Trek Domane goes on a diet to eat up the road

Simplified IsoSpeed system and frame redesign slash weight for new three-model range

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While the new Trek Domane isn't the first bike to receive a facelift in the pursuit of a 'lighter and faster' outcome, attempting this while maintaining the all-day comfort the bike is known for required quite a balancing act.

Both the fourth-generation Domane SL and SLR frames have been redesigned to make them close to 300g lighter than the outgoing models. Trek claims that it's also the fastest Domane it's ever made. However, despite this new "performance tilt", the bike is still billed as being as comfortable and capable as before. The result is a bike that appears equipped to walk the tightrope with not just assurance but a little swagger too.

"It feels like a performance road bike," says Jordan Roessingh, director of road bikes at Trek, "and you still maintain all the benefits of the previous versions."

Those benefits, namely comfort and capability, were achieved through the combination of clearance for tyres as wide as 38mm and IsoSpeed technology that further ironed out the bumps in the road. Combined, they gave the Domane its place in the Trek road line-up as a multi-faceted endurance bike.

Both remain, although the Isospeed system has been overhauled in the pursuit of reduced weight and greater simplicity. Its now a 'rear-end' system only; the front-end IsoSpeed has been removed entirely while the rear is now non-adjustable, with Trek saying that its feedback from Domane users told them the adjustability function was rarely used.