Have you seen Bontrager’s new Aeolus carbon wheel lineup? Spanning the gap between budget and race ready, the aerodynamic hoops are the perfect complement to another new Trek product launching today – the all new Émonda.
Fans of super light, efficient climbing bikes needn’t worry. The Émonda is still as light as ever, but now it just got a serious aerodynamic boost to make it faster both up and down the mountain.
After spending plenty of time in the Walter H Beech Wind Tunnel in Wichita, Kansas, the Trek team came up with a new aero tubing package that saves up to 183g of drag. That works out to something like 60 seconds faster per hour on flats compared to the previous generation, and 18 seconds per hour faster at an 8% grade.
The highest level Émonda SLR frames use 800 Series OCLV Carbon fiber to keep the weight below 700g for a frame (size not specified). This premium level carbon material is 30% stronger, which means Trek can use less of it in the layup to drop 60g compared to OCLV 700.
Integration for the win(d)
The high end bikes also gain another aero advantage – the new Aeolus RSL Handlebar/stem combo.
Integrating with the Émonda’s internally routed cables, the Aeolus cockpit will save a 65kg rider about 7 watts while riding at 28mph with a 7mph average wind speed on a flat surface. 
Integrated cable management keeps them out of the wind and out of sight, and the OCLV carbon bar/stem includes a Blendr base and Mono and Duo mounts to mount Ion lights and Garmin computers.
Even if the Émonda you’re buying doesn’t include the Aeolus Bar/Stem, it will still be Blendr compatible with a standard Bontrager stem and bar.
The cable management on the frame is the same as well, with any cables or brake hoses tucking into the frame at the headset and disappearing.
What else is new with the Émonda? How about a T47 threaded bottom bracket? We’ve been seeing Trek use this new standard on a number of their newest bikes, and it continues here. Compatible with all internal-bearing T47 bottom brackets on the market, the design maintains a wide bearing stance within the frame that allows Trek’s engineers to maximize the carbon structure while also including a bottom bracket with threads.
2021 Trek Émonda geometry chart
Along with the SLR version, Trek is offering a lower tier Émonda SL. This bike still gets all of the same aero features as the SLR, but uses OCLV 500 carbon fiber which makes it a bit heavier, but also more affordable.
In terms of fit, Trek uses their H1.5 geometry which was developed with the Trek-Segafredo pro team. This fairly aggressive geo is all about getting the rider in the proper aero position. Since the frame uses the Trek seat mast design, you’ll be limited to a certain minimum and maximum saddle height with each frame based on the seat mast cap that you’re using.
2021 Trek Émonda models, colors & pricing
Offered in a wide range of builds, the Émonda will be available with both Shimano and SRAM eTap builds, many of which include the all new Aeolus carbon wheels. Pricing starts at $2,999.99 for the 2021 Émonda SL 5, and tops out at $12,499.99 for the SLR 9 models.
Available models:
- Émonda SL 5
- Émonda SL 6
- Émonda SL 6 Pro
- Émonda SL 7
- Émonda SL 7 eTap
- Émonda SL Disc Frameset
- Émonda SLR 6
- Émonda SLR 7
- Émonda SLR 7 eTap
- Émonda SLR 9
- Émonda SLR 9 eTap
- Émonda SLR Disc Frameset
Of course Trek’s Project One customization program is an option too, with new ICON paint schemes as well as the KOM paint scheme.
Learn more at TrekBikes.com.
Disclosure: Some of these links are affiliate links that may earn a small commission for Bikerumor if you click on them and buy something. This helps support our work here without costing you anything extra. You can learn more about how we make money here. Thanks!
what about Emondas ALR?
It’s still there. No changes for it from the 2020 model yet.
T47 – Thank you Trek for making a solid BB choice and not going proprietary. You just increased the likelihood that I would by this bike.
Good looking bike.
They claim the bikes is “something like 60 seconds faster per hour on flats compared to the previous generation, and 18 seconds per hour faster at an 8% grade”. What speed/distance is that at?
rider weight 70kg, keep 350w.
Fine print: sub 700g is the unpainted frame. And that silver does not look like a lightweight paint.
Sub 700g will not include, water bottle bolt, der hangers, paint, etc .
“7 watts while riding at 28mph with a 7mph average wind speed”
What about at 43 mph in a 12 mph crosswind from 17 degrees at negative 200 feet elevation (Death Valley, Utah)?
The front center distances are way too short.
The T47 says to me that Trek can’t get their subcontractor to hold decent enough manufacturing tolerances to implement BB386EVO.
“The T47 says to me that Trek can’t get their subcontractor to hold decent enough manufacturing tolerances to implement BB386EVO.”
Well heck: there’s no way an assumption like that with no supporting evidence could be wrong! After all there’s no way that the public clamor for threaded BB option could have any influence on their decision at all.
Pretty much the only reason T47 exists is because manufacturers couldn’t manage to get press-fit BBs engineered/manufactured right. It’s more expensive to do press-fit correctly than to just throw a threaded insert in.
T47 exists because even though most manufacturers did get press fit right, those who had creaking issues (hint: threaded bb’s creak too), complained so loudly that general opinion gradually followed. I wonder where we’ll go when these creak a little too?
Uhhh… If they had consistent creaking issues they *didn’t* get it right. What exactly did you think I meant they got wrong?
They don’t have consistent creaking issues. A small number of people do. A small number of people also experienced creaking with threaded bb’s too.
Small numbers of defects escape all manufacturers. As consumers demand ever lighter weight products, the margins get tighter.
Lol, ok, Pedantic Patty. Creaking is a byproduct of bad design, bad production tolerances, or bad assembly. It can happen to any bike if any of those requirements are met. How come most other industries gets by with press-fit bearings but the bike industry needs threads to hold them, even now that high quality cartridge bearings are ubiquitous? Sh*tty engineering and/or poor tolerances and/or an abundance of hack mechanics. Doing junk like this because you’re desperate to chase weight at the expense of competent design is stupid. Especially at higher price points where this stupid new standard is common.
To my original point, T47 only exists because people like you seem to think threading a cup into the frame is a magical cure for a problem caused by corners being cut somewhere along the line. It’s lame, heavy, and a solution that Gary Fisher would love. Took cheap to do it correctly? Make it bigger.
Most PF systems with a direct frame interface on CF frames can’t really be corrected without a new frame. Can they stop creaking? Sure but I bet the bearing alignment is poor.
An insert that can be machined after installation is what everyone should be asking for. T47 doesn’t require that but the frame insert will typically be machined and threaded in one pas, minimizing misalignment and out of round (hard to cut threads out of round)
The could mess it up by pressing in the already machined t-47 insert but I am not sure How this is actually done at trek
Glad to see the the use of T47 bottom bracket. I greatly prefer a threaded bottom bracket over a pressfit (less problems with creaking, easier to install and uninstall, compatibility seems less confusing to me).
Almost 200 g less drag than the old Emonda, quite the leap. Wonder if it says more about how good this bike is or how much of an aero dog the old Emonda is. Would love to see how it stacks up against the Madone.
Nice offering, not in the market for a new road bike this year, but if I was this would be very high on my list.
It’s Trek T47. It is proprietary. Look it up
Seriously? Is it really proprietary? So now not only will I not buy a Trek because of their proprietary seat mast and ugly giant Trek downtube graphics but I also wont buy one because the bb is proprietary.
It’s only proprietary because it’s 1 mm narrower than the standard T47 spec. You can use a regular T47 BB in a Trek bike with the Trek T47 BB. You just can’t use a Trek T47 BB in a bike with a standard T47 BB.
Is this a joke? If you think that the shape of the tubes on your frame translates into any real world advantage, you need help. (deleted)
A little education, in cycling wind speed is most often too low and wind direction too mixed to make small aero advantages translate into real world gains. Ask any REAL engineer that does not work in the cycling industry. (search Hambini on YouTube)
I’m still riding my Émonda SLR 9 with direct mount rim brakes. While I’m really interested in this new bike and disc brakes, it’s much heavier than my 14 pound rim brake bike. I was hoping it’d be a tad lighter.