more relaxed and a bit more cushy. But I can see why people would want to own the Trek, it’s an awesome piece of kit in the right hands (just not mine).
I’m still a bit wobbly riding off the saddle with the new bike, but I’m getting better at it.
Cheers!
minuteman – how are you settling in to the new bike?
I really like it. I’m am about to head off on a ride shortly. The narrow, slick high pressure tires handle the local crappy roads better than I expected. It’s very comfortable. I can stay in the “tuck’ position for the entire duration of my commute in comfort. On my old bike I could only handle that for five or ten minutes before I had to sit up and stretch. My only complaint is that it is not geared high enough. When my rear cassette needs replacing I will get one with a higher ratio. I was going up a hill that was so steep I was tipping over backwards but could still pedal. I don’t think that is all that useful, but a higher top end would be nice.
Awesome! Glad the ride is working out. I’m guessing you’re a few years younger than me, or maybe just a lot fitter. I struggled being in the drop position, it put strain on my lower back.
Now that you mention it I had the same thought about the gearing on the Trek. It seemed to be geared similar to the 29er I had. I expected to rarely use the highest gear, but it turned out that I was using it quite a lot. A minor point though. Anyway, glad you’re happy with the bike. I may pop back and try one again late Summer, when I have a few more miles of experience with the cross bike under my belt…
I’ll be 51 in a few months…
Curious about the setup on your Warbird. I hate those clip in pedals and goofy shoes..what do you use?
Not sure if this is to you or not, because I ride a Trek Domane, but assuming it is I wear SDI shoes and use Shimano “clipless” pedals. The shoes don’t look too goofey, although they click when you walk in them, but they are comfortable enough to walk in when you are not pedalling. There are metal cleats in the bottom that clip on your pedals. It is weird at first, but you get used to it very quickly. Pedals that attack to your feet are about the single biggest performance enhancer you can get. When your feet are attached to your pedals, you can push and pull instead of just push. This is especially noticeable on hills. On my last bike I had clip in mountain bike pedals, I don’t remember the brand. Walking in those shoes was like walking in running shoes, but they didn’t work as well on the bike because they were to soft. and bent with your foot. I understand that road racing shoes don’t really bend at all and really cannot be walked in, but I don’t know for sure because I’ve never used them.
Thanks….I have a Trek 5200 OCLV and don’t ride it much. Just not comfortable for me but back when USPS and Lance were all the rage I just had to have it. Nary a scratch and looks beautiful in the garage….hopefully I can sell it and get the Warbird
After I stopped laughing at all the similarities in our experience I sat down to think about the Trek. The last year the US Postal Teal rode the TDF I just “had to have” on of those bikes.
So off to the Trek store in Madison. The Trek store, these guys should really know their stuff…especially if it is Trek. An hour later I walked would with a brand new 5200 carbon model in the same look as the USPS. Perfect bike for a 50 year old 300lb guy that hasn’t been on a bike for 20 years.
I hated the bike from the first ride. Hated it so much I never rode it again. Until I read about “bike fitting”…took the plunge and made an appointment with Brian at Free Flight in Dubuque. Gently he worked with me to get a good setup. Changed the stem, put on a computer and off I went.
I enjoyed it. Kind of. Until I hit a gravel road….lots of those here in Southwestern Wisconsin.
Bring on the new “gravel” bikes. Salsa here I come…
Hey Nick….there’s a review somewhere around this God forsaken website on the Salsa Warbird. It’s a gravel bike. I just bought one a few weeks back and love it. It’s comfortable both in terms of having a relaxed geo and soaking up the lumps and bumps.
Last night I did something stoopid and registered for the Bear 100 gravelcross event up in Leona WI. It’s 100 miles of dirt and gravel out in the boonies – unsupported, no cell reception, nada. If I die my wife will have a 2016 Salsa Warbird Tiagra for sale on Craigslist in a couple weeks. She’ll list it for about $400, which is what I told her I paid for it;) Keep a look out, it’s a 58 frame…
Cool. Read your review, looks like the bike for me. There is a good bike shop in Dubuque that sells Salsa, going to see if he has any of these $400 bikes..
I’m reluctant to admit it, ‘cos I pissed and moaned about clip-in pedals for months, but I ride mostly clipped-in. I started out with a set of two-sided pedals from Nashbar, about $30 on sale. They’re platforms on one side and clip-in on the other. Then I bought some mountain bike shoes which basically look like normal trainers, only with cleats. I liked ’em a lot so dropped even more moolah on a pair of Lake MX175 mountain bike shoes. They’re a bit too long to be honest but they’re really comfy.
Anyway, with the 2-sided option available, I almost always clip-in. The only time I don’t is when I know I’m gonna have to pull up soon.
Clip-in works great when riding off the saddle on steep hills. You can really lift up on the pedal and it helps keeping a smooth stroke. Where they work really well is riding on rough terrain, where you get bounced around a lot….like over tree roots and rocks on the park trails. I mostly do those trails on the fat bike so I have the same pedals on there too.
‘Course the down side is doing the dreaded stationary fall over. I’ve done it three times at least. One time was very embarrassing. A bloke was in a SUV going like 1mph over a speed ramp in the park, and I was right next to his car trying to pull up to a park bench without unclipping. I fell over and almost head-butted his door panel. The guy thought I was after his wallet and sped off.
But yeah, I kinda like ’em now that I’ve gotten more used to it.
Definitely clipless once ya get used to them; not the road type though, the more normal looking recessed cleat like a Shimano off road so ya can walk around normally. After a while they should become second nature to get in and out of…well, out of anyway, sometimes I still double clutch getting in. Then toe straps are the slow, must anticipate stopping contraptions. Flats are ok, especially for shorter trips but it’s nice to spin circles and spread the workload over more leg muscles when fatigue is setting in a bit.
I’ll have to check them out. I have Speedplays on my road bike and hate them.
I get the push pull advantage of clip in pedals but my old, scoped more than I can count knees won’t tolerate the motion.
Suggestions on where to look?
Speedplays are pretty small and need a very stiff carbon shoe to best take advantage of them; you might like something like the Shimano touring line or even the Nashbar pedals…something with a bigger platform to distribute pressure better on a normal shoe. Also you probably want a cleat with maximum float, which is how far it can twist before unclipping. Sometimes that means a specific cleat or swapping left for right to get increased float that will allow lateral movement both in the ankle and the knee as one pedals. I think the SH56 SPD multi-release cleats allow for the most float (about 12 degrees I think; 6 in either direction) in the Shimano SPD line but don’t quote me on that. I like TIME Atacs as well but they don’t seem to be as readily available anymore; however the cleat has a nice fat 13 or 17 degrees of float depending on which shoe the cleat is on.
Thanks Richard….looks exactly what I’m looking for..now if I can only sell that Trek..