If you came to Big Bear Bikes and asked us to recommend a road bike that can do it all, every one of us would suggest Trek Domane. It’s an endurance bike that’s built for comfort so you can ride all day on the less-than-perfect English roads but with a few tweaks it’s also happy on gravel and other, gentler off-road terrain. Let’s take a look at what makes this range so popular.
What are the key things you need to know about this bike? Well, it puts you in a more upright position than the other two bikes in Trek’s core road range, Madone and Emonda, so you’ll feel comfortable for longer. The SL and SLR models feature Trek’s IsoSpeed technology, with a decoupler where the seat tube meets the top tube to give you a smoother ride.
Domane typically comes with 32mm tyres to soak up the bumps on those rougher road surfaces, which compares to 25mm - 28mm on Emonda and Madone. But that’s not to say it can’t beat its thoroughbred brothers on the right surfaces: It was designed for and still competes in the Paris-Roubaix classic - the famous French race with lots of cobblestone segments.
We talk to a lot of people who want to try a sportive - a long distance race that’s timed but not competitive - and this is exactly the kind of riding Domane excels at. It’s great over longer distances, whether you’re taking on a sportive or you’re exploring the North York Moors villages with a group of friends.
The Domane range in its latest iteration - “Gen 4” - runs from the Domane AL 2 for £1,050 all the way up to the Domane SLR 9 AXS for £13,000. The most popular with Big Bear Bikes customers are the SL 5 (above, right) and 6, carbon-framed bikes which sit in the middle of the range.
We’ll look at the key specs of the SL 6 AXS:
Yes, it can. The way to achieve this would be by swapping out the tyres because the wheel set has a slightly wider rim and more clearance around the top of the fork so it can take a wider tyre. Trek Domane can typically take tyres up to 38mm without mudguards and 35mm with mudguards.
It’s worth remembering that if you’re using a tyre with more grip, it’s going to pick up a bit more muck so you have to think about mud clearance as well. There are plenty of tyres designed to take you off the beaten track. We stock Bontrager GR1, which has more of a tread pattern to it, as well as Pirelli Cinturato, which comes with a number of different options.
If you want an out-and-out gravel bike, we suggest you go for the Trek Checkpoint. If you want a bike that’s great for all day adventures on the road but has the versatility to ride gravel too, then that’s Domane.
There are some really top end finishes on the Domane. We have had a Domane SL 6 AXS in Deep Dark Blue on display recently and it looked incredible, with a metallic paint job we’re more used to seeing on Project One bikes. Needless to say, it sold pretty quickly. But there’s more where that came from!
Aesthetics matter more to some people and less to others, compared to the technical specification and capabilities of a bike. Having said that, it’s impossible not to have your head turned by some of the colourways Trek are producing for the Gen 4 Domane. Check out Axinite Flip/Trek Black (above) on some of the higher end models and Juniper, a kind of British Racing Green that features on several models.
Our Sales Manager Olly said: “If someone wants to get into road biking, this would be a great model to start with, especially if you want something that’s more forgiving on the road surface and that you can ride all day long.
“Of the road bikes we stock, the entry price is the lowest compared to the Madone and Emonda, though it’s still a great bike at that level. It’s a bike for all rides, whether you’re starting off young, you’re on a lower budget, you want comfort or you want a bike you can gravel up.
“I believe some of the best road riding is on some of those country roads with the less than perfect surfaces. As much as we might dream of lovely smooth tarmac, in reality there’s lots of roads that need a little TLC and the Domane is great on those surfaces. You wouldn’t want to be riding into big potholes but it’s great when the roads are a bit bumpier and uneven.”
If this sounds like your kind of riding, come and see us in store in Pickering, talk to our friendly team and check out those amazing colourways for yourself.
