Hope this becomes a series of videos and we get a "Build yourself a solid bikepacking bike this year" some way along the line :D Great stuff as always Paul!
Awesome vid! A bit of an AL fanboy myself and lasting after one of these for some time. Been trying to sell one of my carbon bikes/frames to fund this endeavor. Anyone up for an as new 2021 Lapierre SL 6 frame?! Help this poor boy get his white AL Emonda frame. It’s an emergency!
I work as a mechanic in a bike shop myself and couldn't agree more, we bought this exact palmares frame and kitted it out with 105 and some stock aeolus wheels, the amount of compliments we got on the bike was incredible haha
@@Pleasestopthat it actually CAN make a difference, if there is any uneven surface, that can cause creaking, it can cause issues with tightening, it can cause rotational problems(alignment issues), there's lots of problems an uneven or unfaced bb can cause.
just came back from a ride, shower, took in some food and recover a bit in front of youtube, what a beautiful video, somehow really find it satisfying that everything executed professionally on the build, so much enjoyable to watch. well done.
I work for Trek and the lifetime guarantee is true! I've seen warranties on cheap cruiser bike from 15 ears ago and old carbon road bike also (just to name a few). Trek is all about good customer experience, which I was skeptical of when I worked in other shops, but it really is true.
@KU-mg9el they aren't lies. I've had a warranty processed. My 2021 Trek Boone frame had a delaminated BB. Get a brand new Boone from 2023. Also, I've had friends get warranties processed. Sometimes, even if the damage was caused accidentally by you, Trek still offers you a discount on a completely new bike or frame. And a heavy discount at that.
Really really nice video and bike. Like others have said, this is a super realistic and attainable bike for most of us and it's the stuff we all want to see more of. Doesn't induce fomo but reassures that you can still get a nice setup for totally reasonable money.
T47 as you said makes sense (especially for ALU frames) because you need the space for the welding and material of the tubes. With BSA you're taking a pretty small shell that came from the steel days of skinny tubes and welds to larger tubing. T47 also gives you more space for spindle choices
I saw that on the Trek website and was intrigued. Love the color and T47, and price is very reasonable. Glad to see it stands up to professional examination attention.
Right! Im hoping to build one of these sometime later in the year (cash flow pending) and you guys are now IT for helping with the initial prep and routing.
Nice to see a frame with plenty of colour on it. Looks lovely. My brother has the last gen Emonda ALR in flip purple, it's a really good frame. He loves riding it and it hasn't creaked or posed any issues in 4 years.
Well it’s taken six months of saving my pension money but it’s finally on the road. 1x11 GRX mechanical, DTSwiss wheels and cheep carbon gravel bars and seat post. But it rides lovely. Thank Paul and Jake for putting this together and inspiring me. Many more projects like this please. Take care you all.
Great video. I have a 2019 Emonda ALR and I love it. SRAM components and mechanical brakes with carbon Aeolus wheels . It’s also a size small. It is super lightweight.
I built myself a gravel race bike/winter road bike based on the trek Crocket as a frame set. Got myself 9velo carbon wheels, sram gx eagle from last generation, cheap handlebar, stem, seatpost. I got myself a gravel race bike + everyday road bike for 3000Euro. Everything new.
The Kinesis RTD is another really good quality, good value aluminum frame to consider with proper endurance features like a slack HT that is completely stable, and big tire clearance. Only issue I had was the same issue the Trek had with the bottom bracket not being faced.
Back in the nineties when Principia frames were hot, we had to work on bottom bracket and headset areas in the bikeshop. Sad to see this is still the case, 30 years later. You would think, that getting these areas perfect on an aluminum frame does not take too much effort - so why does such a frame not come in perfect condition 🤷♂️
Well, if every dealer were like you... unfortunately not every dealer is. And what about private people that want to build, they'd expect a ready to build frame delivered to their door...
@@martinbichler7089 yes. In this case it was Triton Cycles. They should have checked it, but they will be responsible for fixing it if someone is smart enough to return it. I hope we are helping people with those decisions.
I was in a Trek store 2 weeks ago and saw the ALR 5 in black. I was surprised the top headset was exposed since the top cap didn’t cover it. I then looked on their website to see if the issue was related to only the bike I saw but their website showed the upper silver headset sticking above the head tube. It was disappointing for a $2300 usd bike. …… thanks for video. Always enjoyable
Recently did the exact same thing with that frame(in black) as my "second" bike. Added a set of Bontrager 37mm carbon wheels with Pirelli 28mm tan walls along with an RSL carbon seatpost and saddle. Shimano 105 11 speed mechanical.The ride is amazing for well under $4K.
Great Video, like seeing a great price frame, quality and build. Working all the cables in the headtube, looked like you managed to sort it out neatly. Thanks!
Built up a CAAD10, back in 2013. Used it to pull an xtrawheel, on a 5 week European adventure, did the Raid Alpine on it, covered circa 30-40k miles, in all weathers(inc Scottish Winters) and it's never failed to put a smile on my face. Talk about a bike being greater than the sum of it's parts.... I won't mention the BB30 standard, however! 😄
Nice build and exemplary attention to detail. Worst frame i ever had was an aluminium 2019 Cube gravel frame. Only came to light with a rear puncture. Struggled to remove thru axle. Fixed puncture then spent 30 minutes trying to align thruaxle. I had to lean on the bike laid flat to distort it to get it to thread in. Bought a 2021 Genesis CDF frameset and built my gravel TANK.
A couple of years ago, my brother bought that frame in black. The disc brake mounts were misaligned. So, they got a different frame sent in and it was the exact same way. Apparently the same person made both frames. LOL! They ended up having to modify the mounts so the disc caliper would align properly. He liked the frame pretty well.
Trek have long made solid aluminum frames. I have a bonded aluminum Trek I bought in the early 90s. It doesn’t have any original parts on it, but I still use the frame on my trainer, and I ride it a few thousand miles a year.
I had the first Trek Emonda ALR, great cheap, no fuss bike. Also as light as the lower end carbon Emondas. I just dont know why its acceptable to need to face bb shells or sort other minor defects on factory fresh frames nowadays. £1k and they dont finish the product properly 🤔😤. Seems to be the norm regardless of brand and everyone talks about it as though its acceptable....
It’s mad that brands are still not ready to fully sell direct to consumer. Frames are usually made to go to bike shops to be built. That’s why we have all those tools.
I switched over to gates carbon belt drive roadbike now and the only way I could see myself going back to chain is with a wireless Di2 105 or something, I absolutely HATE the fact that cables require maintenance, replacement and adjusting so much times, I hate cleaning chains aswell and the short life that comes with it, however waxing is always a good choice to drastically increase the length of your drive train. But noway I am gonna touch mechanical groupsets now
That was great content, thanks. I ride a trek alr5 checkpoint for a few years, and other than the pressfit bb, I loved it. I sold it for a sl7 checkpoint, which I love, but in comparison, it does highlight just how good the alr5 is.
I have the older 2021 model of Trek Emonda. I upgraded from Tiagra to Ultegra and got DT Swiss G1800 wheels setup with GP 5000 STR 30mm tires (even though Trek says 28mm max) and the bike is comfy even on bad roads.
That's my bike!!! Very happy to have it explained to me. I have the corral version of last year. I really like to see your young and eager colleague. Also I'm always impressed to see you redo the threading for the bottom brackets. I Hope it is not really necessary. I feel it should be the constructor's responsibility to ensure this threading is ok. So finally it's the youngster choice for the emonda alr 5 that prevailed. Is he the same guy who once stayed UP the whole night working on a new super dooper 360 dégrees bar spin breaks and jumped on the walls in the backyard a few months ago after putting loads of olive oil in them? Thanks for the video. It's a thrill to see my frame explained to me by top mechanics. I put ffwd ryott 33 wheels based on your advice. I feel like a Big shot now with m'y top wheels on my aluminium bike. (Saved money on the frame, invested on the wheels) Yeap very happy. Thanks for the video. (I would have liké to see you groupset choice more. Thanks mechanicail 105 for the people or somerhing else? Thanks
I loved this frame ever since it came out. Wish i had one. Trek lover here. If not for the fact that i race at the top level, i might own one of these instead. But my SLR will do. Maybe my next commuter will be either one of these or that new Checkpoint ALR AXS......
I did build the Emonda ALR frameset up last year. Put on 105 Di2. Also used a carbon seat post and that paired with carbon steerer provides nice ride. I installed good carbon wheelset with GP5000's. So, all that said, the bike is super, the ride quality and responsiveness is super. It's a solid bike. I have great confidence when riding up in the mountains.
Out of curiosity. How much did you put into the build? Dont need to know the exact figure but a rough ball park figure is fine so I have some sort of idea for budgeting purposes.
Hey @@Rose.Of.Hizaki ball park $5500 (CDN). That includes bike shop build. Totally worth it. All parts are new and sized and spec'd the way I wanted (all premium, might as well do it right) not what I would have gotten if I got the off the shelf bike. It is a lot of money, but I purchased the different parts over a year so not so much of sticker shock. Hope this gives you an idea, and good luck if you do go ahead. One word though, get all your parts at a reputable bike dealer/shop, stay away from getting stuff on-line (you don't know what you are getting there, and safety is paramount).
I'm spending £6k-9k as two sets of wheels I'm building and the new SRAM red axs so be about 5 years but for a more durable and aero bike than a carbon frame, with bell, lights, head unit be 7.3kg
I have an Trek ALR 6 (2018), for daily commute yes but it was beaten by my Velo Build carbon frameset and it was more comfortable...not to mention stiffer bb.
If that is a new frame, why would you have to face the bottom bracket??? That cable routing on the headset looks like it would let a huge amount of rain and dirt in, not sure how long the bearing will last with that design🙁
I got Enduro stainless so my headset bearing should last The facing is depending on brake mounts, bottom bracket and head tube sometimes need facing so surface is clean and parallel to run that bit nicer (my bottom bracket on my frame has a tad of paint on it but unsure if get someone to face it as not know who has T47 and cost few hundred to buy one)
Just bought the Palmeres frame to build up an Ultegra r8000 bike to use up all of the surplus parts that I have hanging around. The first time I saw the paint job I knew I had to have it.
The front hanger is bolted on to provide a predetermined failure point, which will allow for an easy fix if something goes wrong, because the bolt will fail without destroying the actual frame.
My Trek Emonda ALR 2021, bought in 2021, had paint defect at the time of buying. I realized it after I bought it from Trek shop, flew to my city and opened the box. They said it's just paint issue and gave me 150$ voucher to buy from the shop. Anyways, the paint kept on coming off especially below the BB area, and now when I striped the bike of all the parts notice deep corrosion in Aluminium. I showed it to Trek distributor, Trek online support all said not an issue (no warranty for it) and then it's paint issue not corrosion. Anyways, I gave up as it;s my old frame and got it repainted. I'm done with big brands which I earlier assumed would be good on warranty. While I still love this frame, won't be buying from Trek again.
Ooh, that bolt up layout for the derailleur hanger is smart! I've a CANYON Endurace AL 7, popped a hanger in the first 5 rides. Whilst I like the countersunk heads for accuracy of holding the hanger my machinist mind thought straight away about that there's nothing stopping stripped and mangled threads, and welding means deformation and further finessing OR holding a tolerance that really isn't in purview of an LBS. thos though... TREK, I like.
Yo BikeMec John here - I opted for this frame over the carbon this year, kitted out with sram force and some nice dt swiss carbon wheels, it rides excellent and I’m very pleased with it - as you mentioned like a “soft” carbon! I also had to face the non drive side and I just used some thick ass military grease on the headset gap
Love. Love. Love. ALR. Also have the SLR Emonda. However the bottle bosses rusted in and worrried front mech hanger rivets about to go. Winter bike 5 years in
This video made me subscribe to this channel. 🤣. This is my story. We don't have seasons where I live. But we do have rainy days that starts in October till December. I did build a Aluminum rim brake road bike for those days( Concorde Mistral 340), to spare my Carbon all day road bike (BIanchi 928L). But I was looking for something more modern to build on a budget to use during this period. Looking forward also to go for a more modern road race bike. Thanks for sharing. Nice build.
I have this frame in 56 and it's slightly lighter than a (Chinese, non-branded) endurance carbon frame of the same size I had before. Stiff and twitchy like a teenager on Friday night though. Good for racing, less so for British roads. Anyway, I run it with Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR 32mm tyres and that combination runs light, fast and comfortable.
Really glad you’ve done this , I have ordered the exact same frame on C2W and took you advice on the wheels section on you last pice and ordered some venn 40 tcd wheels but I’ve decided to use a SRAM rival groupset running a 46/33 and 10/36 combo . First time I’ve specified bike to my own requirements since the early 90’s and time to retire the 10 year old giant defy to the turbo
I just bought the 23 trek emonda alr5. Besides the stock tires ( which are pretty reliable) some good tires and tubes for summer. the bike is really fun
U need to check out the new 2024 Merida Silex alu frames for the gravel guys. Amaazing frame for the money! As for the trek… still can’t beat the old first gen rim braked emonda alr frames!
I too would like to see a budget build series where local customers provide an affordable frame for you guys to assemble. Great stuff! I also wish more companies offered their aluminum frame-sets for sale only. Hard to find frame-sets here in the states, it seems as though they want you to buy the whole bike. Caad and Allez/ Allez Sprint frame-sets are essentially unavailable everywhere, even at local bike shops. Many of my local big brand bike shops (Trek Stores, Bike Mart, etc don't even have Caads or Allez sprint (full bikes assembled) in stock for you to look at or sit on. What are you supposed to do, have them order something without getting the chance to see it in person first? Crazy
I have a 105 11sp group that needs a frame. I’m seriously considering this frame. I think the only thing that concerns me is the cable routing through the headset. The rear shifter on 11sp tends to eat inner cables. When I was using this group on a gravel bike I was replacing the inner cables often and the outer probably 2 times a year. You can still get some of the cheap Chinese carbon frames without head set cable routing. But I do like trek’s warranty. I have 2 Trek mountain bikes so I do like the brand.
I see Nicolai Nucleon had T47 too. But with Nicolai no facing and tapping is needed. At least my G1 was superbly done. Headset was not too easy to press, nor a struggle, felt just right. Zero issues installing BB and brake.Mine is Raw so no paint job to judge. I got Chris king 30mm BB, and their headset too. No issues so far as long as I don't overgrease the BB, if I do seal pops off, and grease comes out, but grease came out with factory grease too and in rainy rides especially made a mess. But still running smooth. But seeing a trek will probably always make me concerned. I hope they sorted out their assembly, manufacturing issues, failures. But this frame set you show does not look that bad, but not a fan of internal routing, and especially trough the headset. But no surprise the frame had pain on BB shell, at least it was not banged up too.
@@Mapdec Even so, it would surely be more efficient to do it in the factory. For one thing, your time probably costs several times as much as that of some worker in a Chinese factory.
Is the move to wide tries exactly the change that aluminum frames needed to make a comeback. Let the tire handle compliance and the frame provide strength and power transfer. The argument for carbon over aluminum gets a lot harder to make especially if the price difference is so striking.
I am saving up for a emonda al. I kinda view the aluminum bikes like the two strokes of the cycling world. All you guys can pay 6-16k for a carbon race bike, I’ll get a more durable bike that is waaaay cheaper for only slightly less performance.
Thing to consider with this frame, you can still pick up a full ALR5 for £1850, so for £850 over the naked frame you get a full 105 setup, spare wheels, bars, BB etc etc. You don't get *that* colour way buuuuuut 😀
Awesome channel! About a week ago, this exact idea crossed my mind. Don't an have access to Trek Emonda alr frame, but I have an older One Series 1.1 frame... wrong size, unfortunately. Although bike fit got me into a comfy position. After 9 years of riding with Claris groupset I decided it was time to upgrade it to 105. Hope it's good for another 10 years of riding. ...eventually I'll try to get a correct frameset
Have done this to my 1.2 frame. Over the years as experience and money as allowed i have added, 11speed 105, dt swiss wheels, deda bars and stem, carbon seat post and fizik carbon saddle. Smooth as silk down the road now!!! Less than 1k all up cost and about £1700 to replace like for like.
Would you review/take a look at the dengfu carbon frames (E10/E22) models? They are made for the bafang 820 250w motor and seem really value for an emtb. Cheers! Might be good for the series
Colour is beautiful…unfortunately I have already too many bikes 😂. Aluminium is blocked in my garage by an 2015 Specialized Allez…but the Trek would be Disc replacement, if I would have an excuse 😊
Can you provide a link to other video you talk about this frame / trek ALR. I've scanned the thumbnails, and its not exactly clear from the headlines / vid tittle. thanks
Firstly, great video! It's great to see what to look for when getting and building up a frame! On that note, I recently looked into carbon fiber seat posts and stumbled onto some discussions on how to install the seat clamp. Some manuals and people suggest that it is best to place the seat clamp so it's slit is opposite of the slit in the frame. Does that really make a difference, especially for carbon fiber frames and carbon seat posts?
Umm. I don’t want to obsess on weight. Ride confidence and utility is much much more important. I really think we need to stop obsessing over weight. It drives people to ride sketchy harsh bikes that handle like vibrating bosu ball.
I'd be curious to know your opinion on the Domane ALR frames. I'd expect them to have the same build quality but obviously with a more comfortable geo, but I imagine you see more of them than most.
The riveted front derailleur bracket is only a minor inconvenience, no? Worth mentioning, for sure, but any serious crit racer either has tools or has a mechanic. Drilling out a rivet, and replacing it when needed, is a terribly simple thing.
New tool day... that tool "simultaneously" performs a facing and a tap? Is this a good thing? It seems more error prone to track two critically precise operations and to see if one or the other is going badly.
You have any suggestions on MTB frames? I currently have a Giant Stance 2 (2021) but I’ve updated all components (full XTR drivetrain, dropper, new fork, etc). I am looking to buy a new frame and bring my new components over to it. I don’t care if it’s aluminum or carbon. But looking for a good recommendation that doesn’t break the bank (less than $2K USD).
Thankyou for all the time you take ro do your youtubes I do enjoy them very pro If you could do a MOOTS build that would be great and a quick Q, Moots Routt 45 would you go with GRX or Sram Mullet ?
Hope this becomes a series of videos and we get a "Build yourself a solid bikepacking bike this year" some way along the line :D Great stuff as always Paul!
If we find one, we will defo do it.
Awesome vid! A bit of an AL fanboy myself and lasting after one of these for some time. Been trying to sell one of my carbon bikes/frames to fund this endeavor. Anyone up for an as new 2021 Lapierre SL 6 frame?! Help this poor boy get his white AL Emonda frame. It’s an emergency!
You can't build yourself a bike, because you don't have such an expensive BB tool. Shame from Trek.
@@romanpramuka2703 I'm sure Mapdec would tidy up a frame using that tool for their usual hourly rate, if asked.
@@Mapdec Sonder frontier
I work as a mechanic in a bike shop myself and couldn't agree more, we bought this exact palmares frame and kitted it out with 105 and some stock aeolus wheels, the amount of compliments we got on the bike was incredible haha
How much more does it cost vs buying a complete bike?
Crazy that you have to face anything, the factory should be doing this surely.
Yeh £1000 just for a frame and it needs facing. That's just poor, it should be perfect from the factory at that price.
Facing the bottom bracket doesn’t make any difference to functionality or appearance. It’s getting covered by the bb anyway.
@@Pleasestopthat it actually CAN make a difference, if there is any uneven surface, that can cause creaking, it can cause issues with tightening, it can cause rotational problems(alignment issues), there's lots of problems an uneven or unfaced bb can cause.
just came back from a ride, shower, took in some food and recover a bit in front of youtube, what a beautiful video, somehow really find it satisfying that everything executed professionally on the build, so much enjoyable to watch. well done.
Nice. 👍. Thank you.
I work for Trek and the lifetime guarantee is true! I've seen warranties on cheap cruiser bike from 15 ears ago and old carbon road bike also (just to name a few). Trek is all about good customer experience, which I was skeptical of when I worked in other shops, but it really is true.
Lies
@KU-mg9el they aren't lies. I've had a warranty processed. My 2021 Trek Boone frame had a delaminated BB. Get a brand new Boone from 2023. Also, I've had friends get warranties processed. Sometimes, even if the damage was caused accidentally by you, Trek still offers you a discount on a completely new bike or frame. And a heavy discount at that.
Which trek shop do you work at? Mine did warranties pretty nicely too
Really really nice video and bike. Like others have said, this is a super realistic and attainable bike for most of us and it's the stuff we all want to see more of. Doesn't induce fomo but reassures that you can still get a nice setup for totally reasonable money.
T47 as you said makes sense (especially for ALU frames) because you need the space for the welding and material of the tubes. With BSA you're taking a pretty small shell that came from the steel days of skinny tubes and welds to larger tubing. T47 also gives you more space for spindle choices
Nice chat, and what a great build.
thanks for taking us along!
Love
Glad you enjoyed it
Cracking looking bike. It’s bikes like this that bring reality back to cycling.
Yes. That’s a very true statement. Wish I had thought of that.
I saw that on the Trek website and was intrigued. Love the color and T47, and price is very reasonable. Glad to see it stands up to professional examination attention.
Right! Im hoping to build one of these sometime later in the year (cash flow pending) and you guys are now IT for helping with the initial prep and routing.
Nice to see a frame with plenty of colour on it. Looks lovely. My brother has the last gen Emonda ALR in flip purple, it's a really good frame. He loves riding it and it hasn't creaked or posed any issues in 4 years.
Very nice!
Well it’s taken six months of saving my pension money but it’s finally on the road. 1x11 GRX mechanical, DTSwiss wheels and cheep carbon gravel bars and seat post. But it rides lovely. Thank Paul and Jake for putting this together and inspiring me.
Many more projects like this please. Take care you all.
Enjoy. 👍
Thanks to Paul's opinions and experience I just have build myself a time adhx 45 , very very thankfull ! ☺️
Nice ride.
That paint job was so sick! Perfect match for they’re triple X LTD road shoes
Great video. I have a 2019 Emonda ALR and I love it. SRAM components and mechanical brakes with carbon Aeolus wheels . It’s also a size small. It is super lightweight.
I can't agree more. Not a trek fan for years but saw one out on a ride and was really impressed.
I built myself a gravel race bike/winter road bike based on the trek Crocket as a frame set. Got myself 9velo carbon wheels, sram gx eagle from last generation, cheap handlebar, stem, seatpost. I got myself a gravel race bike + everyday road bike for 3000Euro. Everything new.
The Kinesis RTD is another really good quality, good value aluminum frame to consider with proper endurance features like a slack HT that is completely stable, and big tire clearance. Only issue I had was the same issue the Trek had with the bottom bracket not being faced.
Back in the nineties when Principia frames were hot, we had to work on bottom bracket and headset areas in the bikeshop. Sad to see this is still the case, 30 years later. You would think, that getting these areas perfect on an aluminum frame does not take too much effort - so why does such a frame not come in perfect condition 🤷♂️
Still reliant on dealers.
Well, if every dealer were like you... unfortunately not every dealer is. And what about private people that want to build, they'd expect a ready to build frame delivered to their door...
@@martinbichler7089 yes. In this case it was Triton Cycles. They should have checked it, but they will be responsible for fixing it if someone is smart enough to return it. I hope we are helping people with those decisions.
So nice to see people finally building and reviewing these properly
Alu bikes never get enough attention
I was in a Trek store 2 weeks ago and saw the ALR 5 in black. I was surprised the top headset was exposed since the top cap didn’t cover it. I then looked on their website to see if the issue was related to only the bike I saw but their website showed the upper silver headset sticking above the head tube. It was disappointing for a $2300 usd bike. …… thanks for video. Always enjoyable
Recently did the exact same thing with that frame(in black) as my "second" bike. Added a set of Bontrager 37mm carbon wheels with Pirelli 28mm tan walls along with an RSL carbon seatpost and saddle. Shimano 105 11 speed mechanical.The ride is amazing for well under $4K.
Great Video, like seeing a great price frame, quality and build. Working all the cables in the headtube, looked like you managed to sort it out neatly. Thanks!
Thanks 👍
Built up a CAAD10, back in 2013. Used it to pull an xtrawheel, on a 5 week European adventure, did the Raid Alpine on it, covered circa 30-40k miles, in all weathers(inc Scottish Winters) and it's never failed to put a smile on my face. Talk about a bike being greater than the sum of it's parts.... I won't mention the BB30 standard, however! 😄
The black anodised CAAD10 was amazing. They shouldn’t have bothered with the 12.
Nice build and exemplary attention to detail. Worst frame i ever had was an aluminium 2019 Cube gravel frame. Only came to light with a rear puncture. Struggled to remove thru axle. Fixed puncture then spent 30 minutes trying to align thruaxle. I had to lean on the bike laid flat to distort it to get it to thread in. Bought a 2021 Genesis CDF frameset and built my gravel TANK.
All probably caused by a blob of paint behind the mech hanger that prevents axle alignment.
A couple of years ago, my brother bought that frame in black. The disc brake mounts were misaligned. So, they got a different frame sent in and it was the exact same way. Apparently the same person made both frames. LOL! They ended up having to modify the mounts so the disc caliper would align properly. He liked the frame pretty well.
It happens. Most bike shops should be able to fix it.
Trek have long made solid aluminum frames. I have a bonded aluminum Trek I bought in the early 90s. It doesn’t have any original parts on it, but I still use the frame on my trainer, and I ride it a few thousand miles a year.
I had the first Trek Emonda ALR, great cheap, no fuss bike. Also as light as the lower end carbon Emondas.
I just dont know why its acceptable to need to face bb shells or sort other minor defects on factory fresh frames nowadays. £1k and they dont finish the product properly 🤔😤. Seems to be the norm regardless of brand and everyone talks about it as though its acceptable....
It’s mad that brands are still not ready to fully sell direct to consumer. Frames are usually made to go to bike shops to be built. That’s why we have all those tools.
@@Mapdec but not always bike shops know about such details, unfortunately
I’ve been riding this frame for about 6 months and love.
I switched over to gates carbon belt drive roadbike now and the only way I could see myself going back to chain is with a wireless Di2 105 or something, I absolutely HATE the fact that cables require maintenance, replacement and adjusting so much times, I hate cleaning chains aswell and the short life that comes with it, however waxing is always a good choice to drastically increase the length of your drive train.
But noway I am gonna touch mechanical groupsets now
Having to face your own bottom bracket due to paint and welding inaccuracies is wild
Did you find a way to seal off the headset a bit more from the elements?
Sadly not. If you try to plug it, you just restrict steering.
That was great content, thanks. I ride a trek alr5 checkpoint for a few years, and other than the pressfit bb, I loved it. I sold it for a sl7 checkpoint, which I love, but in comparison, it does highlight just how good the alr5 is.
Very watchable, well done. Ally frames are often overlooked but good design shines through
Fantastic video they just keep getting better and better appreciate all your hard work keep them coming
Great work! Really enjoy what you are doing.
I built up an Emonda ALR frameset a couple of years ago. They're a good frameset at a low price. Highly recommend.
You should do an opinion video to cycling weekly "ALR superbike" build and the 5 bad points of the bike video. 👍
I have the older 2021 model of Trek Emonda. I upgraded from Tiagra to Ultegra and got DT Swiss G1800 wheels setup with GP 5000 STR 30mm tires (even though Trek says 28mm max) and the bike is comfy even on bad roads.
That's my bike!!! Very happy to have it explained to me. I have the corral version of last year. I really like to see your young and eager colleague. Also I'm always impressed to see you redo the threading for the bottom brackets. I Hope it is not really necessary. I feel it should be the constructor's responsibility to ensure this threading is ok. So finally it's the youngster choice for the emonda alr 5 that prevailed. Is he the same guy who once stayed UP the whole night working on a new super dooper 360 dégrees bar spin breaks and jumped on the walls in the backyard a few months ago after putting loads of olive oil in them? Thanks for the video. It's a thrill to see my frame explained to me by top mechanics. I put ffwd ryott 33 wheels based on your advice. I feel like a Big shot now with m'y top wheels on my aluminium bike. (Saved money on the frame, invested on the wheels) Yeap very happy. Thanks for the video. (I would have liké to see you groupset choice more. Thanks mechanicail 105 for the people or somerhing else? Thanks
Different Jake. This is cyclocross animal. Other Jake with the bar spins just turned pro and signed with GT
I loved this frame ever since it came out. Wish i had one. Trek lover here. If not for the fact that i race at the top level, i might own one of these instead. But my SLR will do. Maybe my next commuter will be either one of these or that new Checkpoint ALR AXS......
I did build the Emonda ALR frameset up last year. Put on 105 Di2. Also used a carbon seat post and that paired with carbon steerer provides nice ride. I installed good carbon wheelset with GP5000's. So, all that said, the bike is super, the ride quality and responsiveness is super. It's a solid bike. I have great confidence when riding up in the mountains.
Out of curiosity. How much did you put into the build? Dont need to know the exact figure but a rough ball park figure is fine so I have some sort of idea for budgeting purposes.
Hey @@Rose.Of.Hizaki ball park $5500 (CDN). That includes bike shop build. Totally worth it. All parts are new and sized and spec'd the way I wanted (all premium, might as well do it right) not what I would have gotten if I got the off the shelf bike. It is a lot of money, but I purchased the different parts over a year so not so much of sticker shock. Hope this gives you an idea, and good luck if you do go ahead. One word though, get all your parts at a reputable bike dealer/shop, stay away from getting stuff on-line (you don't know what you are getting there, and safety is paramount).
I'm spending £6k-9k as two sets of wheels I'm building and the new SRAM red axs so be about 5 years but for a more durable and aero bike than a carbon frame, with bell, lights, head unit be 7.3kg
Also that colorway is fire
Nice looking bike, great build and all in a fairly cheap bike!
I have an Trek ALR 6 (2018), for daily commute yes but it was beaten by my Velo Build carbon frameset and it was more comfortable...not to mention stiffer bb.
If that is a new frame, why would you have to face the bottom bracket???
That cable routing on the headset looks like it would let a huge amount of rain and dirt in, not sure how long the bearing will last with that design🙁
I got Enduro stainless so my headset bearing should last
The facing is depending on brake mounts, bottom bracket and head tube sometimes need facing so surface is clean and parallel to run that bit nicer (my bottom bracket on my frame has a tad of paint on it but unsure if get someone to face it as not know who has T47 and cost few hundred to buy one)
Just bought the Palmeres frame to build up an Ultegra r8000 bike to use up all of the surplus parts that I have hanging around. The first time I saw the paint job I knew I had to have it.
The front hanger is bolted on to provide a predetermined failure point, which will allow for an easy fix if something goes wrong, because the bolt will fail without destroying the actual frame.
Love watching you build, great attention to detail. But I could go the rest of my life without hearing that "music" and not miss it
It’s ok we change it for every video. What’s your music vibe. I’ll put it in the next one for you.
Thank you for taping the steerer 😂
My Trek Emonda ALR 2021, bought in 2021, had paint defect at the time of buying. I realized it after I bought it from Trek shop, flew to my city and opened the box. They said it's just paint issue and gave me 150$ voucher to buy from the shop. Anyways, the paint kept on coming off especially below the BB area, and now when I striped the bike of all the parts notice deep corrosion in Aluminium. I showed it to Trek distributor, Trek online support all said not an issue (no warranty for it) and then it's paint issue not corrosion. Anyways, I gave up as it;s my old frame and got it repainted.
I'm done with big brands which I earlier assumed would be good on warranty. While I still love this frame, won't be buying from Trek again.
Quite a lot of brands are putting a paint exclusion in. It’s a really time consuming fix. They just didn’t do their surface prep well enough.
First tune in,loved it - very professional craftsmen 🎉
Welcome. 🤗
Ooh, that bolt up layout for the derailleur hanger is smart!
I've a CANYON Endurace AL 7, popped a hanger in the first 5 rides. Whilst I like the countersunk heads for accuracy of holding the hanger my machinist mind thought straight away about that there's nothing stopping stripped and mangled threads, and welding means deformation and further finessing OR holding a tolerance that really isn't in purview of an LBS.
thos though... TREK, I like.
Love your style - very informative and well paced
Lovely looking frame that.
Yo BikeMec John here - I opted for this frame over the carbon this year, kitted out with sram force and some nice dt swiss carbon wheels, it rides excellent and I’m very pleased with it - as you mentioned like a “soft” carbon! I also had to face the non drive side and I just used some thick ass military grease on the headset gap
Nice. 👍
Love. Love. Love. ALR. Also have the SLR Emonda. However the bottle bosses rusted in and worrried front mech hanger rivets about to go. Winter bike 5 years in
This video made me subscribe to this channel. 🤣. This is my story. We don't have seasons where I live. But we do have rainy days that starts in October till December. I did build a Aluminum rim brake road bike for those days( Concorde Mistral 340), to spare my Carbon all day road bike (BIanchi 928L). But I was looking for something more modern to build on a budget to use during this period. Looking forward also to go for a more modern road race bike.
Thanks for sharing. Nice build.
Maybe my favorite color scheme on a Trek
I have this frame in 56 and it's slightly lighter than a (Chinese, non-branded) endurance carbon frame of the same size I had before.
Stiff and twitchy like a teenager on Friday night though. Good for racing, less so for British roads. Anyway, I run it with Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR 32mm tyres and that combination runs light, fast and comfortable.
It is twitchy... i'm having issues when no handed...
Really glad you’ve done this , I have ordered the exact same frame on C2W and took you advice on the wheels section on you last pice and ordered some venn 40 tcd wheels but I’ve decided to use a SRAM rival groupset running a 46/33 and 10/36 combo . First time I’ve specified bike to my own requirements since the early 90’s and time to retire the 10 year old giant defy to the turbo
Oh. Nice 👌 congrats on the new ride.
I just bought the 23 trek emonda alr5. Besides the stock tires ( which are pretty reliable) some good tires and tubes for summer. the bike is really fun
You can improve it a lot by upgrading the parts!
U need to check out the new 2024 Merida Silex alu frames for the gravel guys. Amaazing frame for the money!
As for the trek… still can’t beat the old first gen rim braked emonda alr frames!
I have that frame and it’s beautiful
I too would like to see a budget build series where local customers provide an affordable frame for you guys to assemble. Great stuff!
I also wish more companies offered their aluminum frame-sets for sale only. Hard to find frame-sets here in the states, it seems as though they want you to buy the whole bike. Caad and Allez/ Allez Sprint frame-sets are essentially unavailable everywhere, even at local bike shops.
Many of my local big brand bike shops (Trek Stores, Bike Mart, etc don't even have Caads or Allez sprint (full bikes assembled) in stock for you to look at or sit on. What are you supposed to do, have them order something without getting the chance to see it in person first? Crazy
Great suggestion!
I have a 105 11sp group that needs a frame. I’m seriously considering this frame. I think the only thing that concerns me is the cable routing through the headset. The rear shifter on 11sp tends to eat inner cables. When I was using this group on a gravel bike I was replacing the inner cables often and the outer probably 2 times a year. You can still get some of the cheap Chinese carbon frames without head set cable routing. But I do like trek’s warranty. I have 2 Trek mountain bikes so I do like the brand.
Gorgeous bike in a material and level of quality that I covet
I see Nicolai Nucleon had T47 too. But with Nicolai no facing and tapping is needed. At least my G1 was superbly done. Headset was not too easy to press, nor a struggle, felt just right. Zero issues installing BB and brake.Mine is Raw so no paint job to judge. I got Chris king 30mm BB, and their headset too. No issues so far as long as I don't overgrease the BB, if I do seal pops off, and grease comes out, but grease came out with factory grease too and in rainy rides especially made a mess. But still running smooth. But seeing a trek will probably always make me concerned. I hope they sorted out their assembly, manufacturing issues, failures. But this frame set you show does not look that bad, but not a fan of internal routing, and especially trough the headset. But no surprise the frame had pain on BB shell, at least it was not banged up too.
Can anyone tell why the left chainstay is almost always cut in the middle, then welded back together?
2:48 just left of the brake mounts.
Trek website says tolerance is 28, you talk 32, would 35 fit?
Currently converting my alloy Hybrid into a gravel bike, comfy, relaxed!
Why isn't the Bottom Bracket already faced from the factory???
Dealership QC. They don’t expect non bike shops to build frames.
@@Mapdec Even so, it would surely be more efficient to do it in the factory. For one thing, your time probably costs several times as much as that of some worker in a Chinese factory.
@@jk-qe3jj and that’s why the factory don’t do it. Costs driven down and QC gets skipped.
Is the move to wide tries exactly the change that aluminum frames needed to make a comeback. Let the tire handle compliance and the frame provide strength and power transfer. The argument for carbon over aluminum gets a lot harder to make especially if the price difference is so striking.
I am saving up for a emonda al. I kinda view the aluminum bikes like the two strokes of the cycling world. All you guys can pay 6-16k for a carbon race bike, I’ll get a more durable bike that is waaaay cheaper for only slightly less performance.
Thing to consider with this frame, you can still pick up a full ALR5 for £1850, so for £850 over the naked frame you get a full 105 setup, spare wheels, bars, BB etc etc. You don't get *that* colour way buuuuuut 😀
Great video & useful insight. Do you have any idea what the Checkpoint ALR frame is like?
I haven't seen one that I remember. sorry
Nice hardware from Cyclus Tools! Wonder if facing is really an issue with internal bearings.
Yes. That flange with the tool notches must be flush to the frame.
Awesome channel!
About a week ago, this exact idea crossed my mind. Don't an have access to Trek Emonda alr frame, but I have an older One Series 1.1 frame... wrong size, unfortunately. Although bike fit got me into a comfy position.
After 9 years of riding with Claris groupset I decided it was time to upgrade it to 105. Hope it's good for another 10 years of riding.
...eventually I'll try to get a correct frameset
Have done this to my 1.2 frame. Over the years as experience and money as allowed i have added, 11speed 105, dt swiss wheels, deda bars and stem, carbon seat post and fizik carbon saddle. Smooth as silk down the road now!!!
Less than 1k all up cost and about £1700 to replace like for like.
Nice video fellas. I learned quite a bit.
Glad you enjoyed it
Would you review/take a look at the dengfu carbon frames (E10/E22) models? They are made for the bafang 820 250w motor and seem really value for an emtb. Cheers! Might be good for the series
Unlikely. But interesting idea.
Colour is beautiful…unfortunately I have already too many bikes 😂. Aluminium is blocked in my garage by an 2015 Specialized Allez…but the Trek would be Disc replacement, if I would have an excuse 😊
Cycling weekly has complaints on its headset and bottom bracket. Is it the same on your frame?
No. Because we fixed it. Like any good shop would.
Can you provide a link to other video you talk about this frame / trek ALR. I've scanned the thumbnails, and its not exactly clear from the headlines / vid tittle. thanks
I think it was in the TCR alternative podcast video.
A few years ago you could by a full bike with 105 for the price of that frame.
I have the older Emonda S4 bike which is carbon and was £999 with 10 speed Tiagra back in 2017. Crazy how much prices have jumped.
I have canyon endurace RB alu bike and frame is stiff. I get sore on longer rides
Yep. That bike is too stiff for what they advertise it’s for.
A Grand. Mmmm. 1300 quid gets you a complete Canyon and the geometry is very good
Go for it.
This whole cables through the headset thing is such a fookedup idea.
Do you think the Trek Checkpoint ALR frame have the same building quality as the shown Emonda?
Firstly, great video! It's great to see what to look for when getting and building up a frame!
On that note, I recently looked into carbon fiber seat posts and stumbled onto some discussions on how to install the seat clamp. Some manuals and people suggest that it is best to place the seat clamp so it's slit is opposite of the slit in the frame. Does that really make a difference, especially for carbon fiber frames and carbon seat posts?
I would imagine do that would require over tightening the bolt to stop it slipping.
11:55 that looooooooong bar reach looks very lovely for me to rest my wrists and forearms on 😍
What was the final build weight? May want to add this to future builds. 😊
Umm. I don’t want to obsess on weight. Ride confidence and utility is much much more important. I really think we need to stop obsessing over weight. It drives people to ride sketchy harsh bikes that handle like vibrating bosu ball.
I'd be curious to know your opinion on the Domane ALR frames. I'd expect them to have the same build quality but obviously with a more comfortable geo, but I imagine you see more of them than most.
The Domane in general is not a bike I really understand the purpose of. It’s an armchair disguised as a bike.
@@Mapdec haha right up my alley then
fyi: Al needs about 15 minutes to develop that protective uniform AlO layer. Let it sit, don't grease/touch it for that long.
Good info.
The riveted front derailleur bracket is only a minor inconvenience, no? Worth mentioning, for sure, but any serious crit racer either has tools or has a mechanic. Drilling out a rivet, and replacing it when needed, is a terribly simple thing.
Thanks for the video very informative and entertaining. I have a question : What is the final weight of the bike?
I don’t know. It’s the least important thing.
New tool day... that tool "simultaneously" performs a facing and a tap? Is this a good thing? It seems more error prone to track two critically precise operations and to see if one or the other is going badly.
Once the taps are in their job is done and they just provide a very stable guide for the facing tool.
@@Mapdec It makes sense. Perfectly good after seeing it in use.
You have any suggestions on MTB frames? I currently have a Giant Stance 2 (2021) but I’ve updated all components (full XTR drivetrain, dropper, new fork, etc). I am looking to buy a new frame and bring my new components over to it. I don’t care if it’s aluminum or carbon. But looking for a good recommendation that doesn’t break the bank (less than $2K USD).
Crikey. Bird Aeris 29er
Thankyou for all the time you take ro do your youtubes I do enjoy them very pro If you could do a MOOTS build that would be great and a quick Q, Moots Routt 45 would you go with GRX or Sram Mullet ?
This was awesome 👍