Trek Domane
The Domane has been a big success story for Trek since it was launched ahead of the 2012 Classics season.
It’s dubbed an ‘endurance race’ bike by Trek – one on which to “channel your inner Cancellara” and to ride hard, fast and for a long time, on a variety of surfaces, in comfort. The IsoSpeed decoupler is the headline feature but the Domane also has an IsoSpeed fork and revised geometry to improve comfort.
So, what’s new for 2015? More disc brakes, that’s what, with five disc-equipped bikes in the range. Don’t want disc brakes? There are 11 rim brake Domanes, starting with the aluminium-framed Domane 2.0 at £1,000 and rising to the all-singing Domane 6.9 for £5,500.
More disc brakes
Trek’s rim brake bikes remains largely unchanged for 2015, save for some colour changes and the fact Trek have moved to complete groupsets across the board. A Shimano Ultegra bike has full Ultegra (levers, brakes, chainset, cassette, etc – the lot), and a Shimano 105 bike has full 105, for example.
The big change, then, is the expansion of the Domane Disc range to five machines. We covered the initial launch of the Domane 4.0 Disc and Domane 6.9 Disc earlier this year but now there are three 4-Series bikes (for £1,500, £1,900 and £2,300) and then two 6-Series bikes (for £4,000 and £6,000).
“Disc brakes on the Domane make sense because there’s a growing group of people who are using bikes like this for more off-road adventure riding on gravel roads or smoother bridleways, so there’s a growing demand in the market for a disc brake road bike,” says Garrison.
We wheeled two of the disc-equipped bikes away for a closer inspection. First up, the Domane 4.3 Disc (pictured above) is the mid-range option among the 4-Series machines at £1,900. It comes with an 11-speed Shimano 105 groupset, TRP HY/RD cable-operated hydraulic disc brakes, Bontrager Tubeless Ready Disc wheels and Bontrager finishing kit.
The flagship, £6,000 Domane 6.9 Disc, meanwhile, is pimped out with a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset with Shimano RS785 hydraulic disc brakes (pictured above), along with Bontrager’s new Affinity Elite Disc Tubeless Ready wheels and Bontrager finishing kit. The £4,500 Domane 4.5 Disc also caught our eye, thanks to the addition of Shimano’s 11-speed 105 groupset, complete with the new-for-2015 mechanical RS685 STI levers, which operate the hydraulic disc brakes.
Website: Trek Bicycles
