What's Behind the Ride

 

UNPARALLELED DRIVETRAIN EFFICIENCY

Nearly all other frame designs on the road are restricted by the need to stay within the industry standard 68mm bottom bracket shell width. Not so with the all-new Madone, which uses Net Molding carbon technology and Precision Fit Sockets™ to place the bottom bracket bearings directly in the frame itself. The result is an exclusive 90mm wide bottom bracket that provides a 48% increase in lateral down tube stiffness at the bottom bracket. Designed to accept most two-piece crank designs from Shimano®, Bontrager®, SRAM®, FSA®, and Campagnolo® without affecting the q-factor, the integrated bottom bracket design saves 40 grams compared to traditional designs.

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Bottom Bracket Comparison

All-New Madone Design

All-New Madone Design

Madone Bottom Bracket

  • Reduced part count = 40 grams lighter.
  • Increased bottom bracket shell width (90mm) = more drivetrain efficiency.
  • Mating the bottom bracket shell to a robust 74mm downtube and a stout 75mm box-section chainstay bridge improves lateral stiffness at the down tube by 48%.
  • A slip fit bearing system that uses common, standard-sized bearings and requires no specialty tools or big torque loads.
Traditional Bottom Bracket

Traditional Bottom Bracket

Traditional Bottom Bracket

  • Specialty tools required for facing and tapping = more shop time and expense.
  • Redundant parts = more weight.
  • Less efficient.
  • Limited by the 68mm bottom bracket shell standard.

No-Compromise Bottom Bracket

There are two reasons traditional frames use a 68mm bottom bracket shell width: tradition or necessity. But the relatively narrow, 68mm dimension restricts the amount of real estate available for bearing placement, creative lug shapes, and larger, stiffer and stronger tube sections.

The all-new Madone abandons these traditions by moving to a 90mm-wide bottom bracket shell. The wider shell moves the bearings outboard to make your crankset more efficient (with the sacred q-factor left unchanged). The wider shell also allows for greater tube sections and stiffer shapes at the downtube/bottom bracket and chainstay/bottom bracket junctions. There simply is more real estate to work with by having the broadest, most efficient bottom bracket shell in the business – and Trek engineers took full advantage of the space they created.

 

Net Molding

What is Net Molding?

Net Molding is a process that creates exceptionally precise carbon fiber shapes that mitigate the need for secondary machining operations. The new Madone uses OCLV Net Molded tubes and lugs that “snap” together for perfect alignment.

Precision Fit Sockets™

The Net Molding process enabled Trek to create Precision Fit Sockets™. This means that the bottom bracket and headset faces are assembly-ready directly from the mold. There is no need for headset cups, races or bottom bracket cups, which only exist to hold the bearings. With Precision Fit Sockets, the bearings slide directly into the frame without tools or presses. It's incredibly simple and amazingly easy. OCLV HexMC™ (Molded Carbon), the material that makes this slip fit bearing system possible, has been tested beyond millions of cycles to ensure long lasting performance.