Leaked photo shows new lightweight bike with a hole in the seat tube
(Image credit: Weight Weenies: Ritxis)
If we were asked to write a list of new bikes we expect to see launched in 2024, a new Trek Emonda would almost certainly have featured. It's now four calendar years since the bike last saw an update so going by Trek's product cycle, it's fast approaching its due date for a refresh.
Luckily for Emonda fans, it appears that imaginary prediction would be correct, because before we'd even entered the new year, we were given a pretty significant clue suggesting not only that a new version is coming, but what it might look like when it does.
Thanks to the WeightWeenies forum, more specifically its member 'Ritxis', we have a photo of Giulio Ciccone aboard what can only be described as a slimmed-down Madone, complete with that hole in the seat tube.
Now, a caveat: Of course, we don't know for sure that this bike is indeed an Emonda, or ironically even a Trek for that matter. The bike shown is entirely blank, devoid of any branding or model names (besides an illegible white mark on the top tube), as is often the case with prototypes.
With that said, various clues in the image steer us toward our conclusions with a degree of confidence.
Among them is the fact that it's being ridden by Giulio Ciccone, a rider whose Lidl-Trek team is sponsored by Trek Bikes, and has been for over a decade. Second: the bike is shod with Bontrager wheels, a component subsidiary borne out of the Trek brand. Third, and perhaps most strongly, is that the design of the frame is also very Trek-like. The cut-out in the seat tube, handily circled by our forumite, is extremely similar to the IsoFlow seat tube hole which made headlines / gained notoriety (delete as appropriate) when the Madone launched in summer of 2022.
In fact, at first glance you'd be forgiven for thinking that this was indeed just a Madone, but although we only have one photo, when you look more closely it appears the tubes of the frame are rounder and slimmer than the Madone, all but confirming that this is not that. Given the timing and the use case, it's also unlikely to be a Domane, which leads us to believe that this is indeed a new Emonda.
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Of course, we can't rule out Trek adding another road bike to its range, although it does seem unlikely. With Emonda, Domane and Madone all existing as anagrams of one another, there can't be many options left… Perhaps it could channel the supernatural with the Daemon? More seriously, given the ever-closening convergence of aero bikes and lightweight bikes, with aero bikes getting lighter and lightweight bikes getting faster, Trek's commitment to the Madone and the Emonda as separate platforms would leave little room for a third in between.
Of the two platforms, it makes sense that the Lidl-Trek team would have a new Emonda that is faster, ideally maintaining its ability to hit the 6.8kg UCI limit, alongside the existing Madone which is heavier but faster still.
Giulio Ciccone is the only rider we've seen aboard the new bike so far (Image credit: Weight Weenies: Ritxis)
So what can we deduce? Well based on this image, not a huge amount aside from the existence of what appears to be another IsoFlow seat tube hole. The seat- and chain-stays look to be slim, but not much slimmer than the existing Emonda. The head tube looks to have a small cut-out for the top cover of the headset, helping it to sit flush with the top of the top tube, and it appears the front cable enters in front of the steerer, as it currently does on the existing Emonda.
Notably, the bike shown is using a two-piece bar and stem rather than an integrated one-piece system, but that could purely be down to component availability or the slightly easier nature of setup, something which may benefit Ciccone as he dials in the fit of his new bike.
In addition, it looks as though it may be equipped with a seatpost rather than a seatmast topper, as well as SRAM's UDH, albeit both are impossible to confirm from this solitary image.
As for a launch date, your guess is as good as ours at this stage. Trek has history of 'leaking' bikes into the public eye at the Criterium du Dauphine before a full launch in line with the Tour de France. That's how things played out with the Madone in 2022, so we'd hazard a guess at Trek taking a similar approach, but only time will tell.
Josh is Associate Editor of Cyclingnews – leading our content on the best bikes, kit and the latest breaking tech stories from the pro peloton. He has been with us since the summer of 2019 and throughout that time he's covered everything from buyer's guides and deals to the latest tech news and reviews.
On the bike, Josh has been riding and racing for over 15 years. He started out racing cross country in his teens back when 26-inch wheels and triple chainsets were still mainstream, but he found favour in road racing in his early 20s, racing at a local and national level for Somerset-based Team Tor 2000. These days he rides indoors for convenience and fitness, and outdoors for fun on road, gravel, 'cross and cross-country bikes, the latter usually with his two dogs in tow.
