trek emonda alr 2015

Trek Emonda ALR Disc 5 review

Trek has launched an updated aluminium bike in 2018. The new Trek Emonda ALR is a super lightweight machine that rides really well

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Trek has raised the game in my eyes when it comes to aluminium and offers something truly amazing for £1,750. Aluminium has never looked so good and a disc-brake bike weighing in under 8kg is just what you need.

Quality feel

Handling not as sharp as rivals

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An entrant for the second year in a row is the Trek Emonda ALR. It still performs incredibly well for the price and looks totally badass, especially for an aluminium bike. Trek has done an amazing job with its welds, the ride and the price and that is why it is in Editor’s Choice again.

Has Trek helped make aluminium sexy again? Well, I'm my eyes it has – just look at how good this bike looks! It has turned many heads, even in this black colour way. I'm just upset I didn't get the shiny purple colour in the Trek Emonda ALR range.

Trek call its new bike "lightweight aluminium perfection" and it is hard to disagree with that statement, especially as the disc brake-ready frameset weighs a claimed 1,131g for a 56cm, and the 52cm build you see here only weights 7.8kg – possibly even claiming the title for the lightest aluminium bike on the market currently.

>>> Aluminium road bikes: five of the best

This is very good for a sub £1,800 bike, great for an aluminium bikes, let alone one with disc brakes.

Part of this weight saving is down to what Trek claims is its most optimised structure ever which, via hydroforming, has allowed the  Trek  engineers to manipulate, stretch and design complex shapes from the 300 series Alpha aluminium.

This itself is said to offer great ride quality as well as a strong structure and a carbon-like aesthetic. It also means that each tube can fit to its neighbour perfectly, resulting in less material being required around the welds – thus saving weight without losing strength at the joins. This is where its slender 7.8kg comes in.

What makes the bikes look like carbon is what Trek call its “Invisible Weld Technology” and it ultimately increases the surface area of the frame which adds to strength and cuts down weight.

I rode the purple piece of perfection (called purple flip) in Waterloo, Trek's base at home. Get up close and you can really see that Trek has done a stellar job at making the Trek Emonda ALR as close as an aluminium can be to looking like carbon. It really does look that good.

I have the black version here, which comes in Trek's Emonda ALR 4 guise, but it's been built up with Shimano 105 hydraulic disc which means it is really the Emonda ALR 5 – the frameset stays the same. It still looks great though and on our industry ride from the Cycling Weekly office the other day, it turned a lot of riders' heads, followed by a "no way!" when I told them the price.

Trek Emonda ALR: the ride

My lasting memory of the Trek Emonda ALR was a good one. I got to ride the Emonda ALR 5 disc for 60 or so kilometres around Trek’s home in Waterloo, Wisconsin. On relatively well paved roads on a very warm summer’s evening the bike performed amazingly well and did one thing that I like for an aluminium bike: that is to not to ride like an aluminium bike. But did the Emonda ALR live up to it at home on UK roads?

I think so!

What I like the most here is that you are getting the best from the brakes and the best from the tyres thanks to the clearance, without the weight penalty that a sub-£1,800 bike would normally give.

Right now the lanes are in pretty poor condition and it was no issues on the ALR: those chunky 28c tyres cushioned the road well enough and the frame did a fantastic job at reducing the buzz. Look at those slender and long rear stays with no brake arch to help compliance!

The geometry is based on Trek’s H2 formula, which gives a more relaxed fit. It basically means the front of the bike is slightly higher in a more endurance style. H1 is more aggressive and racier and can be found on the Emonda SLR, the top-end carbon version of the bike raced by the pros.

This slowed the bikes handling down a little and is where I'd say the Cannondale  CAAD12 performs better. If the endurance market is where Trek wants the bike to be aimed, then it has got it right, but compared to the Cannondale it doesn't feel as fun.

It does, however, ride better than its rival and for the price, weight and spec (yes, you can get Shimano Ultegra mechanical around this price point) it's pretty unrivalled thanks to the performance of the new Shimano 105 disc brake groupset.

Braking is effortless, shifting is quick and precise, more so than the previous version of 105, and you don't get much of a weight penalty for it.

Ultimately the Trek Emonda ALR is a great bike for those looking to get a ride on the well equipped machine that rides more like carbon than aluminium. For an aluminium bike it feels assured and comfortable which is one thing that this material in particular can struggle with and it looks great!

Buy now: Trek Emonda ALR Disc 5 from Rutland Cycles for £1649.99

Trek seems to have got this right with the Emonda ALR: is this aluminium making a strong comeback once again? It seems so.

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Symon Lewis joined Cycling Weekly as an Editorial Assistant in 2010, he went on to become a Tech Writer in 2014 before being promoted to Tech Editor in 2015 before taking on a role managing Video and Tech in 2019. Lewis discovered cycling via Herne Hill Velodrome, where he was renowned for his prolific performances, and spent two years as a coach at the South London velodrome. 

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Results have arrived, trek emonda alr 5 road bike - 2015, 58cm, item #brd14028, condition: pre-owned used condition with signs of use but functions as intended. backed by tpc's risk-free return policy..

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The Émonda SL 6, with a carbon frame and a Shimano Ultegra groupset, is £2,250.

> Check out our review of the Émonda SL 5 here

The ALR 6 rides really well, providing snappy acceleration through its taut frame. Weighing in at 8.1kg (17.9lb), our review bike is quick off the mark. It's actually Trek's lightest ever aluminium road bike. Sure, there are plenty of lighter bikes out there, but this is a good weight and, equally important, the frame is stiff enough to hold firm when you put the power down.

Trek uses its premium 300 Series Alpha Aluminum for the three aluminium Émondas rather than the 100 Series it uses for the Domane AL models or the 200 Series it uses for the Domane ALR , and this higher grade material is hydroformed (high pressure fluid is used to shape the metal) into size-specific tubes. In other words, the tubes are made differently so that each size of frame performs the same.

Although it houses a standard 24mm (rather than an oversized 30mm) axle, the 86.5mm wide bottom bracket holds everything firmly through the centre of the bike, providing a solid platform from which you can lay down your power.

Well equipped

The Émonda ALR 6 has good climbing skills, transferring your effort efficiently into forward movement. The decent weight helps here, as does the fact that it's equipped with a new Shimano Ultegra 8000 groupset (we'll be reviewing it separately) that includes a compact chainset (with 50-tooth and 34-tooth chainrings) and an 11-28-tooth cassette.

This provides you with lower gear ratios than you get with a standard chainset, so getting up steep hills becomes easier – and even the pros sometimes use compacts for the big mountains. You might yearn for a larger inner sprocket, I guess. If so, the short cage version of the Shimano Ultegra R8000 rear derailleur will take a maximum 30-tooth.

The compact chainset does mean you have to do without the biggest gears you get with a standard chainset, so you'll spin out sooner on fast descents. That said, you're still likely to be able to pedal at over 35mph with the setup you get here (100rpm gets you 35.7mph, 120rpm gets you 42.8mph).

Speaking of descending, the Émonda ALR 6 provides you with plenty of assurance on the way down. The E2 tapered head tube, with a 1 1/2in lower bearing, provides a high level of stiffness at the front end, and that becomes more noticeable the harder you slam the bike into corners. Rather than wavering about, it takes you exactly where you want to go and that gives you the confidence to keep pushing the speed up.

When required, the Shimano Ultegra brakes bite the Émonda's alloy rims hard to provide strong and predictable power whether you just need to shave off a bit of speed or come to a complete standstill. With all that muscle at my disposal, I felt I could rag it down sketchy descents without things feeling at all hazardous.

Comfortable ride

The aluminium Émondas are built to what Trek calls its H2 geometry. Essentially, this is a performance-orientated geometry but it's a little more relaxed than a Trek H1 setup; the head tube is a little taller and the top tube is a little shorter, giving you a slightly more upright riding position. The idea, of course, is to provide more comfort and confidence.

We have the 58cm model here on test and it comes with a 19cm head tube. That's fairly lofty for a race bike but it's not up there with that of some endurance road bikes – not even close. With a stack height of 596mm and a reach of 391mm, the Émonda ALR 6 still has half an eye on an efficient aero position.

Trek has specced a compact handlebar so your riding position isn't too extreme when you rest your hands down on the drops. The Bontrager Race VR-C has a drop (the vertical distance from the centre of the bar at the stem clamp point to the centre of the bar at the ends) of 125mm so when you make the switch from the hoods you certainly feel like you're moving into an 'attack' position, but it's not crazy-deep. 

Aluminium bikes are often characterised as harsh but that's largely unfair, the Émonda ALR 6 providing at least an average amount of give. It's certainly a long, long way from jangling. The skinny seatstays doubtless contribute to that, as does the lengthy amount of carbon fibre seatpost that you're almost certain to have extending out of the frame thanks to the sloping top tube. That seatpost is a slim 27.2mm in diameter and it flexes enough to help polish over bumps and dents in the road surface.

Bontrager's Montrose Comp cutout saddle has loads of flex in its shell along with quite deep cushioning – a little too deep for my taste, if truth be told, but we're all different. If you feel the need for more comfort you could simply swap the 25mm Bontrager R2 Hard-Case Lite tyres for something in a 28mm width. The frame and fork have enough clearance and so do the Shimano Ultegra R8000 dual-pivot brakes, so there's nothing stopping you. The other option would be to run tubeless tyres (the ones fitted aren't tubeless compatible) at lower pressures on the Bontrager Aeolus Comp 5 Tubeless Ready wheels. 

The rims of those wheels are aluminium, a carbon fairing on the spoke-side taking the total depth to 50mm without the addition of a whole lot of weight. The idea, of course, it to improve the aero efficiency. One drawback to this design is that you can't get to the spoke nipples externally; they're hidden away inside the fairing. This means you need to take off the tyre, inner tube (if you're using one) and rim tape for adjustments if the wheel goes out of true. That's a pain, especially if you're using a tubeless system with sealant in there. That said, both wheels have run straight and true throughout testing so it's a non-issue so far. 

The rest of the spec is very impressive, particularly the new Shimano Ultegra 8000 groupset – and that's a full groupset right down to the chain, rather than a mix of eye-catching components and downgrades.

> Check out the Shimano Ultegra 8000 groupset here

You probably already know that Ultegra is Shimano's second tier road groupset, and we have only good things to say about it. The bottom line is that Ultegra provides great shifting and braking to keep you fully in control. It's excellent stuff! As mentioned above, we'll run a full review on it separately.

The obvious difficulty the Émonda ALR 6 has is that at £2,000 it's up against a lot of carbon bikes, and there's definitely a perception that carbon is simply better than aluminium... and that's not necessarily the case. Yes, carbon has some big advantages when it comes to making stiff and lightweight bikes, but it's not the be-all and end-all. Certainly don't write off a bike because it's not carbon, that's madness. 

> Buyer's Guide: 13 of the best aluminium road bikes

Which would I choose if I were buying, the £2,000 Émonda ALR 6 or the £1,800 SL 5? Well, that depends. I'd personally prefer the direct mount brakes and internal cable routing you get with the SL 5, but if you're not bothered by those things you get more for your money with the ALR 6.

Shimano 105 makes up the biggest share of groupsets on £2,000 road bikes, so the Ultegra specced on the Émonda ALR 6 is a bonus. There are plenty of exceptions, though. Giant's TCR Advanced 1, for example, with a carbon composite frame and a Shimano Ultegra groupset, is only £1,799, and Merida's Scultura 5000, priced £2,000, has a carbon frame and fork and an Ultegra groupset. This means the Émonda ALR 6 is up against some stiff opposition on value. I'd say it offers a very good deal, but it's not out on its own.

Overall, the Émonda ALR 6 is a very strong offering. Do yourself a favour and take aluminium seriously. This is a quick and taut bike that provides plenty of comfort, and the Shimano Ultegra components are superb. 

Quick and lively aluminium road bike with a good ride quality and excellent Shimano Ultegra components

road.cc test report

Make and model: Trek Émonda ALR 6

Size tested: 58cm

About the bike

State the frame and fork material and method of construction. List the components used to build up the bike.

Frame Ultralight 300 Series Alpha Aluminium, Invisible Weld Technology, E2 tapered head tube, DuoTrap S compatible, BB86.5

Fork Émonda carbon, carbon E2 steerer

Wheels Bontrager Aeolus Comp 5 Tubeless Ready

Tyres Bontrager R2 Hard-Case Lite, 700x25c

Shifters Shimano Ultegra, 11-speed

Front derailleur Shimano Ultegra, braze-on

Rear derailleur Shimano Ultegra

Crank Shimano Ultegra, 50/34 (compact)

Bottom bracket Press Fit BB86.5

Cassette Shimano Ultegra, 11-28, 11-speed

Chain Shimano Ultegra

Saddle Bontrager Montrose Comp, chromoly rails

Seatpost Bontrager carbon, 2-bolt head, 27.2 mm, 8 mm offset

Handlebar Bontrager Race VR-C, 31.8 mm

Handlebar tape Bontrager

Stem Bontrager Pro, 31.8 mm, 7-degree, w/computer and light mounts

Headset Integrated, cartridge bearing, sealed, 1-1/8in upper, 1.5in lower

Brakeset Shimano Ultegra

Tell us what the bike is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about the bike?

Trek says, "Émonda ALR 6 is the highest-end aluminium road bike in the Émonda line-up. It's light, fast, responsive and engineered to hold its own in every way against far more expensive carbon models. A performance Shimano Ultegra drivetrain, aero wheels and lightweight aluminium frame make it an ideal choice for crit racers, club riders, climbers and anyone who wants the fastest aluminium road bike that we make."

It lists these attributes:

​• This is a top-of-the-line aluminium racing bike that lives for speed.

• Like every Émonda, it's built to be the lightest and fastest in its class and backed by our lifetime warranty.

• No one likes ugly welds: Invisible Weld Technology for seamless looks and lighter weight.

• It shares the geometry of our highest-end carbon Émonda racing bikes, and it gives you a ride quality that stands up in every way to far more expensive carbon bikes.

Frame and fork

Tell us about the build quality and finish of the frame and fork?

The build quality is very high.

The smooth welds and very good finish mean that you can barely see the joints between the tubes.

Treks says it has used Invisible Weld Technology here. What's that?

"Revolutionary welding technology creates a better connection with each tube junction, increasing strength while using less material," says Trek. 

Well, they certainly look neat! If you want to see the welds you have to look closely. Really closely!

Unlike on the carbon Émondas, the cabling is fully external.

The frame is compatible with a DuoTrap S sensor. This is a Bluetooth/ANT+ sensor that sits in a hollow on the non-driveside chainstay to measure speed, distance and cadence on a bike computer or smartphone.

Tell us about the materials used in the frame and fork?

Trek says that the 300 Series Alpha Aluminum is an upgrade over its 200 Series. It is hydroformed into size-specific tubes.

The fork legs and steerer are carbon..

Tell us about the geometry of the frame and fork?

The Émonda ALR 6 is built to Trek's H2 fit, as is the ALR 5.

H2 is slightly more relaxed than Trek's H1 fit but it is still a race-orientated geometry.

How was the bike in terms of height and reach? How did it compare to other bikes of the same stated size?

We had the 58cm model with a 573mm effective top tube, a 553mm seat tube and a 190mm head tube. The stack height (vertical distance from the centre of the bottom bracket to the top of the top tube) is 596mm and the reach (the horizontal distance between those two points) is 391mm.

It puts you into a fairly aggressive riding position, but it's not as full-on as Trek's H1 fit.

Riding the bike

Was the bike comfortable to ride? Tell us how you felt about the ride quality.

Yes, it is a comfortable bike. Don't believe all that stuff about aluminium being harsh.

Did the bike feel stiff in the right places? Did any part of the bike feel too stiff or too flexible?

Yes, it's stiff through the bottom bracket and the head tube. There was less steerer tube flex when I moved the stem right down.

How did the bike transfer power? Did it feel efficient?

Yes, it's stiff through the bottom bracket.

Was there any toe-clip overlap with the front wheel? If so, was it a problem?

A little but I don't find it a problem.

How would you describe the steering? Was it lively, neutral or unresponsive? The lively side of neutral

Which components had the most effect (good or bad) on the bike's comfort? would you recommend any changes?

I always have loads of seatpost extending out of the frame, and that certainly helps with comfort, especially if it's a slim 27.2mm diameter post like the one here.

Which components had the most effect (good or bad) on the bike's efficiency? would you recommend any changes?

Everything feels pretty efficient to me.

The drivetrain

Wheels and tyres.

Tell us some more about the wheels and tyres.Did they work well in the conditions you encountered? Would you change the wheels or tyres? If so, what for?

The wheels are decent enough, but they're not stunning.

Your summary

Did you enjoy riding the bike? Yes

Would you consider buying the bike? Yes, for a bike at this price it would be on the shortlist.

Would you recommend the bike to a friend? Yes

Use this box to explain your score

Some people will doubtless be put off by the fact that this bike is aluminium and they could get a carbon-framed bike for this kind of money. My argument would be that a carbon bike isn't always better than an aluminium bike. You get a bike that performs very well here, complete with an extremely good groupset. It's definitely one to consider if you're in the market for a performance-minded bike at this price.

Overall rating: 8 /10

About the tester

Age: 47   Height: 190cm    Weight: 75kg

I've been riding for: Over 20 years   I ride: Most days   I would class myself as: Expert

I regularly do the following types of riding: commuting, club rides, sportives, general fitness riding

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Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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Trek Émonda ALR 4 review

A great fun frameset with kit to match

Robert Smith

Matthew Loveridge

Outstanding ride, quality finish

No mudguard mounts

Almost three years ago, Trek launched what it claimed to be the world’s lightest production bike, the incredible carbon Émonda SLR. The Émonda ALR is its more affordable aluminium counterpart, and it offers an experience that’s closer to the big daddy than you might think.

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The Émonda ALR’s frame is everything you’d hope for from a modern aluminium bike in tech terms.

It’s dainty in key areas for comfort, with slim seatstays and a 27.2mm seatpost promising compliance. The press-fit bottom bracket won’t warm the cockles of your mechanic’s heart, but it (probably) contributes to a stiff pedalling platform, and as you move to the front of the bike there’s more beefiness as the top tube and down tube broaden to meet a head tube with a big 1.5in lower bearing.

Cabling is fully external and I'm fine with that. I wish Trek had stuck mudguard mounts on, but you can’t have everything.

At every tube junction, the welds are nicely smoothed, and the overall finish is excellent. I sometimes lament the ubiquity of sombre-toned bikes, but the ALR’s “black pearl” paint is indeed pearlescent and looks rather luxurious up close, sparkling in direct sunlight.

As an added bonus, the grey logo and additional highlights are reflective — safety first! If you’re not convinced, there’s a matt red version too.

Shimano’s shiny 10-speed Tiagra groupset seems to have become the go-to for bikes like this, and it’s not at all unwelcome. Its glossy grey finish is strongly reminiscent of Ultegra and its shifting feel is remarkably close too. The most noticeable difference is in the brakes — the calipers are stiffer than the budget alternatives found on some of the competition and braking is fine, but the pads are basic one-piece items.

As you’d expect on a Trek, all the finishing kit is from in-house brand Bontrager, and it’s all good stuff, albeit not particularly eye-catching.

The Montrose saddle may be a little bit soft for some riders, but it does have a decent pressure relief cut-out. The wheels are Bontrager too and whilst basic, they do offer tubeless compatibility, although you’ll need new tyres if you want to ditch your inners.

The Émonda ALR’s real selling point is its ride, which is nigh-on perfectly judged. If this is your first road bike, you’ll be blown away by how stiff and alive it feels; and if you’re accustomed to more exotic fare you’ll marvel at a bike this affordable being so good.

Even with relatively modest rolling stock, the Émonda feels stiff and alive, rewarding aggressive out-of-the-saddle riding. It doesn’t have any fancy bump-taming technology and it’s not as comfy as a dedicated endurance bike, but it’s still commendably smooth.

What’s really impressive is how taut and together the whole frameset feels. It’s the sort of bike that encourages you to lean hard on the outside pedal and fling it through sweeping bends. It’s racy enough for actual competition, but not so extreme that novices won’t enjoy it.

The reality is that this budget Émonda is 95 percent as good as the Ultegra-equipped version. It’s a little bit heavier and the brakes aren’t as good, but the ride quality is identical and it’s a lot cheaper.

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Trek Emonda ALR first-ride review: Light and fast, but best on smooth roads

Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! >","name":"in-content-cta","type":"link"}}'>Download the app .

It wasn’t all that long ago that aluminum was considered largely obsolete as a frame material: too soft and heavy relative to carbon fiber, not as much zing or “life” as steel or titanium. But the material is nevertheless enjoying a strong resurgence, and Trek is the latest major brand to add fuel to that fire. The new Emonda ALR aluminum road family is reasonably competitive with carbon fiber in terms of weight and stiffness, and new manufacturing methods make it drop-dead gorgeous, too. It’s also comparatively cheap. But alas, there’s still a price to be paid.

The Emonda ALR by the numbers

On paper, it’s hard to argue with Trek’s new Emonda ALR.

At least as far as the scale is concerned, the Emonda ALR is nearly on-par with the carbon fiber Emonda SL. Claimed frame weight for the disc-brake is 1,131g, and 1,112g for the rim-brake edition — just 40g heavier than its fancier (and more expensive) cousin. And according to Trek, the Emonda ALR’s chassis stiffness figures aren’t far behind, either, thanks in no small part to the fact that its 300-Series Alpha Aluminum hydroformed tubes use nearly the same shapes as the upper-end Emondas.

Both rim-brake and disc-brake versions are on tap — naturally — and tire clearances are in-keeping with trends in the road space. Maximum official tire size on the rim-brake version is 25mm; 28mm for the disc-brake models. That sounds decidedly behind the times at first, yes, but keep in mind that Trek’s internal rating for maximum tire size is unusually conservative. Whereas most companies abide by international standards for clearance (at least 4mm of space on all sides of the tire at the closest point), Trek adds another 2mm on top of that, so comparing apples to apples, the rim-brake Emonda ALR will comfortably handle 29mm-wide tires, and the disc-brake bikes will fit 32mm-wide ones. Much better.

Handling-wise, Trek has carried over the same frame geometry as on the carbon Emonda models, which, in turn, were derived from the highly evolved figures of the long-standing Madone range. In other words, it promises truly neutral characteristics, with stable manners at high speeds, a seemingly contradictory willingness to carve through sinuous descents, and reasonable agility at low speeds without having the front end feel too floppy. Trek hasn’t changed its bread-and-butter road geometry much in ages, and that’s a good thing.

In terms of rider positioning, though, Trek will only offer the Emonda ALR in the tamer H2 fit with its slightly taller head tube. Riders who are specifically after a more aggressive posture will still need to look at the top-end Emonda SLR range.

Other features include partially internal cable routing (just through the down tube), 12mm front and rear thru-axles and flat-mount caliper interfaces on disc-brake models, quick-release dropouts and direct-mount caliper mounts on rim-brake models, PF86 press-fit bottom bracket shells across the board, tapered steerer tubes on the full-carbon forks, standard 27.2mm-diameter round seatposts with conventional external seatpost clamps, and a small pocket built into the non-driveside chainstay for Bontrager’s DuoTrap wireless speed and cadence sensor.

None of this sounds remotely groundbreaking. And the focus on stiffness-to-weight means there isn’t a smidgeon of aerodynamic shaping to be found here. There’s not a single mention of wind tunnels or grams of drag or yaw angles in any of Trek’s marketing collateral. In an ever-expanding world of sleek two-wheeled machines that are starting to look more like airplanes than bicycles, the Emonda ALR might seem like a throwback.

But oh, man, you just have to see the thing.

Invisible Weld Technology

The way aluminum bicycle frames are welded hasn’t changed much in decades. With few exceptions, tubes are mitered at the joints and held together in a jig for a close fit, and then the intersections are basically just melted together at high heat, with an additional bead of similar material — the weld bead — added on top for additional structural reinforcement. Sometimes welders take two passes over the joint, and sometimes it’s just one, and sometimes the bead is filed down for a smoother look. But by and large, the process is the same today as it was when people thought Jeff Bezos was nuts for thinking he could sell books over the internet.

Specialized legitimately moved things forward a few years ago with the introduction of Smartweld . Normally, those mitered aluminum tubes fit together kind of like how you would join empty rolls of paper towels together in a grade school art project, with the end of one tube carved out to fit tightly against the unaltered wall of the other tube.

But Smartweld is more like holding the bottom of two soda cans against each other. There’s a natural trough that the welding rod can fill, there’s more surface area to join together for better structural integrity, the weld itself is moved away from the areas of highest stress, the adjoining tube walls can be made thinner and lighter, and the resulting joint ends up more flush with the surrounding tube wall for a smoother finish. There’s more hydroforming work required to initially create that sort of interface geometry on the individual parts, but it’s a brilliant idea that Specialized has used to great effect.

Trek is now doing something similar, calling it “Invisible Weld Technology.” The concept is much the same, at least in terms of the weld joint geometry itself, but whereas Specialized moves the weld further up on the tubes, IWT uses the same weld location as a standard mitered joint.

Details aside, the result is visually stunning. For example, Trek has formed the head tube and top tube of the new Emonda ALR with the same shapes as the carbon fiber Emonda SL and SLR, and unless you look very closely, you can’t even tell where one part ends and the other begins; it’s truly seamless as far as your eyes are concerned.

Other areas of the frame are joined using more conventional welding techniques, and the Emonda’s press-fit bottom bracket shell is a far cry from the bulbous and hollow two-piece clamshell that Specialized uses on the Allez Sprint . But it’s important to note that Trek is just getting started with the IWT concept, and it’ll be very interesting to see where it goes from here.

Off-the-shelf, or build to suit

As good as the Emonda ALR platform sounds, Trek clearly isn’t interested in having it cannibalize sales from the carbon fiber Emonda families based on the build kits on tap. Just five complete models are available, all of which focus more on value than outright performance. Complete Shimano groupsets are featured throughout, along with hydraulic brakes for all disc-equipped models. The one exception are the Tektro brake calipers on lower-end rim-brake models, since Shimano doesn’t make a direct-mount caliper at that price point.

At the lower end are the Emonda ALR 4 and ALR 4 Disc, built with Shimano Tiagra and Bontrager Affinity TLR tubeless-ready aluminum clinchers. The rim-brake version costs US$1,360 / AU$1,500, and the disc-brake version (which won’t be brought into Australia) costs US$1,680.

At the upper end are the Emonda ALR 5 and ALR 5 Disc, built with the same Bontrager Affinity TLR tubeless-ready aluminum wheels, but with Shimano’s 105 groupset. Retail price for the rim-brake version is US$1,580 / AU$2,000, or US$1,890 / AU$2,400 for the disc-brake version.

There will also be a sole women-specific model, the Emonda ALR 5 Disc Women’s. Basic spec is unchanged, and it’s built with the same frameset, but touch points are altered to promote a better fit and feel. Pricing is the same as the standard Emonda ALR 5 Disc, but like the Emonda ALR 4 Disc, Trek doesn’t plan to sell it in Australia.

Trek still isn’t ignoring the performance potential of the Emonda ALR, either; there’s also a bare frameset available for riders that might want to do a higher-end build. Retail price is US$960 for either the rim-brake or disc-brake version, but neither will be imported into Australia.

Pricing and availability for other regions is still to be confirmed.

Bones, shaken

I rode a custom-built Emonda ALR for several hours on the roads surrounding Trek’s global headquarters in Waterloo, Wisconsin, where the rolling hills and seemingly endless expanse of sparsely populated roads provide plenty of opportunity to test a bike’s mettle. Rather than set us up on stock models, Trek went the DIY route, outfitting the frames with Shimano’s latest Ultegra mechanical groupset, low-profile Bontrager Aeolus XXX 2 carbon clinchers, 25mm-wide Bontrager R3 tubeless tires, and an assortment of Bontrager carbon fiber finishing kit. Total weight for my 52cm sample was just 7.4kg (16.31lb), without pedals, but with bottle cages and Blendr accessory mounts.

True to claims, the Emonda ALR felt satisfyingly stout under power, and plenty eager to squirt up short and punchy climbs. Front-end torsional rigidity is good, too, although not quite on-par with top-end carbon models, with some flex detected when you’re really wrenching on the bars.

As expected, handling is picture-perfect, like a well-trained horse that almost doesn’t require any physical input from its rider before doing exactly what you want it to. Set those numbers in stone, Trek.

But as pleasant as Trek’s home roads are, the asphalt is distinctly coarse and lumpy, and the pavement seams impossible to ignore. Trek has successfully showcased other bikes on this stage before, but for the Emonda ALR, it might have been better to choose somewhere with better-quality roads.

The Emonda ALR seems to put up a good fight against more expensive carbon bikes in terms of weight and stiffness, however it’s simply no match in terms of ride comfort. Even with the tires inflated to a modest 70psi or so under my 70kg body, the Emonda ALR offers a rough ride, with little vibration damping to speak of and plenty of impact harshness traveling up through the handlebar and saddle. If anything, it only highlights further the uncanny comfort of the new Madone .

That firm ride will certainly be viewed differently by different riders, and it’s important to note that frame compliance varies proportionally with frame size (and remember that I’m 1.73m tall, weigh 70kg, and ride a relatively small 52cm). Would a heavier and/or taller rider have a different experience? Maybe. But again, stiffness and weight still seem to me to have been the primary design objectives here, and frame compliance strikes me as falling further down on the list. Granted, switching to a more flexible seatpost and tires with more suppleness than the rather stiff-bodied Bontrager R3s of my test bike help, but there are limits to how much you can mask the inherent characteristics of a frameset. As is, the Emonda ALR wouldn’t be my first choice for a long day in the saddle on less-than-ideal road surfaces.

This isn’t to say that I wasn’t impressed with the Emonda ALR overall. I’m a big fan of aluminum bikes in general, and I’m definitely excited to see Trek (and others) devoting more attention to the genre. The Emonda ALR is light and stiff, and an unquestionably good value from a mainstream brand. Privateer racers will unquestionably find much to like here, as will anyone prioritizing stiffness and low weight, and living in areas with good-quality roads.

But just as perpetual motion machines, fountains of youth, and fusion reactors are still the stuff of folklore, the Emonda ALR isn’t quite a tale of getting true carbon fiber performance at aluminum pricing. If you enter into the arrangement with realistic expectations of what you might be getting, you’ll probably be happy with it. And as always, a test ride is probably a good idea before signing on the dotted line.

As much as some of us might like to believe otherwise, material properties are what they are, and as good as the Emonda ALR is, you still don’t get something for nothing.

www.trekbikes.com Disclaimer: Trek provided flights, accommodations, and loaner equipment for this event, and has previously advertised on CyclingTips.

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poga\u010dar\u2019","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/mathieu-van-der-poel-realistic-about-quest-for-fourth-monument-even-with-roubaix-legs-i-cannot-follow-pogacar-here\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/mathieu-van-der-poel-realistic-about-quest-for-fourth-monument-even-with-roubaix-legs-i-cannot-follow-pogacar-here\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"mathieu van der poel realistic about quest for monument sweep: \u2018even with roubaix legs i cannot follow poga\u010dar\u2019\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/mathieu-van-der-poel-realistic-about-quest-for-fourth-monument-even-with-roubaix-legs-i-cannot-follow-pogacar-here\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"mathieu van der poel realistic about quest for monument sweep: \u2018even with roubaix legs i cannot follow poga\u010dar\u2019\"}}\u0027>\n mathieu van der poel realistic about quest for monument sweep: \u2018even with roubaix legs i cannot follow poga\u010dar\u2019\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"xpedo\u2019s new power meter pedals are ready for the spotlight","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/xpedo-new-power-sonik-omni-and-thrust-omni-meter-pedals-sea-otter-classic\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/xpedo-new-power-sonik-omni-and-thrust-omni-meter-pedals-sea-otter-classic\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"xpedo\u2019s new power meter pedals are ready for the spotlight\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/xpedo-new-power-sonik-omni-and-thrust-omni-meter-pedals-sea-otter-classic\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"xpedo\u2019s new power meter pedals are ready for the spotlight\"}}\u0027>\n xpedo\u2019s new power meter pedals are ready for the spotlight\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"8 new shoes from giro, q36.5, shimano, fizik, lake, and crankbrothers","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/8-new-shoes-from-giro-q36-5-shimano-fizik-lake-and-crankbrothers\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/8-new-shoes-from-giro-q36-5-shimano-fizik-lake-and-crankbrothers\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"8 new shoes from giro, q36.5, shimano, fizik, lake, and crankbrothers\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/8-new-shoes-from-giro-q36-5-shimano-fizik-lake-and-crankbrothers\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"8 new shoes from giro, q36.5, shimano, fizik, lake, and crankbrothers\"}}\u0027>\n 8 new shoes from giro, q36.5, shimano, fizik, lake, and crankbrothers\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"highbar wants to revolutionize your helmet straps","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/highbar-wants-to-revolutionize-your-helmet-straps\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/highbar-wants-to-revolutionize-your-helmet-straps\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"highbar wants to revolutionize your helmet straps\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/highbar-wants-to-revolutionize-your-helmet-straps\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"highbar wants to revolutionize your helmet straps\"}}\u0027>\n highbar wants to revolutionize your helmet straps\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"the ritchey montebello brings steel goodness to all-road","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/ritchey-montebello-brings-steel-goodness-to-all-road\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/ritchey-montebello-brings-steel-goodness-to-all-road\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"the ritchey montebello brings steel goodness to all-road\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/ritchey-montebello-brings-steel-goodness-to-all-road\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"the ritchey montebello brings steel goodness to all-road\"}}\u0027>\n the ritchey montebello brings steel goodness to all-road\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"the cadex race integrated bar is as light as it is good looking","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/cadex-race-integrated-bar-first-look\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/cadex-race-integrated-bar-first-look\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"the cadex race integrated bar is as light as it is good looking\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/cadex-race-integrated-bar-first-look\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"the cadex race integrated bar is as light as it is good looking\"}}\u0027>\n the cadex race integrated bar is as light as it is good looking\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"there are three marquee off-road races in the us this weekend. who\u2019s going where and why","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-racing\/best-off-road-races-north-america\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-racing\/best-off-road-races-north-america\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"there are three marquee off-road races in the us this weekend. who\u2019s going where and why\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-racing\/best-off-road-races-north-america\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"there are three marquee off-road races in the us this weekend. who\u2019s going where and why\"}}\u0027>\n there are three marquee off-road races in the us this weekend. who\u2019s going where and why\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"the thesis n1 wants to be your sole drop bar bike for everything","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-gear\/thesis-n1-do-everything-drop-bar-bike\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-gear\/thesis-n1-do-everything-drop-bar-bike\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"the thesis n1 wants to be your sole drop bar bike for everything\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-gear\/thesis-n1-do-everything-drop-bar-bike\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"the thesis n1 wants to be your sole drop bar bike for everything\"}}\u0027>\n the thesis n1 wants to be your sole drop bar bike for everything\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "}]' > >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>advertise >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>privacy policy >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>contact >", 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Review: Trek Emonda ALR 5, the bike that disc brakes almost broke 

Are the days of the aluminum race bike over? Not quite yet.

I dream of aluminum race bikes. Sturdy, fast, cheap. They’re what most amateur bike racers should be on, if you ask me, but the options are vanishingly few. 

There’s the Specialized Allez Sprint, the current king of the castle, but it’s a $1,700 frameset and is often out of stock. The Cannondale CAAD13 is lovely too, but has been taken about two steps too far away from its racing roots for my liking. Now there’s a third big-brand aluminum option: the Trek Emonda ALR 5. 

I hoped for a bike I could feel confident in recommending to any young or aspiring racer. Something nimble and light, with the right gearing, a ride comparable to carbon, a few nods to modern-day aerodynamic understanding, and clever spec. Not a first road bike, perhaps, but something worth graduating to. Trek came so very close.

This is a bike that will roll off showroom floors for just over $2,000 and looks every bit like a bike three or five times that. The integrated front end, the shapely tubes – from across the street it looks like carbon. 

The Emonda ALR is a cool aluminum race bike. Looks good and rides well. It needs a few tweaks if you really want to get the most out of it, but it’s 90% of the way there straight out of the box. It only misses in a few spots, and that might not even be its own fault. 

The short of it: A good argument for not buying a cheap carbon road bike instead Good stuff: Superb ride quality, excellent handling, great looks Bad stuff: Weight  Total weight: 9.12 kg/20.1 lbs Price: USD $2,300 / AUD $3,000 / £2,150

As aluminum frames go, this one is both good-looking and well-thought-out. It uses Trek’s 300-series Alpha Aluminum and what Trek calls “Invisible Weld Technology,” which smooths out the welds themselves and provides a decidedly carbon-like look. More than one person thought I was on a carbon bike. 

The tubes are hydroformed, a technology that has now been in the bike industry for well over a decade but is crucial to creating the types of tube shapes Trek uses on the Emonda. There are nods to aerodynamics, including a truncated seat tube, big and shapely down tube, deeper head tube, and dropped seatstays. The intention isn’t to compete with the best aero bikes on the market, but a bit of aero efficiency never hurts. 

The frame is light, around 1,260 grams, plus a 400-gram carbon fork. That makes it roughly the same weight (within 50 grams) as the carbon fiber Emonda SL, which sits on the lower end of Trek’s carbon spectrum. And a complete Emonda ALR 5 bike costs as much as the Emonda SL frameset. Behold, the power of aluminum.

Down at the bottom bracket, Trek has gone with the threaded T47 standard, which we have no real problems with. James Huang is a big fan. Dave Rome is sort of ambivalent. I just know it didn’t creak over the last 6 months.

I wish the Emonda ALR had more official tire clearance. This may partly be a limitation of aluminum, but in the end, it’s a decision. The aluminum Domane fits a 40 mm tire. The Emonda ALR will officially only take a 28 mm tire. Now, if you know Trek, you know they have an exceptionally conservative legal department, and you can generally go 4+ mm wider than claimed. But the rear end, in particular, is tighter than I’d prefer on the Emonda ALR. I wouldn’t be comfortable with anything over a 30 (measured). The fork has plenty of room for a 30 or slightly larger. Just know that you’re running afoul of Trek’s official recommendation if you do this, potentially harming things like warranty, which is a shame.

Any modern disc road bike should clear a 30 with no concerns whatsoever. Only 28 is just not enough. Not when pros are winning Milan-San Remo on tires that measure closer to 32. A race bike can and should have clearance for 32s these days. 

Aaargh, integration

I appreciate the thought and care Trek put into bar/stem/brake line integration on this bike. If integrated front ends are truly what consumers are looking for – and the fact that every single road brand is integrating more and more suggests that purchase data shows people want it – then why should we limit such things to the realm of the carbon fiber bourgeoise?

The plebs down here plowing fields in Aluminum Land deserve a clean cockpit too. The Emonda ALR looks great, it looks expensive, and part of that is the fact that Trek bothered to put the front end together with as much thought as they do for bikes five times the price. 

The Emonda ALR runs its brake and shift lines through an entryway at the front of the headset and then down through the frame. All the lines and housing exit right before the bottom bracket and then re-enter behind it. The headset routing is very similar in concept and execution to the design found on the Allez Sprint, though everything stays internal near the bottom bracket on the Specialized.

There are six full pages in the manual dedicated to the headset, brake line routing, proprietary spacer stacking, and all the rest. The fact that James trusted me, the Hammer, to sort this out and put things together properly is a testament to both his trust and his foolishness. Or perhaps this was his plan all along, to put the design to the ultimate test. 

Mercifully the Emonda came mostly built. Unmercifully, it also came with a kinked brake hose right out of the box, which required replacing. And, of course, I would have to do some basic fit adjustments. The kinked line ended up being quite annoying but the fit changes were no big deal. 

The brake lines run down in front of the steerer tube, in between the slightly bulbous head tube and the steerer itself. There are proprietary split spacers to be used instead of round ones. Pulling it all apart and getting it back together is finicky but not impossible, and dropping the bars two cm took less than five minutes. The spacers are annoying relative to some good old-fashioned round ones, but they also allowed me to play with stack without having to run new brake lines.

As internal brake and shift lines go, this is about as good and easy as it gets.

In the end, I ditched all of the spacers and ran the stem “slammed” because the H1.5 geometry (more on this later), in addition to the height necessitated by the cable-entry cap, meant that slammed wasn’t actually that aggressive.

You can use standard round spacers above the stem as you move the stem clamp down the steerer, should you so choose. The sleeker look obviously requires cutting the steer at the new stem height, but for the purposes of setting fit – and because this isn’t my bike – it was nice to be able to throw the ol’ roundies I had floating around my toolbox on the section of steerer above the stem. 

Now, the kinked line. This isn’t really Trek’s fault, except that I’m pretty sure a line that had more than a few short centimeters exposed between the frame and stem probably wouldn’t have had this problem during shipping. Keep that in mind if you travel with this bike: anything with this level of integration needs added care in packing because with such short exposed sections of brake line, the margin for error is smaller. 

Replacing the line was quite straightforward. Lines run down the front of the head tube, inside the upper headset bearing, and then, in this case, down to the front brake via a port in the steerer itself. It all guided through pretty easily. Re-attach, bleed, and I was off to the races. The rear brake would take slightly more effort, as it needs to be fished through a hole near the bottom of the down tube and then on through another set of holes to the caliper, but it’s no worse than any other integrated bike out there right now.

Geometry chart

The Emonda ALR uses the same H1.5 geometry as the latest Madone SLR and carbon Emonda options. It sits, as the name implies, about halfway in between the race-focused H1 geometry and endurance H2 geometry. 

It also sits right in between two of its competitors in this space, the Specialized Allez Sprint and the Cannondale CAAD13. The Allez is more aggressive, the CAAD a bit less so. 

Here’s the full chart: 

I’ll talk about the ride and handling in a moment, but a couple of things to note. The trail is a very standard 56-62 mm for most sizes. The smallest riders, as usual, get absolutely hammered with a 68 mm trail that I’m sure makes the bike feel absolutely nothing like the one I rode (a 56 cm). Sorry, anybody riding a 47 cm.

Wheelbase is about one cm longer than the Allez Sprint, trail is a bit higher, reach is shorter, stack is higher. All these things point to a less race-oriented machine. And that is the case, though not to the point that the Emonda isn’t totally race-worthy. It absolutely is.

Models and pricing

Normally, we drop all the other build options for a given frameset in this section, but because this is an aluminum bike and so few people apparently want aluminum bikes anymore, there are no other build options.

At least, that’s true in the US. The UK market has the ALR 6, which upgrades the 105 mechanical to 105 Di2 for a marginal increase in cost to £2,400. And in the US you can buy framesets on their own for USD $1,200. These have some great paint jobs and would be a fun project.

In fact, if you’re comfortable building bikes from scratch, that’s probably how I would do it. These are really cool frames, extremely well thought out, light, and quite beautiful. But the stock build kits are uninspiring, because Trek had to hit a price point. I would love to take one of these and slowly build it with higher-end second-hand parts over the course of a winter. Total cost would be similar, but you’d end up with a much cooler end product.

As a brief experiment, I put myself into character. The character: me, 20 years old, racing crits every weekend, living on like $700 a month plus race winnings, with $3,000 left over from my student loans. Decison-making: Generally terrible. Acknowledgment that the future exists: Never. FTP: High as it’ll ever be. I popped around the usual buy/sell sites and checked out some deals on groups to see what I could build. This is what I came up with in less than 30 minutes (all prices USD):

Frame : Emonda ALR in one of the cool colors – $1,200 Drivetrain and brakes : Shimano 105 7000 – $700 Wheels : Something carbon that makes a good whoosh noise – $650 on eBay or similar if you’re willing to buy something that isn’t tubeless compatible (go latex tubes for racing instead) Handlebar : Ritchey WCS Neoclassic drop – $99 (eBay) Stem : Ritchey WCS 4-axis – $25 (eBay) Seatpost : Ritchey WCS – $74 (eBay) Saddle : Bontrager Aeolus Comp: $90 Tires : Vittoria Corsa Control 30mm – $35 (not the tubeless version)

Total: $2873 plus $100 or so for cables/housing/other odds and ends. This bike is easily 2.5 pounds lighter than the stock ALR5, makes a better noise, looks cooler, and leaves me about $100 of student loan funds to spend on a week’s worth of post-ride burritos.

Build kit breakdown

My collegiate-racer fever dreams aside, the ALR 5 has a solid, reliable build. It’s a good platform to upgrade off of, if that’s your jam, and it’s perfectly serviceable right out of the box.

I have zero complaints about the Shimano 105 7000 mechanical drivetrain. It shifts, it’s quiet, it’s relatively cheap. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. 

I do dislike the rotors, which are the RT70 from Shimano. They are ugly and look cheap. Give me some of that finned goodness. This is 90% aesthetic but aesthetics matter.

The stock gear ratios should be enough for most, but could perhaps go a bit lower if you live somewhere hilly. A 50/34 front chainring setup is matched with an 11-30 cassette. Ten years ago, that would have been ludicrously low, but the bike industry has since realized we’re not all riding around at pro watts all the time, and these days I’d prefer a 32 or even 34 low gear on the back unless I’m racing.

If I am racing, I probably want a 52/36 with that same 11-30 cassette. But that’s a low priority and can be upgraded later.

The rest of the build is uninspiring but adequate. Trek’s component brand Bontrager provides the seatpost, saddle, stem, and handlebars. All are alloy, all are a bit heavy. The Comp VR-C bars have quite a nice bend to them, on the shallow end of the spectrum but not silly-shallow. The transition from hoods to tops is nice and smooth and the drop curvature is superb. I found them very comfortable.

There are no surprises, integration headaches, or odd standards, just a 27.2 seatpost, 1 1/8″ steerer, and round bars. All of it can be easily upgraded or swapped out.

The Bontrager Verse Comp saddle is too heavily padded for my liking. I did a couple of rides on it and it wasn’t terrible; it just wasn’t great. It’s also quite long, and I’m used to short saddles these days. Bontrager’s excellent Aeolus would have been a better match for the bike and its ambitions.

The Bontrager Paradigm wheels are heavy (roughly 1,750 g claimed) but do feature a nicely modern 21 mm internal rim width, which spreads the 700×25 hotpatched tire out to just under 28mm. The tires are Bontrager R1 Hardcase-Lite with a wire bead. They are hot garbage that should be removed immediately.  Wire bead ? Are you kidding me? Bontrager makes some nice tires these days; the R1 Hardcase is decidedly not one of them.

I took them off, riding only once on those turds of tires before swapping them out to a set of Vittoria Corsa Controls. I went from disliking the bike to liking it with that one switch. Tires are important. Granted, Corsa Controls aren’t cheap.

Ride report

That brings us to the ride. All of the figures and facts above combine in sometimes unexpected ways, mixing and melding into a ride quality that is genuinely quite impressive (once you take the terrible tires off).

I tested this bike with three sets of tires/wheels. First, the stock Bontragers. Awful. Second, the Corsa Controls and butyl tubes on the stock Paradigm wheelset. Great! A better bet would have been a good tubeless tire, since the Paradigm rims are tubeless-ready, but I didn’t have any handy that were narrow enough.

Finally, I put on a set of Continental GP5000s with latex tubes in on a set of Roval Alpinist carbon wheels. The Corsas alone dropped over 200 grams off the stock tire weight, and the Roval setup dropped more than a pound (626 grams, to be precise) off the stock setup. The overall change in ride quality from both changes was dramatic.

As a result, I’m going to ignore the stock tires for this ride quality analysis. The R1s are so bad, and tires are so important, that it feels unfair to besmirch an otherwise-good bike with their wire bead stink. If you’re reading this review, you care enough to swap them out. My opinions here are based on the stock wheelset + Vittoria Corsa Control + butyl tube setup. 

This is a comfortable aluminum bike. Trek has lots of marketing copy on its website about how its hydroforming processes and the Invisible Weld Technology combine to allow its engineers to create a frame with significantly more compliance than the aluminum of old. I would say they aren’t lying. 

The rear end, in particular, cuts road buzz nicely. The 27.2 seatpost helps, and if you upgraded to a carbon post it would further improve flex and thus comfort. The big aluminum handlebars are stiff and the front end feels harsher than the rear. I’m sort of OK with this; a stiff front end feels like it wants to race, to me, and I like that.

The size 56 I tested has a 73.5º head angle and 58 mm of trail. Both figures are about spot on for a bike that wants to be race-worthy but not race-only. The handling is therefore as I expected: predictable, on the twitchy end of the spectrum these days but nothing extreme. Ten years ago, this would have been called endurance bike geometry. But now we know better. 

This is supposed to be a race bike, and nothing in the handling would prevent it from finding success there. It is not a pure crit machine in the way that the Allez Sprint is (that bike has a more aggressive trail figure of 55 mm, plus a lower BB and longer reach). The Emonda ALR is a road racer. It’s well-balanced and goes where you point it. 

The rich get richer, the poor get heavier

Behind this generally positive review is an unshakeable feeling that something is missing. I’m not sure the bike I dream of, and that I was hoping the Emonda ALR would be, really exists anymore. In riding the Emonda ALR and perusing the other options currently available in the same price range, the only conclusion I can draw is that it’s very, very difficult for a big bike brand to build a cheap race bike these days. 

The bike I want is a Cannondale CAAD10 from around 2015. The model with Shimano 105 went for about US$1,700 – roughly US$2,200 in today’s inflated money. In other words, nearly identical to the Emonda ALR 5. That bike weighed in the low-17 pound (7.7 kg) range. It had decent wheels and snappy handling and pretty much everybody who reviewed one or raced one called it some version of a superbike killer. It was so good. 

The Emonda ALR is better in some ways. It’s more comfortable, for one. It’s probably more aerodynamic, simply because of the integrated front end, though we don’t have any figures to prove this. It fits a much bigger tire (albeit not big enough). But it also weighs closer to 20 pounds, has pigs for wheels, and comes stock with the worst road tires I’ve ridden in years. The geometry is a bit softer, a bit more forgiving; the handling is good but I would personally prefer it to be snappier for racing. 

There is one obvious culprit for many (though not all) of these ills, of course. Disc brakes.

I’m about as far from a disc hater as you can find, and would prefer them on almost any bike I build and ride. But there is a reality to them: to build a light, nimble-feeling road race bike with disc brakes costs a lot of money. You can get to 6.8 kg, or well under, but it will cost significantly more than it did back when a rim-brake CAAD10 could get there for $1,700 plus a few smart upgrades. 

Again, the Allez Sprint – the spiritual heir to the old CAADs – is $1,700 for the frameset alone. 

Trek’s little tagline for this bike is “Never heavy. Always metal.” Which is true – if you look at the frameset. Sub-1,300 grams is superb. But the various parts needed to build a bike at this price point, with discs and thru axles and all the other complications of the modern road bike, mean that heavy is exactly what the stock version of the ALR 5 is.

None of this is directly Trek’s fault, unless you prescribe to the Big Disc conspiracy that holds that all big bike brands hoisted discs on us only to sell more bikes (which I do not). But there is no question that discs have made it harder to build a bike I would want to race for a price I could have afforded when I was racing. We have $8,000 bikes with 105 now; where does one turn if you’re racing collegiate crits, living on microwave pizzas, and want to go fast as hell? The Emonda ALR may be among the best of a dwindling bunch, but even it doesn’t quite get there. 

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• Rider Notes

2016 Trek Émonda ALR 5

An aluminum frame race bike with upper mid-range components and rim brakes.

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A bike with lower gearing will be easier to ride up steep hills, while a higher top end means it will pedal faster down hills.

Émonda ALR 5

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The spec is average, but the Émonda’s frameset is an utter peach. Buy if you want the authentic Émonda experience at an everyman price

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The aggressive and versatile Émonda SL 6 combines the stiffness you’d expect from a top-of-the-line race bike, with big tire clearance and moderate race

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Last updated June 29 Not listed for 2,495 days

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Trek’s Latest Émonda ALR Is as Good as Aluminum Road Bikes Get

Dialed geometry, smooth welds, and an excellent ride feel add up to make the latest aluminum Émonda ALR a great alternative to pricier carbon bikes.

The Takeaway: The updated Trek Émonda ALR is thoroughly modern, yet simple and fully upgradable. Just the way an aluminum road bike should be.

Trek Émonda ALR 5

The Émonda ALR borrows its geometry (down to the millimeter) from its much pricier (and lighter weight) carbon fiber version of the Émonda. This means riders get the same, proven, race-winning geometry of the much pricier carbon model for around one thousand dollars less.

While the cost savings might be the most enticing feature of the ALR for many riders, the updated aluminum frame is the showstopper here. Much like its carbon version, the Émonda ALR features a mix of aerofoil (Kammtail) shaped tubes along with more traditional round profiles. Trek uses its 300 Series Alpha aluminum for the frame, which weighs in at 1,257 grams (claimed), for a painted size 56cm. It’s combined with a full carbon fork that adds 406g to the total package. This is impressive—weighing a mere 34g more than Trek’s carbon Émonda SL variant of the frame (which sells for $1,000 more than the ALR).

The Émonda ALR frame is also refreshingly free from proprietary standards. The bike uses a T47 threaded bottom bracket, a round 27.2mm diameter seatpost, and a completely normal handlebar and stem combination using a 31.8 bar clamp and 1-⅛ steer tube. All of these things make the Émonda ALR an easy-to-live-with bike that can be upgraded and customized as riders see fit.

Alloy-frame aficionados have divided opinions about the appearance of welds. Some prefer to see the handy work of the welder and how tidy they can make the welds, while others prefer not to see the welds at all. Fans of chunky welds will be disappointed as Trek employed its Invisible Weld Technology on the Émonda ALR. This technique creates an incredibly seamless look to the frame. At arm's length (and particularly with the black frame), riders can easily mistake the Émonda ALR for a pricier carbon bike.

Another big change is at the Émonda’s front end. Trek implemented an integrated cable routing setup that’s very similar to the style used on the Allez Sprint. This setup sees the cable housing and brake hoses run externally along the bar and stem and then enter the frame through the top headset bearing. This kind of integration has the advantage of allowing riders to easily swap stem lengths or handlebars while still achieving a rather clean-looking cockpit. While Trek avoids the major headaches of cockpit customization with this cable routing solution, like many other recent road and gravel bikes, it suffers the added complexity and expense of routine service (such as replacing cables and housing or servicing headset bearings).

Unlike high-end bikes with electronic shifting—since the Émonda ALR is only sold with mechanical shifting—there are double the cables routing through the headset. Bikes with similar routing often face more rapid deterioration in shift performance (compared to bikes where things are routed externally) due to the tight bends the derailleur housing must make to fit into the space. It makes replacing cables and housing a major headache and costly if you’re not doing it yourself.

According to Cadence Cycling Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, replacing a single-shift cable on a bike with through the headset routing can cost as much as $200 in labor. This is because shops tend to charge for this work by the hour and the time it takes to complete this service varies based on how complicated fishing the housing and cable is through the frame. To perform the same repair on a bike with externally routed cables, I was quoted a flat $25 labor charge.

Fit and Geometry

The Émonda ALR features the same H1.5 geometry that Trek uses on its Émonda and Madone carbon models. This geometry splits the difference between the aggressive H1 fit and the more relaxed H2 version. Meaning that a majority of riders should be able to find a good riding position regardless of whether they want to be long and low or more upright.

Additionally, Trek offers the Émonda ALR in a whopping eight sizes. The smallest size 47cm frame should be good for riders as short as 5’0”, and the largest size 62cm fits riders up to 6’5”, according to Trek.

The ALR Build

Trek currently offers only one complete bike Émonda ALR build. It features Shimano’s excellent 105 11-speed mechanical groupset, along with a Bontrager alloy bar, stem, and seatpost. Rounding things out is a pair of Bontrager alloy Paradigm SL wheels, which are very traditional with round J-bend spokes laced 2x but feature a 21mm internal width and are tubeless-ready. However, riders need to purchase the necessary items to turn them into tubeless wheels (including tubeless-specific tires, valves, and sealant).

Trek prices the Émonda ALR at $2,300 for the complete bike and $1,200 for the frameset.

Trek confirmed that the Émonda ALR will receive an update to 12-speed 105 in the near future. Unfortunately, Trek representatives have not told us how much it will cost or the complete specification list. (But for reference, a 12-speed 105-equipped Domane AL 5 sells for $2,000)

Ride Impressions

Aluminum road bikes often have a reputation for being overly stiff, harsh, and cheap (in a bad way). However, these traits are generally not found on modern and well-engineered aluminum frames. (And it’s such a pervasive stereotype that my colleague Matt Phillips wrote a whole column about it .)

While some bikes lean into aspects of that reputation (the Allez Sprint is an unapologetically stiff-as-hell criterium racing machine), the Émonda ALR takes a slightly different approach. Since it’s modeled after the carbon Émonda (a bike largely intended to win mountain stages in Grand Tour races), the ALR is designed with all-day comfort in mind. This makes the overall ride more relaxed and comfortable compared to the Allez Sprint and should be a plus for many riders.

Even if some might consider 11-speed 105 outdated (due to the recent launch of the 12-speed 105 R7100 components ), Shimano’s 105 R7000-series drivetrain is an excellent and well-proven groupset. The 11-speed group has precise and crisp shifting front and rear and also impresses with powerful braking at the wheels and excellent control of the levers.

In contrast, the most disappointing part of the Émonda ALR’s build kit is its tires. Which would be the absolute first thing I upgrade. The Bontrager R1 wire-bead road tires weigh 360g per tire and are very much included to help meet the Émonda’s price point. They make the bike feel sluggish in a straight line while also not helping to foster any cornering confidence. A swap to even a mid-range tire from any of the major tire brands will probably drop around 30-40g of rotating weight per wheel and dramatically improve the ride quality of the bike.

I found the rest of the ALR’s Bontrager finishing kit perfectly serviceable. The seatpost, stem, and saddle were nothing flashy but did the job. The handlebar has a rather classic feeling bend, drop, and reach. Best of all, if any of these stock items don’t work for you, it’s simple to swap any of them out for a preferred version.

Out of the box, I found the Émonda’s ride quality quite good but perhaps a bit on the firm side. Lowering the tire pressure to around 68-72 psi range greatly improved the comfort. And once I swapped to a set of Continental GP5000 tires, the Émonda ALR really began to shine on the road.

There’s nothing gimmicky about the Émonda ALR. It’s a classic road bike in the simplest sense of the term. Riding it for the first time felt familiar and reassuring. The geometry didn’t require me to adjust to the bike—I could just get on and go. Even on that first ride, I felt like I could dive into corners with the assurance of knowing what the Émonda ALR would do when I leaned in. The geometry was a perfect mix of stability and responsiveness with a dash of that springiness that good metal bikes have.

On flat and rolling terrain, the Émonda ALR is right up there with almost any non-aero road bike of the last few years. Its dialed geometry makes it a pleasure to descend on, and the frame has the right snap to be a truly wonderful climber.

What holds the ALR back on the uphills, though, are the stock wheels. At 1,800 grams, they’re not as heavy as some wheels on bikes in this price range, but they just feel soft and unresponsive. After upgrading the tires, a new set of wheels would be my next purchase for the Émonda ALR.

One aspect of the Émonda ALR that feels a bit dated for a road bike made in 2023: Trek caps the bike’s maximum tire clearance at 28mm. In practice, there is enough room to comfortably run 30 or even 32mm tires (depending on the tire and rim combination). Still, I would feel better with a bit more official wiggle room, especially as it’s gotten harder to predict the measured width of various tire and rim combinations.

Overall, the Émonda ALR gets way more things right than it does wrong. While it's easy to nitpick things like its tires and wheels, Trek uses these parts to get the Émonda ALR to its modest price. And the ALR is up there with some of the best aluminum race bikes. It’s an impeccably finished and thoroughly well-designed aluminum bike that’s only a few grams heavier than its mid-tier carbon version. Plus, the Émonda ALR shares geometry with its pricier siblings and uses no proprietary standards or parts. With the ALR, Trek made a bike that nails all the things that have always made me love aluminum race bikes.

Test Editor Dan Chabanov got his start in cycling as a New York City bike messenger but quickly found his way into road and cyclocross racing, competing in professional cyclocross races from 2009 to 2019 and winning a Master’s National Championship title in 2018. Prior to joining Bicycling in 2021, Dan worked as part of the race organization for the Red Hook Crit, as a coach with EnduranceWERX, as well as a freelance writer and photographer. 

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Moscow 25 years on: do I still recognise the city?

When former Moscow correspondent Mark Rice-Oxley first set foot in the city, the cars were all Zhigulis, no one smiled, and a trip to Pizza Hut was a big day out. A quarter of a century on, how much has life really changed here?

• Moscow then and now: interactive with images from the Guardian archive

W i-Fi on the metro. Startups in the suburbs. Glass towers in the business parks and rollerbladers on the embankment. What happened to Moscow? It used to be so gloriously haggard, like it was nursing the mother of all hangovers from 200 years of heavy history.

Not any more. Now lovers canoodle by fountains that dance to Tchaikovsky. Middle classes murmur in al fresco restaurants to a bossa nova soundtrack. There are marble malls and 24-hour supermarkets and lots of children’s playgrounds. Grass and pedestrian walkways and public conveniences. And still the facelift goes on.

It is 25 years since this correspondent first set foot in Europe’s largest city. In those days, the air was thick with cheap gasoline, cars were all Zhigulis (Ladas) and ZiLs – or else dodgy, paperless German saloons driven by men with thick necks and leather jackets. A chic lunch was a kebab at the Baku restaurant on Gorky street; a trip to Pizza Hut was a big day out. The colours people wore really were 50 shades of grey, only not so much EL James as LI Brezhnev . And no one smiled.

The question for someone who lived here through the 1990s but hasn’t been back for a decade is this: is it for the better? The answer has to be yes.

There are some things that jar. The first thing you notice is the traffic. In 1990, there were less than a million cars on Moscow’s roads. Now there are at least 4 million. Sometimes it feels as if all of them are stuck on the road in front of you.

The authorities appear to have decided that the solution is more roads, so a flurry of construction creates further hold-ups. Eventually there will be four ring roads, which might help. Or it might just bring even more drivers out on to the roads.

The thoroughfares and side streets are infinitely better than 20 years ago, however, when they were so uneven that sometimes it was a smoother ride to drive down the tramlines (trams have now been axed). There are also car parks and designated spaces instead of people just dumping their cars on the sidewalk, and digital departure boards for (new) buses and trolleys – plus an app that shows their current location.

Shopping is a very different experience too. In the late Soviet period, shops were named bluntly after the products that were supposed to be on sale inside but often weren’t: Bread, Milk, Products, Clothes, Flowers. In time these gave way to “kiosk capitalism”: a messy array of shacks and “pavilions” selling everything from Mars bars to medicine, and shoes to sunflower seeds. Impromptu markets sprang up everywhere: fruit, vegetables, and the sad sight of pensioners selling old radios, flowers, car parts – anything to supplement their income.

Now all that has gone. Instead, Moscow offers a retail experience every capitalist metropolis will recognise. Supermarkets and malls, nail parlours and jewellers, banks and car showrooms – oh, and lots of dentists, for some reason.

If there is an objection here, it’s that the architectural charm of old Moscow is being bludgeoned by neon and new monoliths; glass and steel is smothering history and nostalgia. More liveable? Yes. More civilised? Perhaps. More vulgar? In places, yes – although a leafy proliferation of green covers a multitude of sins.

The other notable change is the love affair with English. Twenty-five years ago, there were few clues for non-Russian speakers. Now, though, you can have a pedikyur after a biznes lanch at Coffee Khaus , while checking your gadzhet . This correspondent was directed by a volyunteer to a shattle (shuttle bus) for a meeting with a prshik (P-R-shik, or PR official).

Lifestyles and attitudes seem to have been transformed too – a collective lifting of mood. I’m not the only to notice: Ilya and Svetlana, expatriate Russians living in Germany who are back in Moscow for the first time in six years, say they are so pleasantly surprised that they might consider moving back. “Everyone seems to be free and moving about happily,” says Svetlana. “I’ve never seen the city like this before. It’s full of art and culture and just a different atmosphere.”

Things I have seen for the first time in Moscow this week include: unicyclists, parking meters, kids on trikes, open-air table tennis tables and slot machines. But not everything has changed. A concrete spray of high-rise buildings still fans out into endless suburbs – though even here, modernity is encroaching. One of my old apartment blocks (a typical 1960s, five-storey affair) is now dwarfed on all sides by high-rise office blocks in a style that new Moscow seems to like: terracotta redbrick punctuated by black glass.

Out in the suburbs, the first thing that strikes you is the space. Because everyone lives up in the air, not cheek-by-jowl on the ground, there are huge open reaches that nobody seems to quite know what to do with. Old Moscow is still very visible out here: kiosks selling fruit and newspapers, old ladies peddling books, shoes, lengths of old cable.

And while the bulldozers and diggers are coming, with manifold signs of reconstruction everywhere you go, perhaps the old tower blocks aren’t really all that bad. They may look ugly and tired in places, but they are energy efficient (important in a city which must keep 11 million people warm for six sub-zero months of the year). They also encourage neighbourliness and a community spirit, and deter loneliness. And they have these great rubbish chutes you can use to dump your trash 22 storeys down to the ground.

Other aspects of Moscow remain eternal. This must, for example, be one of the greenest metropolises in the world – there are more trees than ever here. And one of the whitest too, with very, very few black or ethnic faces on the streets. It may also be one of the thinnest – obesity is not something Russia has to worry about – and one of the most musical: there is always a soundtrack playing in the city’s public spaces – from tango to techno, Sinatra to Stevie Wonder, plus the full range of Russian favourites: pop, punk and folk.

And then there’s the metro, of course. A delicious waft of ancient air, biscuity with notes of damp greatcoats, hits you as you enter. A ride is 60p, less if you bulk buy. Trains every minute. There are more stops than 20 years ago, one or two new lines even, but everything else is remarkably unchanged.

It’s easy to imagine you’re in a film down here. Deep tunnels, marble and chandeliers. Escalators that plunge further than the eye can see. And that same solicitous female voice (has it ever been changed?) that asks you to be careful when the doors shut, and not to forget your things when you get off.

If anywhere sums up Moscow’s transformation, though, it is the city’s epicentre: cranes, smart upcycled buildings almost Hanseatic in style, vast pedestrian areas, and a stage in construction for Moscow’s next big party: Friday’s Russia Day . At the centre of it all is Red Square. And it still isn’t red.

• Is the ‘Moscow experiment’ over?
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Stalin’s Soviet Union – Moscow in 1953-1954

No comments · Posted by Sergei Rzhevsky in History , People , Photos

Major Martin Manhoff spent more than two years in the Soviet Union in the early 1950s. He worked as an assistant to the military attache in the U.S. Embassy, ​​located near Red Square.

Manhoff, being a gifted photographer, shot hundreds of scenes from everyday Soviet life – both in Moscow and in other regions of the USSR.

Construction of the hotel “Ukraina” from the roof of the U.S. Embassy on Novinsky Boulevard. On the left you can see the Church of the Nine Martyrs of Cyzicus (1954).

After the accusations of espionage, he left the country with hundreds of color slides and negatives taken during his time in the USSR. Among these materials was the shooting of Stalin’s funeral – one of the turning points in Soviet history.

Hotel “Moskva” on Manezh Square.

The Kremlin from the entrance to the U.S. Embassy.

In 1953, Red Square was not yet closed to traffic.

Approaching the intersection of Okhotny Ryad and Tverskaya Street.

Movie theater “Khudozhestvenny” on Arbat Square.

Theater Square.

Driving up Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street.

The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius.

Novinsky Boulevard, 18.

Storefront at Theater Square.

Novospassky Monastery.

The corner of Bolshoi Devyatinsky Pereulok and Novinsky Boulevard.

The view from Vorobyovy Gory.

The newly built main building of Moscow University in the night illumination.

The funeral of Stalin.

Celebration at Manezhnaya (Manege) Square.

Pushkin Square.

The building of the Central Telegraph.

Moscow Zoo.

In the pool of Moscow State University.

Metro station “Park of Culture”.

The second part of photos

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Despite animosity, Moscow’s Muslims change the city

At least 1.5 million Muslims in Russia’s capital form the fastest growing and most ethnically diverse demographic group.

Moscow, Russia –  Surrounded by movable metal fences and police, they placed their prayer rugs and shreds of wallpaper on the cold asphalt along the tram tracks.

Then they planted their feet and exhaled “God is great!” They bent, knelt, and prostrated in front of the golden-domed Sobornaya mosque despite the bewildered and scared faces of passersby and baton-wielding police officers around them.

More than 60,000 Muslims gathered at the square and five temporarily blocked streets around Moscow’s main mosque, with an additional 180,000 gathering at five other mosques and three dozen temporary sites in Moscow and the greater Moscow region, to mark the end of this year’s holy month of Ramadan, police said.

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Each person had to pass through a metal detector and undergo an identification check.

Some Muslims were indignant about the treatment they faced on one of the year’s holiest days.

“You want to pray at a mosque, you have to enter a cage,” Murad Abdullaev, a full-bearded 29-year-old from Derbent, Russia’s southernmost city in the restive province of Dagestan, told Al Jazeera.

“You pray at work, you get reprimanded, but when your colleagues show up hungover or take long cigarette breaks, it’s OK,” he said describing his colleagues at a construction company in southern Moscow.

Moscow is slowly adapting to being Europe's largest Muslim city, and Muslims are gradually adapting to it. by  Alexei Malashenko, political analyst

Some Muscovites are also unhappy about the inconveniences they face during the celebration of the two major Muslim religious holidays Eid al-Fitr – the breaking of the fast festival at the end of Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha – the festival of sacrifice.

“Again, [some] streets are full of praying people, again the adjoining streets are blocked, [there are] tensions with police,” popular blogger Ilya Varlamov wrote.

“For many years, this has been the picture in Moscow twice a year. And each time, everyone is surprised,” the blogger said.

On days like these, Moscow seems quite a hostile place for the Muslims that now live here and form the fastest growing and most ethnically diverse sector of the population.

With an official population of 12.5 million, Russia’s capital is now home to at least 1.5 million Muslims, according to political analyst Alexei Malashenko. This is by far more than the Muslim population of any other European city where the local population is not predominantly Muslim.

“Moscow is slowly adapting to being Europe’s largest Muslim city, and Muslims are gradually adapting to it,” Malashenko told Al Jazeera.

RELATED: Chechnya, Russia and 20 years of conflict

Moscow’s Muslims

Russia’s identity was forged during centuries-long confrontation, coexistence and cooperation with Muslim neighbours. The tiny principality of Moscow slowly defeated the Golden Horde, a powerful Mongol-Tatar khanate, and then waged countless wars in and against Ottoman Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and the Caucasus.

The Muslims who now live in Moscow are mostly the descendants of this historical legacy. Ethnic Tatars, Russia’s third largest ethnic group after Slavic Russians and Ukrainians, have lived here for centuries; Azeris settled here in the 1990s after fleeing the Armenian-Azeri war . 

They were followed by an ever-growing number of natives of Russia’s Caucasus – a multiethnic and heavily subsidised region plagued by insurgency and violence.

Since the early 2000s, millions of labour migrants from ex-Soviet Central Asia  have flooded into Russia, mostly seeking low-paid labour jobs. There is also a visible presence of Muslims from sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and the Middle East.

Yet, whether Russian-born or immigrant, secular or practising, Muslims don’t feel welcome here. This is partly due to the fact that many Russians feel threatened by this influx of Muslims. The attacks carried out by Chechen fighters and female suicide bombers since the early 2000s also still frighten many.

RELATED: Chechnya: War Without Trace

Although there are no separate polls available for Moscow, a 2013 survey by VTsIOM, a state-owned pollster has found that almost one in seven Russians don’t want to have Muslim neighbours, one-fourth do not want to live near a Caucasus native, and 28 percent don’t want Central Asians next door. Some 45 percent of Russians support the nationalist slogan of “Russia for ethnic Russians”, the poll found.

Making inroads

Moscow has only six mosques, and attempts to build new ones are met with protests and rallies.

Women wearing hijabs walk next to ladies who wear mini-skirts and provocative clothing even in sub-zero winter temperatures. Police routinely stop Muslim men for document checks based on their appearance – their skin colour, beards and clothing. 

There are only two halal hotels in the city that sees millions of visitors a year. The city’s only Muslim gym and health clinic closed down shortly after opening.

There are only a handful of Muslim kindergartens or schools. “They are far to get to and there are too few of them,” Jannat Babakhanova of Limpopo, a small network of Muslim kindergartens, told Al Jazeera.

However, countless bakeries, cafes and restaurants have sprouted throughout Moscow selling Central Asian flat bread and samosas, pilaf and kebabs.

Halal food has become a profitable business – and many non-Muslims frightened by the low quality of foodstuff produced in Russia, have switched to halal meat.

“The market was untouched, and it was easy to fill it,” Venera Kaderova of Halal Ash, a small producer of halal meat products, told Al Jazeera about the company’s launch in the early 2000s.

“These days, the market is competitive,” Kaderova said.

But the profitability of halal foods also triggered production of knock-off halal – and the emergence of such oddities as “halal” eggs, mineral water, and even  snacks to go with beer. 

The presence of Muslims in Moscow prompted another trend – the growing number of ethnic Russians who convert to Islam.

Anastasiya Korchagina changed her first name to Aisha after converting to Islam almost five years ago and now wears a vivid headscarf and conservative attire.

“I hear many compliments about how I am dressed and how beautiful it looks,” Korchagina told Al Jazeera.  “I’ve never faced bad attitude. It’s just not there.”

• Émonda ALR 5