Trek Equinox TTX 9.0 (2010)

April 21, 2010

This bike is the last of an era. Bikes designed by Trek without the guidance of stack and reach metrics is sliding off into history—and the Equinox TTX is one of those historic bikes.

You might track the evolution of Trek's tri bikes this way: The Team Time Trial bike was a geometric disaster. It fit no one (except maybe George Hincapie). The Equinox TTX was a big improvement, but it lacked a geometric theme running throughout its size run. The first Speed Concepts—out in June or thereabouts—are expected to address these geometric issues, which will bring it up to par—fitwise—with the tri bikes made by Specialized, Cervelo and Felt (and leap in front of them aerodynamically, if Trek's narrative holds true).

We're comfortable that the geometric improvements have been executed. But the embargo on any Speed Concept information on which one can hang his hat causes me to add this caveat: I believe the Speed Concept will be geometrically sound. But I can't say for sure until I see the geometry charts in front of me.

The Equinox TTX can be a very sound bike for you, but, only if it's a geometric match for your riding style and morphology. The (possibly formidable looking) graph below illustrates (I hope) what I mean. The Trek Equinox TTX geometry is nominally "narrower/taller" than the Cervelo P3's geometry.

The two factors that would cause you to ride a narrower/taller frame are: 1) shallower seat angle; 2) longer legs versus torso.

If you are more evenly proportioned, or, you have a longer torso; and, if you choose to ride a steeper seat angle; you would favor a longer/lower geometry (such as made by Cervelo, Felt and others).

There are some other mitigating factors, such as the aerobar style you choose to ride, but, all things equal, the above explanation should suffice.

On paper, then, the Cervelo P3/P4 is your long/low choice. Note the fairly straight line between 48cm and 58cm. This means the size run is "graded" uniformly—that there is a theme to the sizing, and bespeaks a style of fit Cervelo has in mind. Only in the 61cm size does the theme veer, because 61cm is the catch-all for tall people. The 61cm is therefore taller, versus its length, than the other sizes.

The Equinox TTX, on the other hand is a narrower/taller bike. For example, the 54cm Equinox is 3cm "narrower," that is to say, the head tube top is 3cm back toward to the bottom bracket (39cm reach versus the P3's 42cm reach for this same 54cm size bike). But it's also taller, by 1.5cm (51.5cm stack to Cervelo's 50cm stack).

This narrow/tall theme stays true throughout the size run, except in the 56cm size. You can see how the Trek's 56cm deviates from its geometric sizing pattern. As you see, the Trek in 56cm is very close to the same geometry as Felt's tri bike in this 56cm size, and Felts are, on the whole, more closely associated with Cervelo's long/low geometries than Trek's narrow/tall models.

What this means is, if you're a narrow/tall kind of guy (or gal) Trek's made your bike. Unless you ride a size-56. In which case Trek may or many not have made your bike.

Trek also makes this bike in a WSD version, the WS standing for Women's Specific. But there's nothing different about the geometries; Trek simply makes the bike in a different color, and in all the same 3 smallest sizes and geometries (and with a women's specific Bontrager saddle).

Let's talk about spec, and how it relates to geometry. If you're going to make a narrow/tall bike, best not to put a high profile armrest on it. This takes a tall bike and makes it really tall. The Bontrager Race Lite Clip-on bars spec'd on these bikes—all the models, really, from 9.0 to 9.9—feature a style of manufacture sort of like Profile's T2+, but, with a dash of Blackwell. The height heirarchy goes base bar => extension => armrest. Since the armrest must make room for the extension in between it and the base bar, the armrest is going to sit 5cm or 6cm above the centerline of the base bar. This means you have a tall position on a tall frame. Too tall for most.

The Blackwell likeness derives from the technique of clamping the armrest to the extension. This places a lot of torque on the extension, and this means the clamp must be tightened quite a bit to keep the armrest from sliding once weighted. This is okay on an aluminum extension, but Blackwell's design flaw, on its clip-on, was exposed when a carbon extension was used. The extension did not have enough crush strength to withstand the compression placed on it by the armrest clamp.

No problemo on this Trek, because the extensions are aluminum. Nevertheless, you might be locked into aluminum extensions with this Bontrager bar. Very little modularity here. You may well want to swap out the extensions, because the bloom is off the rose of S-bends, so, I'm skeptical of your ability to do so with this type of engineering.

Otherwise, the bike is spec'd quite adequately. SRAM Rival keeps the bike moving forward, 11-26 10sp cassette, 53×39 chainrings. The wheels are Bontrager SSR, and I think wheels are a category where Bontrager really shines.

Trek is on the cusp of a breakthrough lineup of timed race bikes. It's about to end production of the Equinox TTX bikes—or has already ended it—in favor of the next generation Speed Concept. Or so it seems to me, absent any evidence to the contrary (Trek dealers report to me that they can't order Equinox TTXs right now, and this would seem to indicate the end of production). Trek is an excellent company and can be counted on to make a quality bike, support it, and warranty it. But the winds of change are blowing. Smart money says this model will soon be orphaned.

Because of this, it ought to be a buyer's market for this model. This is an excellent bike, and it should be bought. With these provisos. First, make sure this is a geometric match for you. Second, if it's a geometric match only with lower profile aerobars, then, this is your negotiating point. Buy the bike with the aerobars you need. Once upon a time, Lance rode this bike with Hed one-piece bars, and then Bontrager equivalents, and these were very low-profile bars. There are a variety of images of Contador riding his Equinox TTX on this linked page. Sub-in Lance or Levi, you'll still note the absence of a high-profile aerobar on this bike.

Accordingly, the wise consumer would hold out for an aerobar that meets his fit and ergonomic needs, and perhaps an aftermarket saddle if the OE saddle is not comfortable. If the retailer will throw these in, and make sure you're positioned properly, the bike that's won a lot of times trials in a lot of grand tours could be yours for a nice price.