Hope this becomes a series of videos and we get a "Build yourself a solid bikepacking bike this year" some way along the line :D Great stuff as always Paul!

I work as a mechanic in a bike shop myself and couldn't agree more, we bought this exact palmares frame and kitted it out with 105 and some stock aeolus wheels, the amount of compliments we got on the bike was incredible haha

Crazy that you have to face anything, the factory should be doing this surely.

Thanks to Paul's opinions and experience I just have build myself a time adhx 45 , very very thankfull ! ☺️

Nice chat, and what a great build. thanks for taking us along! Love

just came back from a ride, shower, took in some food and recover a bit in front of youtube, what a beautiful video, somehow really find it satisfying that everything executed professionally on the build, so much enjoyable to watch. well done.

I saw that on the Trek website and was intrigued. Love the color and T47, and price is very reasonable. Glad to see it stands up to professional examination attention.

Nice to see a frame with plenty of colour on it. Looks lovely. My brother has the last gen Emonda ALR in flip purple, it's a really good frame. He loves riding it and it hasn't creaked or posed any issues in 4 years.

T47 as you said makes sense (especially for ALU frames) because you need the space for the welding and material of the tubes. With BSA you're taking a pretty small shell that came from the steel days of skinny tubes and welds to larger tubing. T47 also gives you more space for spindle choices

I work for Trek and the lifetime guarantee is true! I've seen warranties on cheap cruiser bike from 15 ears ago and old carbon road bike also (just to name a few). Trek is all about good customer experience, which I was skeptical of when I worked in other shops, but it really is true.

Right! Im hoping to build one of these sometime later in the year (cash flow pending) and you guys are now IT for helping with the initial prep and routing.

I can't agree more. Not a trek fan for years but saw one out on a ride and was really impressed.

That paint job was so sick! Perfect match for they’re triple X LTD road shoes

The Kinesis RTD is another really good quality, good value aluminum frame to consider with proper endurance features like a slack HT that is completely stable, and big tire clearance. Only issue I had was the same issue the Trek had with the bottom bracket not being faced.

I built myself a gravel race bike/winter road bike based on the trek Crocket as a frame set. Got myself 9velo carbon wheels, sram gx eagle from last generation, cheap handlebar, stem, seatpost. I got myself a gravel race bike + everyday road bike for 3000Euro. Everything new.

Great video. I have a 2019 Emonda ALR and I love it. SRAM components and mechanical brakes with carbon Aeolus wheels . It’s also a size small. It is super lightweight.

Nice looking bike, great build and all in a fairly cheap bike!

Cracking looking bike. It’s bikes like this that bring reality back to cycling.

Recently did the exact same thing with that frame(in black) as my "second" bike. Added a set of Bontrager 37mm carbon wheels with Pirelli 28mm tan walls along with an RSL carbon seatpost and saddle. Shimano 105 11 speed mechanical.The ride is amazing for well under $4K.

I had the first Trek Emonda ALR, great cheap, no fuss bike. Also as light as the lower end carbon Emondas. I just dont know why its acceptable to need to face bb shells or sort other minor defects on factory fresh frames nowadays. £1k and they dont finish the product properly 🤔😤. Seems to be the norm regardless of brand and everyone talks about it as though its acceptable....

Fantastic video they just keep getting better and better appreciate all your hard work keep them coming

I was in a Trek store 2 weeks ago and saw the ALR 5 in black. I was surprised the top headset was exposed since the top cap didn’t cover it. I then looked on their website to see if the issue was related to only the bike I saw but their website showed the upper silver headset sticking above the head tube. It was disappointing for a $2300 usd bike. …… thanks for video. Always enjoyable

Nice build and exemplary attention to detail. Worst frame i ever had was an aluminium 2019 Cube gravel frame. Only came to light with a rear puncture. Struggled to remove thru axle. Fixed puncture then spent 30 minutes trying to align thruaxle. I had to lean on the bike laid flat to distort it to get it to thread in. Bought a 2021 Genesis CDF frameset and built my gravel TANK.

Great Video, like seeing a great price frame, quality and build. Working all the cables in the headtube, looked like you managed to sort it out neatly. Thanks!

You should do an opinion video to cycling weekly "ALR superbike" build and the 5 bad points of the bike video. 👍

Built up a CAAD10, back in 2013. Used it to pull an xtrawheel, on a 5 week European adventure, did the Raid Alpine on it, covered circa 30-40k miles, in all weathers(inc Scottish Winters) and it's never failed to put a smile on my face. Talk about a bike being greater than the sum of it's parts.... I won't mention the BB30 standard, however! 😄

Love watching you build, great attention to detail. But I could go the rest of my life without hearing that "music" and not miss it

Great work! Really enjoy what you are doing.

That was great content, thanks. I ride a trek alr5 checkpoint for a few years, and other than the pressfit bb, I loved it. I sold it for a sl7 checkpoint, which I love, but in comparison, it does highlight just how good the alr5 is.

Thank you for taping the steerer 😂

I’ve been riding this frame for about 6 months and love.

So nice to see people finally building and reviewing these properly

I loved this frame ever since it came out. Wish i had one. Trek lover here. If not for the fact that i race at the top level, i might own one of these instead. But my SLR will do. Maybe my next commuter will be either one of these or that new Checkpoint ALR AXS......

Trek have long made solid aluminum frames. I have a bonded aluminum Trek I bought in the early 90s. It doesn’t have any original parts on it, but I still use the frame on my trainer, and I ride it a few thousand miles a year.

I switched over to gates carbon belt drive roadbike now and the only way I could see myself going back to chain is with a wireless Di2 105 or something, I absolutely HATE the fact that cables require maintenance, replacement and adjusting so much times, I hate cleaning chains aswell and the short life that comes with it, however waxing is always a good choice to drastically increase the length of your drive train. But noway I am gonna touch mechanical groupsets now

Very watchable, well done. Ally frames are often overlooked but good design shines through

I had an Emonda AL frame. It was great, only reason I replaced it was that I got a great deal on a bike I always wanted.

I did build the Emonda ALR frameset up last year. Put on 105 Di2. Also used a carbon seat post and that paired with carbon steerer provides nice ride. I installed good carbon wheelset with GP5000's. So, all that said, the bike is super, the ride quality and responsiveness is super. It's a solid bike. I have great confidence when riding up in the mountains.

This video made me subscribe to this channel. 🤣. This is my story. We don't have seasons where I live. But we do have rainy days that starts in October till December. I did build a Aluminum rim brake road bike for those days( Concorde Mistral 340), to spare my Carbon all day road bike (BIanchi 928L). But I was looking for something more modern to build on a budget to use during this period. Looking forward also to go for a more modern road race bike. Thanks for sharing. Nice build.

Back in the nineties when Principia frames were hot, we had to work on bottom bracket and headset areas in the bikeshop. Sad to see this is still the case, 30 years later. You would think, that getting these areas perfect on an aluminum frame does not take too much effort - so why does such a frame not come in perfect condition 🤷‍♂️

That's my bike!!! Very happy to have it explained to me. I have the corral version of last year. I really like to see your young and eager colleague. Also I'm always impressed to see you redo the threading for the bottom brackets. I Hope it is not really necessary. I feel it should be the constructor's responsibility to ensure this threading is ok. So finally it's the youngster choice for the emonda alr 5 that prevailed. Is he the same guy who once stayed UP the whole night working on a new super dooper 360 dégrees bar spin breaks and jumped on the walls in the backyard a few months ago after putting loads of olive oil in them? Thanks for the video. It's a thrill to see my frame explained to me by top mechanics. I put ffwd ryott 33 wheels based on your advice. I feel like a Big shot now with m'y top wheels on my aluminium bike. (Saved money on the frame, invested on the wheels) Yeap very happy. Thanks for the video. (I would have liké to see you groupset choice more. Thanks mechanicail 105 for the people or somerhing else? Thanks

First tune in,loved it - very professional craftsmen 🎉

Having to face your own bottom bracket due to paint and welding inaccuracies is wild

I built up an Emonda ALR frameset a couple of years ago. They're a good frameset at a low price. Highly recommend.

This whole cables through the headset thing is such a fookedup idea.

Also that colorway is fire

I have the older 2021 model of Trek Emonda. I upgraded from Tiagra to Ultegra and got DT Swiss G1800 wheels setup with GP 5000 STR 30mm tires (even though Trek says 28mm max) and the bike is comfy even on bad roads.

A couple of years ago, my brother bought that frame in black. The disc brake mounts were misaligned. So, they got a different frame sent in and it was the exact same way. Apparently the same person made both frames. LOL! They ended up having to modify the mounts so the disc caliper would align properly. He liked the frame pretty well.

Love your style - very informative and well paced

Ooh, that bolt up layout for the derailleur hanger is smart! I've a CANYON Endurace AL 7, popped a hanger in the first 5 rides. Whilst I like the countersunk heads for accuracy of holding the hanger my machinist mind thought straight away about that there's nothing stopping stripped and mangled threads, and welding means deformation and further finessing OR holding a tolerance that really isn't in purview of an LBS. thos though... TREK, I like.

Yo BikeMec John here - I opted for this frame over the carbon this year, kitted out with sram force and some nice dt swiss carbon wheels, it rides excellent and I’m very pleased with it - as you mentioned like a “soft” carbon! I also had to face the non drive side and I just used some thick ass military grease on the headset gap

I have an Trek ALR 6 (2018), for daily commute yes but it was beaten by my Velo Build carbon frameset and it was more comfortable...not to mention stiffer bb.

Gorgeous bike in a material and level of quality that I covet

Just bought the Palmeres frame to build up an Ultegra r8000 bike to use up all of the surplus parts that I have hanging around. The first time I saw the paint job I knew I had to have it.

I have that frame and it’s beautiful

Really glad you’ve done this , I have ordered the exact same frame on C2W and took you advice on the wheels section on you last pice and ordered some venn 40 tcd wheels but I’ve decided to use a SRAM rival groupset running a 46/33 and 10/36 combo . First time I’ve specified bike to my own requirements since the early 90’s and time to retire the 10 year old giant defy to the turbo

Maybe my favorite color scheme on a Trek

Lovely looking frame that.

Shut up and wrench...24/7...lalala 🔊🔊🕴🏼 Nice music and resulting Bike

Currently converting my alloy Hybrid into a gravel bike, comfy, relaxed!

Love. Love. Love. ALR. Also have the SLR Emonda. However the bottle bosses rusted in and worrried front mech hanger rivets about to go. Winter bike 5 years in

Awesome channel! About a week ago, this exact idea crossed my mind. Don't an have access to Trek Emonda alr frame, but I have an older One Series 1.1 frame... wrong size, unfortunately. Although bike fit got me into a comfy position. After 9 years of riding with Claris groupset I decided it was time to upgrade it to 105. Hope it's good for another 10 years of riding. ...eventually I'll try to get a correct frameset

I too would like to see a budget build series where local customers provide an affordable frame for you guys to assemble. Great stuff! I also wish more companies offered their aluminum frame-sets for sale only. Hard to find frame-sets here in the states, it seems as though they want you to buy the whole bike. Caad and Allez/ Allez Sprint frame-sets are essentially unavailable everywhere, even at local bike shops. Many of my local big brand bike shops (Trek Stores, Bike Mart, etc don't even have Caads or Allez sprint (full bikes assembled) in stock for you to look at or sit on. What are you supposed to do, have them order something without getting the chance to see it in person first? Crazy

Colour is beautiful…unfortunately I have already too many bikes 😂. Aluminium is blocked in my garage by an 2015 Specialized Allez…but the Trek would be Disc replacement, if I would have an excuse 😊

I have this frame in 56 and it's slightly lighter than a (Chinese, non-branded) endurance carbon frame of the same size I had before. Stiff and twitchy like a teenager on Friday night though. Good for racing, less so for British roads. Anyway, I run it with Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR 32mm tyres and that combination runs light, fast and comfortable.

Nice video fellas. I learned quite a bit.

This was awesome 👍

I see Nicolai Nucleon had T47 too. But with Nicolai no facing and tapping is needed. At least my G1 was superbly done. Headset was not too easy to press, nor a struggle, felt just right. Zero issues installing BB and brake.Mine is Raw so no paint job to judge. I got Chris king 30mm BB, and their headset too. No issues so far as long as I don't overgrease the BB, if I do seal pops off, and grease comes out, but grease came out with factory grease too and in rainy rides especially made a mess. But still running smooth. But seeing a trek will probably always make me concerned. I hope they sorted out their assembly, manufacturing issues, failures. But this frame set you show does not look that bad, but not a fan of internal routing, and especially trough the headset. But no surprise the frame had pain on BB shell, at least it was not banged up too.

I just bought the 23 trek emonda alr5. Besides the stock tires ( which are pretty reliable) some good tires and tubes for summer. the bike is really fun

I have a 105 11sp group that needs a frame. I’m seriously considering this frame. I think the only thing that concerns me is the cable routing through the headset. The rear shifter on 11sp tends to eat inner cables. When I was using this group on a gravel bike I was replacing the inner cables often and the outer probably 2 times a year. You can still get some of the cheap Chinese carbon frames without head set cable routing. But I do like trek’s warranty. I have 2 Trek mountain bikes so I do like the brand.

My first road bike was an Emonda ALR5 and it was money 👌🏽

11:55 that looooooooong bar reach looks very lovely for me to rest my wrists and forearms on 😍

U need to check out the new 2024 Merida Silex alu frames for the gravel guys. Amaazing frame for the money! As for the trek… still can’t beat the old first gen rim braked emonda alr frames!

Excellent & proper indepth scope & insight into this very informative bike build.., i custome built my Merida Reacto 4000 disc 2020 with Ultegra 9020 full hydraulic groupset, Ultegra clipless SPD'S peddles, S Works Specialized carbon printed saddle & 50mm Prime Black Edition carbon rims set with Ultegra 160mm roters & on the rear a Ultegra 11/32 cassette all set in latex tubes & wrapped up in 28mm Continental Gp5000s black chilli compound race tires..., More than happy day's for me..., 👊🏾👍🏾

If that is a new frame, why would you have to face the bottom bracket??? That cable routing on the headset looks like it would let a huge amount of rain and dirt in, not sure how long the bearing will last with that design🙁

Is the move to wide tries exactly the change that aluminum frames needed to make a comeback. Let the tire handle compliance and the frame provide strength and power transfer. The argument for carbon over aluminum gets a lot harder to make especially if the price difference is so striking.

Thing to consider with this frame, you can still pick up a full ALR5 for £1850, so for £850 over the naked frame you get a full 105 setup, spare wheels, bars, BB etc etc. You don't get *that* colour way buuuuuut 😀

A few years ago you could by a full bike with 105 for the price of that frame.

I think the best value frames right now are well-kept CAAD10s and 12s 😉

Got to say fellas I admire your stoicism and appreciate the vital role you play in correcting poor manufacturing QC in providing a practical solution. But don’t the industry’s underlying issues make you want to weep with frustration at times ? Take the reflection that unfortunately BB imperfections are the generally expected norm for a new bike at this price point. When we get to the point of saying there was nothing unsafe on it, rather than that being the automatic given for all bikes it really makes one question what the manufacturing side of the industry is launching on it’s customers …………rant over 😖

Trek website says tolerance is 28, you talk 32, would 35 fit?

The riveted front derailleur bracket is only a minor inconvenience, no? Worth mentioning, for sure, but any serious crit racer either has tools or has a mechanic. Drilling out a rivet, and replacing it when needed, is a terribly simple thing.

Lovely bike, just a shame they moved away from the H2 geometry.

fyi: Al needs about 15 minutes to develop that protective uniform AlO layer. Let it sit, don't grease/touch it for that long.

Well, Jake certainly wasn't using talking points! Quite refreshing.

Great video & useful insight. Do you have any idea what the Checkpoint ALR frame is like?

A Grand. Mmmm. 1300 quid gets you a complete Canyon and the geometry is very good

Great Video, You just gave me the idea to build this bike. My plan is to use 105 mechanical 7100, some decent stapost, bar & stem. Wheels still is a deciding factor (Fulcrum or Hunt maybe). One question though do the frame come with Headset?

Thankyou for all the time you take ro do your youtubes I do enjoy them very pro If you could do a MOOTS build that would be great and a quick Q, Moots Routt 45 would you go with GRX or Sram Mullet ?

I was interested up to the point it was clear it had cables through the headset… Fail. No sale…

I think the best value frames (and carbon at that) are the heavily discounted VITUS at Wiggle !!!!

is that normal for a bike frame of this value to have paint and "welding blobs" all over it? the more i watch theese videos the more im inclined to never give up my old bikes that have 0 manufacturing issues, rim brakes and that i actually can fix myself

Thank god threaded bottom brackets!

Firstly, great video! It's great to see what to look for when getting and building up a frame! On that note, I recently looked into carbon fiber seat posts and stumbled onto some discussions on how to install the seat clamp. Some manuals and people suggest that it is best to place the seat clamp so it's slit is opposite of the slit in the frame. Does that really make a difference, especially for carbon fiber frames and carbon seat posts?

My least favorite part of this channel is that I now don't trust any other bike shop and i live hundreds of miles away from mapdec 😂

To give an insight into the lifetime warranty: I have a aluminium Domane AL 2 Disc I use as a winter / semi-gravel bike. The fork is a bonded aluminium (tube) / carbon (blades) part and has a hole in the bottom. On my bike dirt and moisture got in the hole and started a nice 'growth' of galvanic corrosion which only became noticable when it got to the front of the fork. Upon further inspection the paint came off a huge part of the fork (approx. 5 by 6 cm). Brought the bike into a bikeshop (Trek dealership) and they went to claim warranty. Trek mentions in their warranty-document that it doesn't cover corrosion and so the response from Trek to the dealer was: this is not warranty, the fork cannot be replaced under warranty but we will supply a new fork free of charge. I'm happy with the fork but why Trek reiterated it isn't warranty is not clear to me, although it might have something to do with the hole in the fork. And yes, I have covered the hole in my new fork with a protective sticker ;-)

Thanks for the video very informative and entertaining. I have a question : What is the final weight of the bike?

Cycling weekly has complaints on its headset and bottom bracket. Is it the same on your frame?

So you can buy this frameset for 1200 euros Or a complete Radon R1 with 105 hydraulic groupset for 1300 euros. I think the choice is clear

At a £1000 for an aluminium frame you would kinda hope it was safe. Are you guys seeing stuff at that price point that isn’t? A video naming and shaming the worst you’ve seen and praising the best examples Hambini-style would help us consumers a lot. Same with component quality. You’d also hope you wouldn’t have to face a BB on any bike at any price point. Thanks for the videos, it’s truly scary how poor quality is in the industry for such high prices.