Trek Madone 9 series Project One

You get a web enquiry, then the phone rings: somebody you don’t know wants a bike. And so a journey begins. The outcome is one of the most simple looking yet technically advanced road bikes ever built. It is totally unique, it has few peers aesthetically, and its rider – a big mileage athlete – considers it a properly inspiring ride. If you had seen his previous steeds, you would understand this to be a true compliment. We loved building it and we loved coming to understand this rider.

So, what we present here is a custom specification and painted Trek Madone 9 series from Project One. The peacock green-blue – Trek call it petrol, is a vapour coat finish: when others paint a bike it adds 40-60 grams to the weight but this specialist coating adds only 5g. The wheels are custom built to the customer’s spec: black Tune hubs joined by Sapim CX-Ray spoking to Enve 5.6 SES tubular rims. Vittoria Graphene infused tub tyres finish the ride feel and look with their light tan walls and their amazing supple rolling performance. Gearing is 36/52 and 11-25 for this rider. The bike just looks right and goes like a scalded cat! (though we wouldn’t recommend testing this out on your moggie). This Madone was road.cc’s bike of the year … difficult to argue really.