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As a tech editor, I’m usually extra excited to check entry-level bikes than these with sky-high costs. Certain, a 7 kg superbike constructed with scrap from an area program (probably not) is a hoot to trip, but it surely’s the steadiness of funds and performance that intrigues me a lot extra concerning the decrease finish.
Right here, the belief is commonly that these new to biking will begin with such a lower-cost bike. These bikes could make or break the longer term progress of biking, and my hope is that the individual shopping for such a motorbike has a optimistic expertise that encourages them to stay across the sport we love a lot.
That’s the place the Trek Domane AL is available in. I examined the earlier iteration (launched for 2021) and located it to be top-of-the-line entry-level highway bikes accessible. It provided a welcoming match and assured dealing with with out feeling boring. It supplied ample tyre clearance for use as both a highway bike or gentle gravel bike. It was easy to maintain well-tuned. Most significantly, it was an entry-level bike that I really loved driving.
And that brings us to the most recent iteration of Trek’s best-selling highway bike. On paper, the brand new fourth-generation Domane Al retains loads of what I favored in its predecessor, but it surely, after all, introduces a number of new twists to the confirmed recipe. This can be a strong bike, however as you’ll learn, it fails to impress just like the earlier model.
The wanting it: Trek’s most funds highway bike, revamped, and nonetheless with class-leading tyre clearance.
Great things: Room for 40 mm tyres has this one prepared for the gravel-curious. Stable construct package and body will shrug off loaded commuting and blended surfaces. Prepared for fenders and a rack. Welcoming geometry and cozy contact factors.
Unhealthy stuff: Disc brakes make for a heavy bike, and the mechanical disc brakes right here aren’t stellar. Heavy wheels and tyres make the bike really feel extra sluggish than it needs to be. By-headset cable routing is mindless on a motorbike with mechanical gears and brakes. In the end low cost gearing and brakes for a motorbike that, whereas Trek’s entry-level, isn’t as reasonably priced appropriately.
The brand new Domane Al defined
In its trendy type, the Domane Al is a dropbar bike that blurs the road between being an endurance highway and an all-road bike – the latter being a class of motorbike that’s designed with the flexibility to separate its time throughout tarmac and well-kept gravel roads. And with official room to simply clear 38 mm tyres (I comfortably match measured 41 mm rubber in my pattern), it definitely has the tyre clearance to go off-road. Nonetheless, look to the gearing and geometry, and it’s clear Trek nonetheless intends this one at the start for these wanting a highway bike (get a gravel bike in case your ambitions are predominately targeted on driving off-road).
![A 28 mm tyre sits within the wide front fork.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escpae-collective-5.jpg)
![A 41 mm width gravel sits within the wide road fork.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escpae-collective-6.jpg)
As Trek’s most reasonably priced highway providing, the Domane Al provides a base-level aluminium body (100 sequence Alpha in Trek communicate) with a handful of extra premium options. Most of the tubes are shaped into angular shapes to deal with particular forces and/or provide a singular aesthetic flourish. For instance, the highest tube tapers from matching the outsized head tube to that of the comparatively slender seat tube. In the meantime, the outsized down tube is something however spherical in its profile.
Shapes apart, the obvious new fancy characteristic is seen with the outsized headset bearings that now home 4 gear/brake housings inside it that are then fed into the aluminium body or full carbon fork. That full carbon fork on all worth factors of the Domane AL is new, too, included in an effort to avoid wasting weight.
![The front end of the Domane AL, showing the cable routing entering the headset.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escape-collective-14.jpg)
With such beneficiant tyre clearance, the body has room and provision for full-length fenders (through a detachable seatstay bridge) – with them put in, you’ll nonetheless comfortably match 35 mm rubber. There are mounts for a prime tube bag, and a 3rd bottle cage could be mounted on the underside of the down tube.
Part fitments are saved joyfully common with an English threaded backside bracket shell, a 27.2 mm seatpost, an exterior seatpost clamp, and flat mount brake calipers. And in a primary for Trek, and maybe a primary for a highway bike of this worth level, there’s a Common Derailleur Hanger (UDH) – a now-standard idea from the mountain bike world that not solely ensures you should purchase a alternative derailleur hanger anyplace, it additionally means the body is prepared for newer T-mount kind derailleurs (first seen with SRAM Eagle Transmission).
Nevertheless, there may be one exception to simple part fitments, and that’s the cable routing by the headset – I’ll return to this.
![A photo of the back of the bike, showing the derailleur hanger, number of speeds, and rear thru-axle.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escape-collective-29.jpg)
![A close-up photo showing the plastic seatstay bridge used for mounting a fender.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escape-collective-15.jpg)
Extra high quality options embody a small adjustable chain-catcher that’s prepared in case of a shifting mishap. After which the supplied thru-axles provide a pleasant conical interface, with a detachable deal with that accommodates a 4 mm hex key to be used throughout the bike (for adjusting bars, seatpost, and so forth.)
I’m comfortable to say that Trek has made no modifications to the geometry for the reason that earlier iteration. Throughout the seven sizes, the Domane AL is meant to place the rider in a extra relaxed place than a race bike. The bike additionally balances an extended wheelbase for stability with comparatively fast steering angles to maintain it feeling zoomy (61 mm trail figure in a 54 cm with 32 mm tyres). And as Trek has completed with Domane for numerous years, the bike sits comparatively low to the bottom with a 80 mm backside bracket drop within the assumption you’ll be working larger-volume tyres (32 mm as inventory).
![Geometry chart belonging to new the Domane AL.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/2024-Trek-Domane-Al-Gen-4-road-bike-release-8-1.jpg)
If the elements dangling off it weren’t sufficient proof that this bike exists to hit a sure worth level, then its weight definitely provides that affirmation. A 56 cm body is quoted to weigh 1,518 g, whereas the matching carbon fork sits at 475 g. All advised, the base-model Domane AL 2, as examined, strained my scales at 10.42 kg with out pedals or cages, and whereas that’s removed from gentle, it does shave about 200 g off its predecessor.
As examined, the base-model Domane AL 2 (US$1,200 / €1,200 / £1,125 / AUD$2,000) is constructed with a mixture of Shimano’s entry-level Claris elements and some even cheaper non-series bits for a 2×8 gearing setup. The Tektro disc brakes are of the mechanical variety with a design that pulls each brake pads concurrently to clamp onto the disc rotor (a design idea shared with the extra premium TRP Spyre brake). In the meantime, Trek’s componentry home model, Bontrager, is chargeable for all the opposite items, together with a gravel-inspired handlebar with a refined quantity of flare, a well-padded and welcoming short-nose saddle, and a easy however efficient twin bolt alloy seatpost.
Potholes can be petrified of being hit by the Paradigm SL wheels, and the Bontrager R1 Laborious-Case Lite wire-bead tyres which might be able to trip by a river of damaged glass bottles. The construct could also be heavy, but it surely’ll take extra knocks than a door.
![A wide photo showing the front end of the bicycle, with the fork in focus. It shows a red paint that fades to a deeper colour at the fork blade.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escape-collective-7.jpg)
Step as much as the Domane AL 4 at US$1,700 / €2,000 / £1,875 / AU$N/A and also you’ll see the bike get a welcome improve to Shimano Tiagra 2×10 shifting and matching hydraulic disc brakes. In the meantime, all the opposite bits are the identical as the bottom mannequin. That is the mannequin I examined within the earlier iteration and the one I sought to check once more. Alas, it’s sadly not provided throughout the small island of Australia. As I’ll come to clarify, this one is price the additional expense if it’s accessible in your area.
Lastly, spending US$2,000 / €2,300 / £2,150 / AU$N/A will get you the Domane AL 5. This top-tier possibility has Shimano’s new 105 12-speed mechanical groupset, whereas the remainder stays the identical as above.
Dealing with and flexibility
Driving the Domane AL is a well-recognized and welcoming expertise. Straight from the field, it provides a relatively upright however not cramped driving place, and it may be simply (and cheaply!) tuned to supply a extra leisurely or aggressive match.
The inventory stem size (100 mm within the measurement examined) and new 80 mm attain handlebar left me with out grievance, however my preliminary impressions had been that it made the attain really feel longer than anticipated, particularly given how upright the place in any other case is. These wanting a very relaxed trip could must swap out to a shorter stem size, whereas these wanting a more true highway bike expertise can use the 45 mm of stem spacers supplied for fine-tuning the stem peak.
I discovered my 54 cm Domane AL pattern dealt with finest with the handlebars lowered by 25 mm (decrease handlebar peak helps to place extra weight on the entrance tyre and lowers your centre of gravity), nevertheless, what matches you finest ought to be the precedence.
![Front of bike, showing a large number of headset spacers.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escape-collective-12.jpg)
Both approach, the Domane AL matches the way in which an endurance-type highway bike ought to, and it’s a much more inviting expertise for newer riders than bikes that attempt to mimic pure race bike geometry. It’s a match that ought to have mountain bikers feeling at residence, and likewise for these contemporary to biking.
It’s simple to make a highway bike secure, however make it too secure and the bike can change into boring to nook with and a bit of lifeless find a rewarding stream. Trek’s confirmed geometry figures strike a pleasant steadiness between easy-riding stability and reactivity. The Domane AL has an extended wheelbase and slacker head angle to make sure it’s not nervous like a race bike, however then, an extended fork offset helps to scale back the path determine for a trip that continues to be rewarding to dip into high-speed corners.
In evaluations, we frequently cowl the trip high quality of a body (mainly, how easy the bike feels). The Domane AL is on no account a rattle-can like aluminium bikes of the distant previous, however equally, its comparatively primary tubing does imply you’ll really feel the sting of bigger bumps. Nevertheless, a lot of how this bike rides and handles is seemingly intertwined with the inventory wheel and tyre setup, one thing I cowl within the following part.
As a funds providing, you may anticipate this bike to lack the identical stage of polish as extra premium choices. The welds are pretty constant however aren’t made to look fairly. Likewise, the sweet purple paint (a black/gray possibility additionally exists) provides a premium look, however nearer inspection exhibits it lacks a mirror polish. After which, each time I seemed on the crooked Domane brand on the highest tube I used to be additional reminded that this was Trek’s funds providing.
![A close up of the Domane logo on the top tube.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escape-collective-23.jpg)
No matter the way it rides, the Domane AL is definitely sturdy sufficient for thumping down a gravel highway. Likewise, the room for precise 40 mm tyres means you may equip it for correct off-road use. Nevertheless, like many road-going bikes, that bigger tyre makes the gearing taller (more durable), and due to this fact you’ll most likely be wishing for simpler gearing on unfastened steep climbs. Equally, the body geometry isn’t ideally optimised for such massive rubber, and a minimum of for smaller sizes, you’ll be hitting your toes towards a wider entrance tyre (aka toe overlap) when turning at low speeds. Fortunately, no such toe overlap points had been current with the inventory 32 mm tyres within the examined measurement 54 cm.
When weight issues
Physics tells us that the bike’s weight usually makes a negligible distinction to 1’s pace. Nonetheless, one of many joys of a pure highway bike is the whippy and reactive sensations earned by a lightweight bike, and whereas it could not lead to an enormous distinction within the Strava rankings, it positive could make a distinction in how massive of a smile you carry up the hill.
It’s right here the place the Domane AL and its extra mass are inclined to disappoint. There’s no different option to put it, however in its inventory type this bike simply feels sluggish and hesitant to maneuver. Little doubt the premise for such blame comes from the disc brakes, a grievance that my colleague Caley Fretz not too long ago articulated along with his overview of the extra race-orientated Trek Emonda ALR. I received’t repeat that rant, however disc brakes carry elevated price and elevated weight, and in an effort to save cash, there’s an excellent larger trade-off within the weight. Nevertheless, that is an more and more pointless argument as rim brake bikes change into ceaselessly more durable to seek out, and while you do discover them, you may wager you’ll be restricted to a far narrower tyre width.
OK, so the brand new Domane Al is just accessible with disc brakes and that’s completely not going to vary. Plus, these disc brakes are why this bike can match gravel-sized tyres. Fortunately there may be excellent news right here as a lot of this slug-like-biomimicry is solely associated to the supplied tyres and wheels.
Weight is one destructive to the inventory Bontrager Paradigm SL wheels. Though extra apparent was the penalty in rolling resistance and trip high quality from the Bontrager R1 Laborious-Case Lite wire-bead tyres (quoted and measured at 32 mm). Right here, the supplied tyres and wheels have the bike feeling extra like an city commuter than a sporty highway bike, and one driving good friend remarked that they seen how all of the sudden sluggish(er) I used to be whereas testing this bike!
![A close up of the Bontrager wheel and tyre.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escape-collective-30.jpg)
Swapping the wheels to some mid-priced Shimano 105 carbon wheels and performance-type 28 mm highway tyres dropped a complete kilogram from the bike. Extra apparent than the burden was the night-and-day distinction within the trip high quality and rolling resistance. Abruptly the Domane Al felt like a highway bike ought to – it was reactive to enter and didn’t sluggish as noticeably when the highway inclined. Equally, the wood trip high quality attributable to the stiff tyres was now softened, leading to a trip that merely felt smoother for an equal tyre stress.
Spending the worth of a motorbike on wheels and tyres will after all all the time remodel the trip. It’s usually the very best improve you are able to do to any bike, and that’s no completely different right here. Even when the funds doesn’t permit for brand spanking new wheels, altering from the inventory 470-gram wire-bead tyres to a extra performance-oriented folding tyre will considerably enhance your common pace and really feel on the bike.
![Full bike shot, showing a modified version of the Domane AL with a change of wheels.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escpae-collective-1.jpg)
Now the inventory wheels and tyres maintain again the bike from being the highway bike the Domane AL needs to be, however there are prospects who they’re properly suited to – notably commuters. These with aspirations of driving to work in the course of the week and having fun with the sights on the weekend can be properly served by the inventory wheels and tyres, simply don’t anticipate to trip effectively with them.
Shifting, braking, and inside steering
Testing such funds bike fashions is all the time attention-grabbing – generally they pleasantly shock me, different instances I’m left questioning about explicit specification decisions. For the Domane AL 2, it’s a mixture of each.
Sitting under Sora, the Shimano Claris shifting is Shimano’s most funds dropbar choice to earn an precise mannequin identify. For those who had been to match it to Shimano’s mountain bike groupsets, you’d be taking a look at what was Acera (now changed by CUES). It’s so funds, in actual fact, that Shimano solely provides it in a mechanical brake configuration the place it may be linked to rim brakes or as seen right here, mechanical disc brakes.
With each brake pads concurrently clamping onto the disc rotor, in principle, the supplied brakes are fairly good amongst a sea of ever-cheaper mechanical choices. Nevertheless, in apply, I used to be reminded as soon as once more simply how cussed the inventory pads and rotor are to bed in for full energy. The brakes had been downright harmful for the primary half-hour of driving, and even as soon as absolutely bedded in, the ability was extra similar to a rim brake than a hydraulic disc brake system.
![Front disc brak.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escape-collective-26.jpg)
Whereas the braking energy isn’t nice, the Claris brake hoods are a minimum of comfy to carry. That’s a pleasant change from what the most affordable stuff used to really feel like. In the meantime, the shifting by no means failed to seek out the specified cog, however in doing so, it lacks the smoothness of Shimano’s 10-, 11-, and 12-speed shifting programs. The larger hassle was the sq. taper crankset that was flexy sufficient for me to listen to the chain rub towards the entrance derailleur when driving out of the saddle.
Associated, I discovered myself out of the saddle extra usually as the mixture of the compact (50/34T) entrance gearing and 11-32T cassette don’t present fairly low sufficient gearing given the sheer weight of the bike and the bigger 32 mm tyres. Including salt to the wound, this gearing will solely change into a much bigger concern in case you select to extend the tyre measurement additional.
![The Shimano Claris drivetrain in view, with a focus on the rear derailleur.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escape-collective-28.jpg)
One in all our rising complaints with many trendy highway bikes is that the ever-increasing integration of elements and hiding of cables has introduced nice problems to tuning how a motorbike matches and the way simply it’s serviced. Right here, Trek a minimum of will get the previous proper.
The Domane AL now hides the cables by the headset however fortunately not by the handlebar or stem. Consequently, there aren’t any limitations or limitations to adjusting the peak of the handlebars, the size of the stem, or the place of the saddle. All these things stays conventional and easy to swap and alter – no superior mechanical know-how or specialist instruments are required. This semi-concealed design additionally means you may nonetheless field the bike for journey with out a lot of a hiccup. Even higher is that you just’re unlikely to wish to make any part modifications because the supplied elements provide a cushty place straight from the field.
OK, in order that hid cabling could look good (that’s basically its core function), but it surely completely introduces future servicing problems. Altering brake or gear outer cables is definitely extra of a fiddle, however hardly a stress in comparison with the nightmare that can be incurred in case you had been to ever put on out or rust away a headset bearing that the fork steers on. Right here, all of the gear cables and brake cables will should be disconnected (and certain changed) together with the bartape as a way to swap that easy bearing – a service that’s more likely to price a minimum of an additional hour {of professional} labour.
Worse but, the bearing sturdiness is now compromised as a result of the weather are welcome to enter by the holes for the brake and kit cables. Certainly a sweaty session on the indoor coach or a soggy trip out on a gravel highway will see contaminants start to succeed in the ultimate seals of these bearings.
![Headset top cap lifted with to show the internal cable routing and headset bearing.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escape-collective-32.jpg)
All of that is to say that I strongly consider clear aesthetics will not be sufficient purpose for manufacturers to utilise hid cabling on entry-level bikes – a grievance by no means unique to Trek. These lower-cost bikes don’t have wi-fi digital gears, however somewhat nonetheless use mechanical gears that want easy paths for the cables to stream. In the meantime, the bike examined additionally has metal cables for the brakes, and you’ll wager that the marginally elevated lengths of required cabling come at the price of elevated friction, better cable compression, and due to this fact decreased brake effectivity. Hydraulic disc brakes assist so much right here, however even then, you continue to have mechanical shift cables to weave.
So what’s the reply? Properly, you’re locked into this with the brand new Domane Al. It’s the one factor I believe is an apparent (and important) downgrade from the earlier iteration of the Domane AL. And it’s one space the place I believe the brand new Specialized Allez Sport retains issues extra virtually modest (properly price consideration at this worth level). Sadly for a lot of at this worth level, the trouble of creating such funds bikes look extra premium comes at a sensible price, and Trek is joined by the likes of Orbea, Scott, and an rising variety of others on this development.
![](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escpae-collective-1.jpg)
![](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/2024-Specialized-Allez-Sport-road-bike-review-Escape-Collective-Dave-Rome-1-2-scaled.jpg)
The wrap
Trendy bicycles have improved in so some ways. The sturdiness is spectacular. The flexibility to run vast tyres for blended terrain removes limitations of the place and how one can trip your personal bike. And little doubt, bikes are extra ergonomic and higher for the physique than earlier than.
Nonetheless, I have a look at the mixture of disc brakes and hid cabling on a motorbike constructed with Shimano’s most entry-level gearing and may’t assist however suppose how significantly better this bike might be if it had an excellent less complicated body and an honest rim brake. The braking can be comparable, it might be far lighter, and it might both be considerably cheaper or higher outfitted.
Once more, that’s not a grievance distinctive to Trek, however the base-model Domane AL 2 is a first-rate instance of motorbike that arguably lacks worth the place it issues. Certainly it’s a very good bike in lots of elements, but it surely carries a hefty asking worth for a motorbike working shifting elements that beforehand got here with bikes costing half as a lot only a handful of years in the past.
Spending extra for the Shimano Tiagra-equipped Domane AL 4 instantly solves all of my points associated to the brakes and shifting. Nonetheless, it doesn’t remedy for the sluggish tyres and elevated complexity of the through-headset cable routing. Both approach, in case you do determine a Trek Domane AL is best for you, then simply know that you just’ll be at a pace drawback till you a minimum of change the tyres. And as with all bike with through-headset cable routing, be ready for larger service payments by the possession of such a motorbike.
Gallery
![A view from of the downtube, taken from the back of the bike.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escape-collective-27.jpg)
![A look down at the lightly flared handlebars.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escape-collective-31.jpg)
![Square taper bottom bracket.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escape-collective-24.jpg)
![A front on view showing the flared handlebars.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escape-collective-22.jpg)
![Another image of the tyre clearance in the fork.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escape-collective-21.jpg)
![An image showing the candy red paint and shapely front to the bike.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escape-collective-17.jpg)
![A logo on the seat tube.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escape-collective-9.jpg)
![A front on view of the small head tube badge.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escape-collective-10.jpg)
![A view of the Shimano crankset.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escape-collective-4.jpg)
![A close look at the Shimano Claris shifters.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escape-collective-5.jpg)
![A wider view of the bike's front, including the shifters.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escape-collective-3.jpg)
![A chain catcher sits behind the small front chainring.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escpae-collective-2.jpg)
![A portrait image of the bike sitting on a wall with a painted red bird (Australia King Parrot) in a matching colour above it.](https://escapecollective.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Trek-Domane-AL-2-road-bike-review-escpae-collective-9.jpg)
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