@monkers a friend of mine is considering the top of the range Emonda. It would be interesting to read your views so I can pass them on to her.
Hi Paul. You'll appreciate this is tricky. I've only ridden one of the Emonda range, and then only briefly in windy conditions. I've only returned to cycling after a long break of some 30 years, and then all with one bike in my second wave.
I'll relate to you what I've found on the 5 bikes that I've ridden in the last 4 weeks.
1 Liv Alight 3 commuter bike. Fit for purpose, not what your friend will be looking for at all.
2 Cube Axial WS. It has female geometry. Potentially a really good bike. It has a lightweight aluminium alloy frame, well finished. It weighs 9.7 kg with pedals. I like the compact feel of this bike, and the slightly narrow small drop bars. I found it to be fast, accelerative, a good hill climber, safe on fast descents, and above all fizzy and fun. For me it gave a great balance between having some fizz when you wanted a fast bike and being comfortable when you wanted to just take it steady. The carbon forks were good at reducing bar shake, though the headset rattled loose a couple of times and needed resetting - I found that easy to do, just a little annoying. This bike has rim brakes and is Shimano Claris equipped. If anyone considers one of these, they simply must have a better chain fitted from new, the supplied one is incorrect fitment and causes fast wear of the geartrain. I'd happily buy another Cube, but I'd buy one with better Shimano kit.
3 Trek Domane S4 - all carbon and Tiagra equipped. This looked gorgeous in the 2017 colours. The colour and finish just fabulous. It has a frame design feature called isospeed. Despite the racey looks, this bike is built for comfort, other than the unyielding saddle that is. After reading the reviews where the words 'smooth riding' kept appearing, I thought that to be a good thing. What I hadn't appreciated was that 'smooth riding' is a reviewer's eupehmism for 'no fun'. For someone wanting a great looking bike for touring in comfort, then jobs a good'un. However I didn't like it, the sensation was strange. For me the NVH insulation through the saddle left a bike that felt numb, yet through the bars was still a shaker over bumps. Imagine if you will a road bike with a 42 tyre on the back and a 23 on the front and you might understand me, it just felt somehow unbalanced in terms of sensation. I returned it the next morning, a bit reluctantly because visually the thing is bike porn in those colours.
4 Liv Avail SL2 disc. It has an aluminium frame and carbon forks. It has Tiagra geartrain and Giant hydraulic brakes, It all works very well. I've only nipped this round the block as it's my friend's bike. It can be fast, it can be comfortable, but the standard fit saddle lacks compliance in my opinion. Good alrounder though.
5 Trek Emonda SL4. This is my latest bike. I'll start with a caution. The other four have a standard frame seat tube / seat post arrangement. The Emonda isn't like this. The Cube and Domane were both 56s as is my Emonda, but the unusual arrangement meant that I really only needed a 54. A 54 wasn't available at my LBS, so I bought the 56 and chopped it down, both seat tube and seat post to make it fit me. If your friend decides on an Emonda, they simply have to swing a leg over before committing to buy one, buy one size down from what they think, or otherwise take the decision to take a hacksaw to it as I did. The Emonda is available in numerous configurations and frame materials and weights, so it's necessary to do the homework. My bike has an H2 series all carbon frame. It's beautifully made and finished. Mine is in 2018 colour of matt black with white and grey detailing. It looks purposeful rather than beautiful I'd say.
I've only done about ten miles on it so far. It's been really windy here, I did 7 of those miles this morning against strong head winds. It feels a bigger bike than the Cube it has replaced, but then it doesn't have female geometry. It is more smooth riding than the Cube without the feeling of detachment that the Domane had. It is certainly better at dealing with coarse tarmace and the rutted roads than the aluminium alloy Cube, it almost sprung itself out of the deepest ruts by comparison. It certainly has a turn of speed, but I was missing power at the bottom of each pedal stroke as this ride was before I cut it.
I haven't ridden it since today, it had so many stupid stickers on and bits of duct tape that it's taken me more time to remove those than it took to modify the frame. ''Warning this product contains wheels'' and other stupidly unnecessary tamperproof labels - be advised.
I'm happy to reply to you at further length when I've done a few more miles on it in better conditions. Obviously I've decided to keep it, as it's not returnable now.
Summary - most fun, I'll have to say the Cube. Most comfortable, the Domane. Best compromise of the two, the Emonda.
If I wanted to try something else? Well they now make an aluminium alloy superlight version of the Emonda with carbon forks, I'd love to give one of those a go, say in SL5 Shimano105 form with hydraulic discs and female geometry. I reckon that would be quite a blast.
