UPDATE: First ride on the new Trek Madone 6.9 with pictures
After a year of waiting. After months of deliberating size, components and Project One or stock I walked into the shop this morning and put my money down on a Madone 6.9. Yesterday by total chance I was in Ogden and so was the Trek demo team. They helped me get setup on with the right size which is one of the things that has held me back so far. I really wanted to get SRAM Red on the bike, but I have heard from a few people that it still has some bugs. It would probably work fine for me, but I know that Dura Ace is a great group and will run just fine.
A couple of things turned me to the stock bike instead of a Project One. There are currently 3 stock 6.9s at Trek. I managed to get one so my bike will be here in 7 days. Project One was going to take anywhere from 5 weeks to 2 months. I can wait that long, but I have to really want to. I love the paint job on the stock bike so the only reason I was going with Project One was the Red Grouppo. The Trek rep and a couple of other guys convinced me that for the money the Dura Ace group would be just as good and with the stock bike I end up with the Race XXX Lite wheels instead of the Race X Lite wheels.
The biggest disappointment on this bike is the crankset. On a $7700 bike you’d think they could do better than a Race X Lite crank. When you spend that much it also seems like they could let you change a few things – I will have to get rid of the stock stem and buy another one to get the right fit.
I will write a full review with pictures when the bike comes. I have never been so happy to spend so much.