Steve B.

Well, as follow up, I had to wait a few weeks as I was out of the country, test rode and purchased this past Wed. Did my first official ride today. Paid for the seat post as the cost was too good to pass up for the bike I end up with. It fits perfectly. My inseam as BTW, is 84cm, which according to Trek puts me on the 56, which this is. It’s a very nice riding bike. The OEM Bontrager tires, which they say are 25mm, are 27 in real life, so I may just keep them as I was contemplating going to a tubeless 28mm GP5000. May skip that as the bike is a very well designed package of frame, carbon wheels, post and bar, all which makes for possibly the most comfortable and smoothest riding bike I’ve ever owned. And I like the color. It’s actually the first road bike I have purchased complete in 15 years, and another in 1991. Every other of the 14 road bikes I’ve owned I have built up from a frame. This was nice for a change.

PromptCritical 

Trek has a 30 day "no questions asked" return policy. You could buy the bike and take it back. $20 says they'd give you the proper seat post. Also, the Trek CEO answers all emails (or maybe someone does it for him). You could send him an email and explain this is what is keeping you from buying the bike. His email is: j.burke@trekbikes.com.

I sent him an email, and received a response by email in about an hour and a call from the local shop within 2 hours. They ended up giving me a new ($175 fork) and installing it for free.

Steve B.

As I read it on the website, the 30 day policy is on bikes purchased directly from Trek.com. I know this is not the store policy as I asked. I can e-bay the post, or as somebody posted, use it when I need to stick the bike on the repair stand, which if my other Di2 bike is an example, really only if changing the chain and cassette.

Russ Roth

Sweet bike, really like the color. Check the reviews on the tires, some of trek's oem tires do poorly in the wet. A team mate of my daughter's was doing a crit in the rain and went down 3x before giving up, once was on a practice lap. Quick check of the tire reviews showed real poor wet results, excellent dry. She was running the bontrager r2, no road rash due to the wet but a good bit of bruising.

Mtracer

Nice, bike. Congrats!

I still encourage you to put on the 28 mm GP 5000 tires. At a speed of 20 MPH, you would save around 20 W of power running GP 5000 S TR versus the Bontrager R3s (if that's what came with your bike). You'd definitely notice the better rolling resistance.

But if you run those Bontragers a bit, get a feel for them and note your ride speeds, and then get some GP 5000s and you'll see the difference in your data (if you measure things like that).

bboy314

This return policy is for bikes bought directly from Trek, not independent dealers. Also the OP has established the shop is not willing to give them the post for free, likely because the bike is already discounted.

Sy Reene

I'm confused on the whole original story and/or how Trek sets up bikes. So, you have an 84cm/33 inch inseam. Sounds reasonably 'average'. Yet the stock seatpost that was too long on a 56cm frame, only allowed a minimum height that was still too high by 4cm. So roughly the minimum inseam that the stock seatpost on a 56cm frame could accommodate is for someone with about an 88cm/35inch inseam?

Steve B.

I never ride in the rain and usually wait for dry roads before heading out, thus the OEM's might be OK. I purchased a set of 28mm GP5000's, not sure I want to install. I thought of going tubeless and running air pressure down around 70-80, but found the bike rode so smoothly at 100-105 that I may just experiment with lowering on the Bontrager's to 95-100 or so. I like the idea of the GP5000's as tubeless, but am so accustomed to using tubes on road bikes, that am Ok staying with old school, plus I rarely get flats.

Steve B.

That sounds correct. The Trek sizing guide for a 56 ETT bike is 81-85cm inseam. Thus the stock post is too long to fit what the Trek sizing guide says should be an appropriate fit. That longer post is really for the next sized bike which is a 58. I may well write to Trek and complain as the post that was supplied is inappropriate for their own fit guide.

t2p

that bike is sweet - it (and you) deserves a set of Conti GP5K’s … with or without tubes

phughes

Looks great! Enjoy!

wheelreason

See the short, upright stem?...

Steve B.

Yes. The OEM is a 10cm with (I think) a 7 deg. rise. Flipped it puts the bar too low, high is too high, thus I changed to a 9cm 5 deg. stem I had, set low, the bar is in a better spot.

Steve B.

Well, I took your advice and installed the GP5000’s this morning, am running them with tubes until Amazon delivers the tubeless valves. I’ll get a few days on tubes. They measure at almost exactly 28mm wide and I was OK with 80-90 psi this morning. I am usually agnostic to road tire ride quality, but had 5000’s on my Chinese carbon. These do ride smoother and a bit quicker compared to the Bontragers. I am really loving this bike, the ride quality is remarkably smoother than an open mold carbon that I got near 9,000 miles out of. Had to watch a YT to figure out what Trek did to install the thru axles. They have a supplied lever that lives in the rear it seems. I think it can still use a 5mm hex, have to check. Rims were a bit of a pain to mount tires, not sure I want to do it on the road, good reason to go tubeless.

bboy314

Congrats on the new ride! If I recall correctly, the tool surface on those axles is 6mm. There is kind of a gasket in there that holds the supplied handle in, which adds some resistance when inserting the wrench. Just make sure it’s inserted deeply enough when you go to wrench on it.

Mtracer

Not sure what is appropriate pressure with tubes, but with tubeless it is likely around 70 PSI. And keep in mind the penalty for lower pressure is very small while going above optimal the penalty rises very quickly. So, erring on too low is better than too high. And what the heck, it's more comfortable too. I probably already said this, but I run my GP 5000 S TRs at 58/61 PSI (front/back) on my Domane and I weigh in around 190-195 lbs. So, more like 220 lbs total, bike etc.

I agree, it's 6 mm and there is that extra resistance which makes it feel like a 6 mm doesn't fit. I generally just leave the supplied lever in the rear, and use a 6 mm hex wrench in the shop on the front.

Steve B.

Plus the removal side is in the left while every other TA bike I’ve used it’s on the right. All good and thanks for the 6mm info.

Steve B.

I was planning 70-80 ish when I changed to tubeless. I’m a beefy clyde, so think that’ll be my target.