2004 Trek 5900 and Madone frame construction

[Russell Seaton]

Until 2003 at least, Trek made their OCLV frames with lugs
and tubes. A bike shop employee said for 2004 the 5900 frame
had a one piece, monocoque, downtube/headtube. Or maybe it
was toptube/headtube. Or downtube/headtube/toptube. With the
rest of the frame being the standard tube and lug
construction as in the past.

Anyone know if Trek is using some monocoque pieces in its
5900 or Madone frames starting in 2004? If so, which pieces
are one piece and which are still the standard tube and lug?

Also found out Trek finally made a normal 1.125" fork for
the 5900 and Madone in 2004. No more goofy headsets and
non standard forks required beginning in 2004. The fork
still has an aluminum steerer tube but is very light and
normally shaped.

 

[Mike Jacoubowsk]

The new Madone isn't really monocoque, but the top tube &
head tube are essentially made as one huge "lug" using OCLV
technology (meaning that it's highly compacted compared to
classic "monocoque" frames that depend on an air bladder to
maintain internal shape & wall thicknesses).

And yes, it does take a conventional headset (which was
probably a requirement so they could take on Chris King as a
sponsor?). It does make servicing them a bit easier.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
http://www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

"Russell Seaton" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Until 2003 at least, Trek made their OCLV frames with
> lugs and tubes. A bike shop employee said for 2004 the
> 5900 frame had a one piece, monocoque,
> downtube/headtube. Or maybe it was toptube/headtube.
> Or downtube/headtube/toptube. With the rest of the
> frame being the standard tube and lug construction as
> in the past.
>
> Anyone know if Trek is using some monocoque pieces in its
> 5900 or Madone frames starting in 2004? If so, which
> pieces are one piece and which are still the standard tube
> and lug?
>
> Also found out Trek finally made a normal 1.125" fork for
> the 5900 and Madone in 2004. No more goofy headsets and
> non standard forks required beginning in 2004. The fork
> still has an aluminum steerer tube but is very light and
> normally shaped.

 

[David]

the 5900 came with a propertiary HS, atleast the 2001
model did.

david

"Noel Llopis" <[email protected]> wrote in
message news:[email protected]...
> Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
>
> > And yes, it does take a conventional headset (which was
> > probably a requirement so they could take on Chris King
> > as a sponsor?). It does
make
> > servicing them a bit easier.
>
> What kind of headset do previous OCLV frames take? I was
> under the impression it was a standard one (1" or 1 1/8").
> My 5200 came with a Cane Creek S-2, which I thought was
> pretty standard.
>
>
> --Noel

 

[Mike Jacoubowsk]

> What kind of headset do previous OCLV frames take? I was
> under the impression it was a standard one (1" or 1 1/8").
> My 5200 came with a Cane Creek S-2, which I thought was
> pretty standard.

The 5200 & 5500 always used conventional threaded or
threadless headsets. The only non-standard model was the
5900 in '01, '02 & '03. They used pressed-in bearings on the
bottom and a conventional setup on the top. The '04 5900
uses a conventional 1 1/8" threadless.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
http://www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

 

[Cipher]

Originally posted by Russell Seaton
The fork still has an aluminum steerer tube but is very light and
normally shaped.

I think I read some were that Lance had said he would not use anything but an aluminum steerer. (One area were he opted for additional strength over a few grams saved).