Fair enough,but I can also buy a S5 with Di2 for less than $10k.
Is the Madone a bike that is 40% better?

Lets get away from the top end bikes then....
In that case I can buy a S5 with Ultegra 11 for less than $4800.
Is the Madone a bike that is 25% faster/better/nicer?
Not to me.

Any which way, the bike is over priced. (Bikes in general a waaaaay over priced, but thats the nature of the beast at the moment)
Is it a beautiful bike? No doubt.
Would I love to have one? Absolutely!

But I cant justify that price tag (or the Venge ViAS, but at least that comes with a PM)

Agree, prices are ridiculous. Cervelos do tend to price a little better....right now anyway. I think its very risky trying to make judgements on "which bike is better". Imminent bike testing from the magazines might help clarify this to a point - but probably only to a point. I think one is better off just buying what they like - unless the person is a pro racer. They are all good bikes. If I can beat someone when I'm riding a new Trek Madone, I will also beat them when riding Cervelo S5, S3, S2, R3, Trek Domane, etc.

Isn't due diligence fun? Several patent search engines out there...but using them efficiently and effectively can be a challenge. When in doubt, I punt to the legal department.

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Carl Matson

Pretty happy, just managed to get my order in for P1, 9 series Madone, H1 . . .U5 vapourcoat again, ceramicspeed BB upgrade, Di2 . . . . just buy what you like. 30-44 day wait now.

Haters are always going to hate.

Trek have done something different than a lot of other manufacturers, a point of difference I guess. Imagine if there was only 1 bike that everybody had to ride . . . boring, vanilla flavour cycling . . .

Keep the rubber side down and just ride . . .

Depends on how you race. I've lost sprints by the width of the tire, not even the tire and rim. Analytic cycling tells me that in some cases, changes I make can get me a meter or more. Granted, the overwhelming majority of races I've lost (and there have been many *insert flashbacks*) were by a lot more!

Looking forward to seeing that one. Some of the paint schemes look great!

Carl, What stem lengths are spec'ed on the preconfigured bikes (all of which appear to be H2)? Specifically interested in 58 and 60cm on the 9.5 build. Would I have to order a separate bar/stem if I sought a longer reach or are dealers swapping these out?

Apologies if I missed this. Thank you.

58cm gets a 44x100, 60cm gets a 44x110...not sure what the dealers are doing re: swaps...I imagine it varies from dealer to dealer.

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Carl Matson