A new, as yet unreleased Trek Domane endurance bike has been spotted at Paris-Roubaix with a host of changes including a new frame shape, reworked Isospeed rear damper, a conventional round seatpost and, most notably of all, no evidence of front Isospeed.
In many respects, the new bike appears to turn back the clock, doing away with features that appeared on the last generation Domane.
The third generation Trek Domane (pictured above in grey) was a complex beast, with adjustable rear Isospeed, buzz-killing front Isospeed and a proprietary seat mast setup.
It remains to be seen whether this new bike is a wholesale replacement for the current model – it’s possible this could be a complementary model aimed at racers, designed to sit alongside the full-squish endurance model that caters to mere mortal needs.
Making its race debut
Trek-Segafredo women’s and men’s team will be racing the new bike at the Hell of the North this weekend and this is the first time it’s been spotted in the wild. Hours after being spotted, Trek-Segafredo’s Elisa Longo Borgini piloted the bike to victory. A decent first outing, we’d say.
The Isospeed rear damper no longer seems to stretch along the top tube, instead being confined to the seat cluster, as on the original Domane.
At the front it appears there’s no Isospeed at all, although it’s possible Trek is being sneaky here and there’s something going on internally that we can’t see.
The whole front end has been restyled and now more resembles the Madone aero bike.
The head tube is long front-to-back with a pronounced channel cutting across it. The shape flows into an aero-profiled downtube and as ever the bottom bracket area is huge.
The entire Trek women’s team are equipped with 1× SRAM Red eTap AXS drivetrains, with chainrings between 52 and 56-tooth. All had K-Edge chain catchers to prevent chain drops.
World Champion Elisa Balsamo was even afforded an iridescent cassette to match her rainbow jersey.
The bikes are wearing Project One decals. Project One is Trek’s custom paint programme and here the bikes feature a nod to Roubaix on the forks and race numbers on the seattube.
Additional reporting by Matthew Loveridge.
Looking to watch the race? Check out our guide on how to watch and live stream the race and the lowdown of the favourites for Paris Roubaix 2022.