trek madone slr 9 occasion

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Results have arrived, trek madone bikes for sale.

Shop new & used Trek Madone bikes at TPC - The Pro's Closet. Find reviews, specs, weight info, prices and size charts on various models (SLR 9, 7) and popular years (2018, 2021, etc). Read our Trek Madone Quick-Take Review below.

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Trek Madone SLR Gen 7 - Weight, Specs, Price

Trek madone 3rd party reviews ,   trek madone size chart, 2022 trek madone review - a tpc rider's quick take.

• Aero masterclass
• Trek engineers locked themselves in a wind tunnel with this bike. Every curve, edge, and component shouts aerodynamics. From the IsoFlow tech to the one-piece aero bar and stem this bike is designed for slicing through air.
• IsoFlow Comfort
• One of the standout features of the Madone is Trek’s IsoFlow technology, which makes for a forgiving ride, especially on longer epics. IsoFlow helps the seatmast flex, soaking up road vibrations. It’s rare for a speed-focused road bike to excel in comfort, yet here we are.
• Integrated everything
• In the Madone, the term "fully integrated" is taken to new heights. From the cables to the cockpit, everything is tucked away, contributing not just to aerodynamics but also to a jaw-dropping aesthetic.
• Speed and beauty come at a cost. The Madone’s premium price could act as a barrier for many. It's a serious investment, and budget-friendly aero options are out there.
• Price: $7,999 (SLR 6)
• Weight woes
• Despite the carbon fiber frame and components, the Madone isn't a featherweight in its category. It's a solid build, but riders focused on climbing might find it a tad on the heavier side.
• Weight: 17lbs (56cm)
• Versatility questions
• While the Madone excels on flat terrain and downhill blasts, it's not the most versatile option for a wide range of riding conditions. Climbers and those who encounter varying terrain may find it limiting.

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Trek Madone SLR 9 Gen 7 2024

This 2024 Trek Madone SLR 9 Gen 7 2024 - Shimano Dura Ace Di2 has a frame size 52. The bike suitable for a rider height of 5 ' 4 " - 5 ' 7 ".

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Madone SLR 9 Gen 7 2024

$ 9,885 $ 14,160

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TREK Madone SLR Gen 7 2024

Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 12s, 52-36

DT Swiss 50 ARC 1400 DB

Trek Madone SLR 9 Disc review

Cycling Weekly has shown that the Trek Madone is one of the fastest aero bikes available today, but has the update with discs made it even better? I certainly think so

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The Trek Madone SLR 9 Disc is a great bike – it feels like a technical masterpiece you can live with every day; of course you won't want to ride to work on it! The ride feels quality and it truly does want to take off. The added adjustable ISOSpeed is a great idea and the fact it doesn't hinder anything else, other than add a little bit of weight, is no bad thing. Great work Trek!

Ride quality

Performance

You can trust Cycling Weekly. Our team of experts put in hard miles testing cycling tech and will always share honest, unbiased advice to help you choose. Find out more about how we test.

It is clearly one of the fastest bikes on the market, even a year since its launch. I really enjoyed my time with the Trek Madone and would happily have it back for more riding. Fast, capable, great handling and surprisingly comfortable for such an aggressive bike and that is why it is in for Editor's Choice again.

It's the year of the aero bike as Trek follows suit and launches an updated version of its wind-cheating machine, the Trek Madone SLR 9 Disc.

This is the sixth Madone iteration, the first being launched back in 2003, and although a lot of you might be crying out that it looks exactly like the fifth  Trek Madone,  launched in 2015, it has in fact received many updates despite that similar silhouette.

>>> Best carbon road bikes

The main thing you see here is of course the disc brakes for the new Madone, but you’ll have a rim-brake version to choose from if you so wish, something that other major brands have chosen to avoid. This is because the American brand believes the customer should have options and, truly, the jury is still out on disc brakes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H2kJb7rIiM&t=265s

Although it follows the same silhouette of the last year's Madone, the new Trek Madone SLR utilises a new geometry fit. The new H1.5 shape is something that Trek says was asked for by the riders and was developed with the women’s pro team, Trek-Drops. It means more riders can fit the Trek Madone SLR and with a choice of low or high-stack stems you should be able to get a similar fit to the older geo (H1 low, H2 high).

>>> Is women’s specific geometry still relevant in 2018?

With this you get a new two-piece handlebar and stem that offers full cable integration but also versatility. The most impressive thing is that you can get a 5° tilt on the handlebar, something I’ve wanted to see on aero handlebars for a while now. Being two-piece means you can get the right stem length to match the right handlebar width, very important for all us fussy cyclists.

The bars are nicely shaped, the tops are comfortable and feel relatively stiff when out the saddle sprinting – overall a very nice design.

Riding the new Trek Madone SLR 9 Disc

Aerodynamics

What impressed me the most is how fast the bike feels. This is really tangible, even against the likes of the Specialized Tarmac that does in its own right feel lightning quick (and the older version of the Venge ViAS) that I have been riding recently. The bike just flies!

Cycling Weekly's  in-house testing of the last model of the Madone found it to be the fastest bike aerodynamically, closely followed by the  Specialized Venge ViAS , which has also now been updated for the better in 2018 if a little more dramatically than the Trek Madone.

Does the Madone still remain the fastest aero bike available? That is yet to be seen although, according to Trek, it is in fact faster than the previous version despite the inclusion of disc brakes. According to Trek, between 10 and 20 grams of drag has been saved when compared to last year’s rim-brake bike but in the real world this is fairly negligible, representing a watt or two saving at most.

But what I want to know is why Trek hasn't used leverless thru-axles? I mean, it has taken care of every aspect of the bike but sticks a large lever on one side? I just don't get it.

Some of that quick nip will be down to the new wheels and tyres from Trek-owned Bontrager, which provides the Bontrager Aeolus XXX 6 tubeless-ready disc brake wheels and Bontrager R4 320 tyres that even sound fast as you're swooshing along.

Sadly, I haven't been uploading anything to Strava (I know, not on Strava didn't happen right?) but the Trek Madone SLR has felt effortless to ride and you can't help but cruise at 20mph without hinderance.

And the best thing is it doesn't come at the price of handling or comfort.

Comfort v stiffness

Straight out on the road you can tell the Madone is a racing bike. It is hard and fast, so if you are looking for a sofa to sit on, look elsewhere. That isn't to say it can't be a comfortable ride too.

As the Trek Madone SLR 9 Disc now comes with the IsoSpeed decoupler fitted to the top tube so that aerodynamics isn’t compromised but ride quality can be improved, you can tune comfort levels to suit you, whether dictated by terrain, rider weight or rider preference.

This according to Trek also allows for the ride qualities of the frame to be the same across all the sizes.

I initially thought this would mean issues for the consumer: don't give people a choice because it surely creates more complications down the line; just make a bike that is compliant and stiff. How very wrong I was!

In its softest setting it yields 17 per cent more compliance than the older Madone and in the hardest setting it is 21 per cent stiffer. A damper has been added around the seatpost to help reduce rebound by around 13 per cent.

I've ridden the Trek Madone SLR 9 Disc in various IsoSpeed modes to discover what difference to the rear it would make. I learnt that I probably wouldn't ride in the stiffest setting as it was a little too harsh at the rear for me. At that point it was very similar to the likes of the  Giant Propel  in terms of rear-end feel – a little uncomfortable and I needed the odd out-of-the-saddle break.

Towards the middle and softest setting was my preferred mode and I could altogether forget I was riding such a racing machine, let alone an aero road bike that more often than not is too hard to ever be called comfortable.

To be frank about the bike's stiffness, I couldn't really tell that I was getting anything less from the bike in the softest setting, it still whipped up a storm no problem.

However, unlike the Giant it propelled me down descents like a dream. I didn't feel that chatter that stiff aero bikes can suffer from around the bends when pushed, whereby you are skipping across the surface of the tarmac instead of remaining planted and gripping firmly around the corners. It has enough compliance to hold the bends and offer up plenty of ride feel to keep you aware of what is going on underneath.

The Trek Madone SLR 9 Disc Weight-wise we’re looking at around 1,000g for a 56cm frameset according to Trek and my size small 52cm complete is 7.5kg on our scales, which is competitive for an aero bike and is in large part thanks to the use of the high-end and much respected OCLV 700 carbon, the American brand’s highest-grade carbon – although there are lighter aero bikes out there.

That 7.5kg weight isn't felt that much though, even on the climbs, and the bike feels light on its feet, which thanks to the performance and stiffness of the frame helps the bike's feel enormously.

There isn't much you could do to bring it down, I fear. Wheels of course could be replaced with lighter ones if that is what you are after; maybe sticking some lighter components on such as the saddle etc. But I don't think that's needed here. You get plenty of advantage from the aerodynamics so that you don't need to concern yourself too much with weight – but as I say there are lighter aero bikes on the market.

Trek has done an amazing job with the Trek Madone SLR 9 Disc. The American brand has just improved on that, even more, which can only mean I give it a 10/10 to match the £11,050 price tag.

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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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TREK Madone SLR 9

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Descriptions

• Modèle: Madone SLR 9
• Année: 2019
• Type de vélo de route: Route - Sans assistance électrique
• Taille du cadre: 58 (XL)
• Matériau du cadre: carbone
• Marque transmission: Shimano
• Modéle de la transmission Durace DI2 disc
• Type de plateau avant: Double
• Taille des roues: 700 C
• Matériau des roues: aluminium
• Freinage: freins à disques

Descriptions supplémentaires

Vend TREK Madone SLR 9 DISC  world champ

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• Prix: 6500 €
• Prix d'origine: 12500 €

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Speeding on the Madone SLR really is very addictive. It's impossible to go out for a gentle jaunt. It wants hammer-time all the time. How it stacks up against other aero bikes needs some proper independent wind tunnel testing, but my seat-of-the-chamois impression, along with speed and power data from regular testing loops, confirms that it's easily comparable to the key rival aero bikes in this sector.

Some bikes just look fast, the Madone actually is fast. A regular proving ground for testing bikes is my local chain gang. Where better than a power hour to put a race bike through its paces, with rolling terrain, some punchy climbs and some fast drags, and people a lot fitter and faster than I am to keep up with? The Madone has given me the best advantage yet, not only allowing me to keep up but also slice a massive two minutes off my PB for the 40km route.

It's clearly insanely fast at high speeds. Get it up to 30kph and the speed really ramps up as you pile on the watts. But it doesn't feel quite as snappy at lower speeds, out of tight corners, and the weight holds it back on steeper gradients.

Handling and geometry

The Madone's handling is race-focused, as you'd expect. The new H1.5 geometry, which replaces the previous choices of slammed H1 and relaxed H2, is well judged. It provided a comfortable fit with a bit of stretch to the handlebar.

I shuffled a few spacers about – an easy task as the aero spacers are split – to get my desired position, a bit lower than standard. In the drops, it's an aggressive position but it's comfortable on longer rides too, but then I am used to race bike geometry which certainly helps.

The new two-piece bar and stem allow more fit adjustment than before, with the angle of the handlebar adjustable to suit your preference. The bar is a comfortable shape with the swept back design providing manageable reach to the hoods and drops.

It's a handlebar intended to be ridden in the drops or hoods the majority of the time – there's no tape on the tops. You can still cruise along gripping this section if you really want. The narrow 38cm width is good for reducing drag and keeping your arms tucked in, but might not be everyone's cup of tea. On a bike of this price, you can easily spec the bar width to suit your requirements.

Better brakes

The biggest improvement over the previous generation Madone, in my opinion, is the change from the custom designed integrated brakes with the head tube flaps (Vector Wings, in Trek speak) to disc brakes.

You'll have your own preference of braking system, and Trek is still offering the Madone SLR with rim brakes. In fact, it's one of the few brands still to offer rim brakes – many rival brands have fully embraced disc brakes with their latest aero bikes.

Compared to the slightly finicky integrated brakes of the previous Madone, the hydraulic disc brakes are easy to live with and required no maintenance during my time with the bike. Power is plentiful and lever feel is perfect for meting out the power smoothly in every situation. I experienced some occasional noise in damp weather but never for long.

Another benefit of disc brakes is increased tyre clearance, with 28mm tyres supported. That's a good option if you want to increase comfort. By contrast, the rim brake Madone only takes up to a 25mm tyre.

Fast and comfortable? Fast or comfortable?

I remember riding some of the first generation aero bikes and coming away impressed with the speed compared with regular road bikes, but less taken with the reduced ride comfort. Big aero tubes aren't good for building compliance and comfort into a bike.

Trek's solution, rolled out with the last Madone and upgraded with adjustability on this second generation bike, is the same IsoSpeed decoupler first developed for the Domane, an endurance bike designed to tame the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix.

Trek has now integrated the IsoSpeed decoupler into the top tube, from its previous location in the seat tube, and made it adjustable, allowing you to choose how soft or firm it is.

The IsoSpeed decoupler basically allows the seat tube and seatpost to move independently of the frame in a controlled manner, with a new elastomer bumper to control the rebound. Undo a couple of bolts and you can move a small slider to choose the firm, soft or somewhere-in-between setting.

If you're going from smooth crit circuits to bumpy normal roads you might adjust it frequently. Or, as in my case, you might play around with it for a few rides then just leave it in the softest setting.

Does it work? Yes, it does. How much compliance does it actually provide? Trek says: 'Compliance at the saddle of a 56cm frame ranges from approximately 119N/mm to 175N/mm depending on the slider's position. According to these figures, the new Madone is capable of both more compliance (+17%) and less compliance (-22%) than its predecessor.'

What does that mean on the road? In my experience the IsoSpeed softens bigger impacts, say if you clip the edge of a sunken drain or pothole when you're in a peloton and can't read the road ahead of you.

But make no mistake, the Madone still provides a very firm and hard ride. It just doesn't seem to be sensitive enough to smooth out poorly surfaced roads, the type where the top layer of tarmac has eroded away, or worse still, surface dressed roads. It's easy to overlook when you're galloping along, but on casual rides I found it a bit tiring.

Frame design

If there's an award for the biggest aero down tube, the Madone wins hands down. No other aero bike goes to such extremes to reduce drag as the Madone with massive profiles at the fork, down tube, seat tube and stays, all intended to reduce drag as much as possible.

The two-tone paint job gives an air of quality, a sparkly gloss paint over matt black. It's one of a handful of stock colour options too, and there's also Trek's Project One where a world of custom paint schemes awaits.

Integration is a key buzzword in bike design these days, and with the Trek Madone it's the IsoSpeed decoupler hidden away underneath the top tube, and a new aero handlebar and stem with greater fit adjustment than the old one-piece aero handlebar.

All cables and hoses are routed inside the Madone, right from the front where they are hidden inside the handlebar and stem and into the frame. The only exposed cabling is just where they exit ahead of the derailleurs and callipers.

The Di2 junction box is hidden inside the handlebar for easy charging and gear tweaking.

Aero handlebars are a prime method for reducing frontal surface area, which is why nearly all aero bikes now feature them. The downside is the limited fit adjustment. Trek's new handlebar uses a design that splits the stem, allowing the angle of the handlebar to be adjusted with a range of +/-5 degrees. Under the stem are four bolts you can loosen to adjust the tilt of the handlebar. Computers and other accessories can be bolted to the front of the handlebar using a GoPro-style mount.

As I said earlier, the Madone uses Trek's new H1.5 geometry. This replaces the previous low and stretched H1 and slightly more upright H2 options. The 56cm model, for example, has an effective top tube length of 559.9mm – we might as well call that 560mm – a head tube of 151mm, a stack of 563mm and a reach of 391mm. Trek says it hits the sweet spot, and I would tend to agree.

The seatpost is an integrated design and is easy to adjust with bolts at the back, but you do want to pay close attention to the manual and the recommended torque settings. The saddle clamp is nice and easy to set up, with individual bolts for adjusting the fore-aft and tilt, and there's a choice of setback to tune your position.

For £10,000, this Trek Madone needs to be the ultimate bike, and it nearly is but for a couple of issues. It's specced with the sort of kit you'd expect on this level of bike, including the Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset, which is flawless.

However, I can't help but question the 50/34-tooth compact chainset on a race bike – surely a 52/36 would have been better, Trek?

The 11-28 cassette is largely standard even on race bikes these days, and I appreciated it on some hillier rides.

Bontrager's Aeolus XXX 6 wheels enhance the aerodynamic performance greatly. They look fantastic and they sound great when you sprint the Madone up to speed. The wide profile provides a good base for the 25mm Bontrager R4 320tpi tyres too, and the wheels are tubeless-ready should you want to ditch the inner tubes. I found the wheels a bit of a handful in strong crosswinds but they were never erratic, you just have to be prepared.

I had zero issues with the Bontrager Montrose saddle nor the two-bolt seat clamp, which as I said above provides easy angle and fore-aft adjustment.

All the parts build up to a 7.7kg weight for the size 56cm bike tested. For comparison, the Specialized S-Works Venge in the same size and with similar parts tickled the scales to 7.15kg, so the Madone is carrying a bit of timber.

The Venge is the main rival that springs to mind because it's the aero bike I tested most recently. The Venge is lighter, cheaper (not by much), includes a dual-sided power meter, has more easily adjustable handlebar and stem, and the ride quality is a notch above the Madone. If it was my money, that's where it would be heading.

Other aero bikes we could throw into the ring include the Cervelo S5 Disc and Cannondale SystemSix (we haven't reviewed these bikes yet), Giant Propel Advanced SL Disc (we tested the £3,000 Propel Advanced Disc last year) and Bianchi Oltre XR2 .

> Buyer's Guide: 18 of the best and fastest 2019 aero road bikes

The XR2 is a good comparison because it also attempts to provide extra compliance by infusing the carbon layup with a special vibration-damping material, and it does provide a pretty smooth ride. It's not in the same ballpark when it comes to aerodynamics and integration, though.

Another rival comes from Trek itself: the recently introduced Madone SL, which brings the price down by virtue of using cheaper carbon fibre, though it still comes out of the same mould so you're getting the same aero performance and IsoSpeed decoupler. That range starts off at £3,600 which, if you love the look of this Madone but want to save a bit of cash, could be the bike for you.

The Madone SLR 9 Disc is ferociously fast and will enable you to smash PRs and dominate road races, with striking looks, some clever integration and a faultless build, but the firm ride makes it a chore to ride on regular roads at less than race pace, and it's a bit portly too. Those gripes aside, it's a very impressive bike, but I'm left just wanting a bit more refinement and finesse.

Seriously fast aero race bike with great handling, but not the smoothest and not the ultimate spec it should be

road.cc test report

Make and model: Trek Madone SLR 9 Disc

Size tested: 56cm

About the bike

List the components used to build up the bike.

700 Series OCLV Carbon, KVF (Kammtail Virtual Foil) tube shape, Adjustable Top Tube IsoSpeed, Micro-adjust seatmast, tapered head tube, BB90, flat mount disc brakes, 12 mm thru-axle, invisible cable routing, control centre, precision water bottle placement, Aero 3S chain keeper, DuoTrap S-compatible

Madone KVF full carbon disc, carbon tapered steerer, carbon dropouts, hidden cable routing, flat-mount disc brake, 12 mm thru-axle

Bontrager Aeolus XXX 6 Tubeless Ready Disc, 12 mm thru-Axle

Bontrager R4 320, 320 tpi, 700x25 c

Max tyre size

28 c Bontrager tyres (with at least 4 mm of clearance to frame)

Shimano Dura-Ace Di2, 11-speed

Front derailleur

Shimano Dura-Ace Di2, braze-on

Rear derailleur

Shimano Dura-Ace Di2

Shimano Dura-Ace, 50/34 (compact)

Bottom bracket

Shimano Dura-Ace, 11-28, 11-speed

Shimano Dura-Ace

Not included

Bontrager Montrose Pro, carbon rails

Madone carbon seatpost, 25 mm offset w/integrated light mount

Madone-specific adjustable aero VR-CF, internal cable routing

Bontrager tape

Madone-specific internal cable routing

Madone integrated, stainless cartridge bearings, sealed, 1-3/8in top, 1.5in bottom

Shimano Dura-Ace flat-mount hydraulic disc

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, "Madone SLR 9 Disc is the hero of the road disc revolution. Advanced road bike aerodynamics, our lightest OCLV Carbon layup, adjustable compliance and a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 electronic drivetrain make it the final stop in your search for a top-of-the-line aero road bike.

"A lightweight 700 Series OCLV Carbon frame with Kammtail Virtual Foil aerodynamic tube shaping and road-smoothing Adjustable Top Tube IsoSpeed, KVF full carbon disc fork, 12 mm thru axles, an adjustable aero bar and stem, a 2x11 Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 electronic drivetrain, Tubeless Ready Bontrager Aeolus XXX 6 wheels, a micro-adjust Madone seatmast and Dura-Ace flat-mount disc brakes."

Where does this model sit in the range? Tell us briefly about the cheaper options and the more expensive options

Sits right at the top of Trek's aero bike category, it doesn't get better than this.

Frame and fork

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

Exceptional quality, as you'd expect and hope at this price.

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

Highest grade 700 OCLV is used to make the frame and fork.

Tell us about the geometry of the frame and fork?

Uses Trek's new H1.5 geometry which splits the difference between the slammed H1 and laid back H2.

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

The stack and reach are predictably aggressive given it's a race bike, with a long reach and low stack. The new H1.5 cuts a nice compromise between the previous very slammed H1 and upright H2 geometry. I found the fit very good, only moved some spacers to lower the handlebar.

Riding the bike

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

Yes and no. It's not the smoothest ride on rough road surfaces, but the position makes it comfortable on longer rides.

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

It sure doesn't lack the stiffness you want in a race bike.

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

Extremely well for sprinting out of corners and attacking mates.

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

How would you describe the steering? Was it lively neutral or unresponsive? Quite laid back.

Tell us some more about the handling. How did the bike feel overall? Did it do particular things well or badly?

Handling is a highlight, with good stability at high speeds, and it's pretty docile at lower speeds.

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

You could go up to 28mm tyres, which might certainly impart a bit more comfort for dealing with crappy road surfaces.

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

I'd like to see a 52/36t chainset and a power meter included at this price.

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

No changes.

The drivetrain

Wheels and tyres

Your summary

Did you enjoy riding the bike? Yes

Would you consider buying the bike? No

Would you recommend the bike to a friend? Probably

How does the price compare to that of similar bikes in the market, including ones recently tested on road.cc?

There are quite a few impressive rivals at this price and it compares well against those, but the lack of a power meter is a glaring omission.

Use this box to explain your overall score

I love the speed and handling and looks, but it's not the smoothest ride and the spec doesn't make it the ultimate bike it needs to be at this price.

Overall rating: 7 /10

About the tester

Age: 31   Height: 180cm   Weight: 67kg

I usually ride:    My best bike is:

I've been riding for: 10-20 years   I ride: Every day   I would class myself as: Expert

I regularly do the following types of riding: road racing, time trialling, cyclo-cross, commuting, touring, mountain biking

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David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes . 

Add new comment

12 comments.

Steve I really feel for you mate.  You'd hope for a few months of silence for that sort of cash and for Trek to maybe support you a little more.

• Log in or register to post comments

[quote=ktache]<p>Steve I really feel for you mate.&nbsp; You'd hope for a few months of silence for that sort of cash and for Trek to maybe support you a little more.</p>[/quote]

Thanks ktache

It's a shame because it is a really nice bike otherwise. But, all for naught with poorly made press fit BB.

I have a 2019 Madone SLR 9 eTap. From the first day, bottom bracket creak.

Movement of the bearing on the non drive side has destroyed the frame.

Trek has been quite reticent about taking care of this problem.

Utterly disappointing.

Why is the reviewer comparing it to the 2013 Oltre XR2? The Oltre XR4 is the current model and has been since 2016.

Is this another of these Road.cc recycled articles?

10,000 pound for a reinforced plastic bike!  I bet any money the people at Trek are laughing so much that there must be concerns for health and sanity within the company, not as concerning of course for the loonies that would actually buy something like this at this price.  This bike probably costs pennies to make and the profit margin must be astronomical, nice one Trek.

Trek are not alone of course while people are willing to purchase this 5 minute wonder craze madness at prices that are totally immoral.

The world has gone totally mad, I tell you, you will be telling me next that Boris Johnston will be the next leader of the country, Ha, Ha, Ha, it's so crazy it's not even funny.

Please will somebody wake me up as this dream has become seriously bad and not funny.

yupiteru wrote: 10,000 pound for a reinforced plastic bike!  I bet any money the people at Trek are laughing so much that there must be concerns for health and sanity within the company, not as concerning of course for the loonies that would actually buy something like this at this price.  This bike probably costs pennies to make and the profit margin must be astronomical, nice one Trek. Trek are not alone of course while people are willing to purchase this 5 minute wonder craze madness at prices that are totally immoral. The world has gone totally mad, I tell you, you will be telling me next that Boris Johnston will be the next leader of the country, Ha, Ha, Ha, it's so crazy it's not even funny. Please will somebody wake me up as this dream has become seriously bad and not funny.  

It isn't £10,000 for reinforced plastic.  The Trek frame probably costs less than half the total.

I've read that a lot of people spend £15,000+ on a wedding. Now that is barmy.

Q: Which component would you recommend changing to improve the product? A: None.  Wheels - 6/10....but then again better wheels would no doubt increase the price and lower the already paltry 5/10 value for money score. 

I don't drive.

I have never learned to drive.

I hate cars.

I think they're not only poluting the planet, but also making people selfish and entitled.

But if I were given ten grand to spend, Brewster's Millions style, on a one-off purchase of a form of private transportation, I'd buy something like a Volkswagen Up over this. Even just to park on my drive as an ornamental feature. Or to take apart and admire the engineering of thousands of parts.

£10,000 is simply a ludicrous amount of money for a bicycle. And this one is not even nice to look at.

Plus Trek screwed over Greg Lemond.

handlebarcam wrote: I don't drive. I have never learned to drive. I hate cars. I think they're not only poluting the planet, but also making people selfish and entitled. But if I were given ten grand to spend, Brewster's Millions style, on a one-off purchase of a form of private transportation, I'd buy something like a Volkswagen Up over this. Even just to park on my drive as an ornamental feature. Or to take apart and admire the engineering of thousands of parts. £10,000 is simply a ludicrous amount of money for a bicycle. And this one is not even nice to look at. Plus Trek screwed over Greg Lemond.

It’s only ludicrous if you can’t afford it.

Htc wrote: handlebarcam wrote: I hate cars. I think they're not only poluting the planet, but also making people selfish and entitled. £10,000 is simply a ludicrous amount of money for a bicycle. And this one is not even nice to look at.

True. Once you get above a subsistence level of income and start to be able to afford non-essential "luxuries", there are those who will question how you spend your money. I for example think it is ludicrous to spend £1,000 on a mobile phone, with a useful life of 2 years, after which it is extremely difficult to recycle, but plenty of i-phone users would disagree. There are those who who spend £10,000 on a cruise after which they have nothing to show but a few selfies, or spend £10,000 on a hifi component or camera, or £2k per year on golf club membership, and why not if they have the cash and that's their interest?  But in the context of any of these, a bike, which will probably still be giving somebody some use 15 years from now,  (hence, unlike your unused VW UP, mitigating  the pollution caused by its manufacture and eventual disposal) doesn't seem to be a bad choice.

You could argue that consumerism in general might be screwing the planet, but I'd put bikes a long way down the list of problem items!

Htc wrote: It’s only ludicrous if you can’t afford it.

If you want to try to redefine the word "ludicrous" out of existence, well... that's pretty ludicrous in itself.

It may be expensive, but, I mean this is not a bike you would buy if you're not into cyclism and if you don't have the money to afford it. Inform yourself about high-end bike prices, and you will see that they can price up 16k sometimes. Everything can be expensive when it is high-end. Wanna buy a high-end TV or a high-end gaming PC, 3K at least. Same thing goes about cars!

Imagine you drive in a Porsche and I tell you "woah men at this price I'm better off buying a house" it's the exact same thing. Of course a car is more useful then a bike, but this bike however isn't something you would buy  just to ride occasionnally in the week-end, it's totally for those who practices regularely, and whom are into competition.

Anyways I'm surprised this is only rated 3.5 haha

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Lesozavodsk, Primorsky Krai, Russia

Budnika street, lesozavodsk.

• Places - Siberia and the Russian Far East

Russian Far East

The Russian Far East is a region in eastern Russia that includes the territories that run along the Pacific coast and the Amur River, the Kamchatka Peninsula, Sakhalin island and the Kuril Islands. It is a cold, inhospitable and sparsely populated area with stunning scenery, rich fisheries, virgin forest, remote towns, Siberian tigers and Aumur leopards. Sometimes the Russian Far East is regarded as part of Siberia.

Rachel Dickinson wrote in The Atlantic: Russia’s Far Eastern Federal District is huge — 2.4 million square miles, roughly twice the size of India — and takes up one-third of the country, but only 6.7 million people populate that vast space. (The district’s biggest city is Vladivostok — best known for being the last stop on the Trans-Siberian Railroad and home to the Russian Pacific fleet.) Provideniya was once a thriving military town with a population as high as 10,000; today the population is about 2,000. Most of the ethnic Russians have left, ceding the city to the region’s indigenous people. Now the government is struggling to stem the tide of people leaving the desolate Far East. [Source: Rachel Dickinson, The Atlantic, July/August 2009]

The entire Russian Pacific coastline extends for almost 16,000 kilometers (10,000 miles). The formal dividing line between Siberia and the Far East are the borders of the Khabarovsk territory and Magadan region, which extends between 160 kilometers (100 miles) to 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) inland from the Russia's east coast. Siberia, the Russian Far East and Kamchatka were largely covered by glaciers during the last Ice Age, which ended about 10,000 years ago. In the Soviet era, the Far East had its share of gulags and labor camps, Maksim Gorky called it " land of chains and ice." Since the break up of the Soviet Union, its people have largely been forgotten. The whole region would probably be forgotten if it weren't so rich in resources.

The Far East only has 6.7 million people and its population is falling. There used to be around 8 million people there. Eighty percent of the people live in the cities but have a strong ties to the land: hunting, fishing or picking berries and mushrooms whenever they get the chance. Some places only exist because the government subsidizes them, providing the people with shipped-in food and cheap energy for heat. In the early 2000s, the government has decided it has spent too much supporting these people and told them they have to move. In some places the people refused to move and the government cut off their water and heat and they still stayed. In recent years thing have stabilized somewhat as more money has flowed in from oil, natural gas, minerals, fishing and timber.

What the Russian Far East lacks in historical sites, old cities and museums — compared to the European parts of Russia and even Siberia — it makes up for with a wide variety of beautiful scenery and adventures. The Amur Rive boast sturgeons the size of whales. In the Primorskiy territory you can find rocky islands, steep cliffs, Siberian tigers and Amur leopards. There are isolated beaches on rivers and the see. If you like taiga, there lots of that along with wild mountains and many places to go hiking, fishing, hunting and camping. On Kamchatka there are dozens of very active 's volcanoes. Further north are some of the best places in the world to see walruses, polar bears and whales. Khabarovsk and Vladivostok are two major cities that define the eastern end of the Trans-Siberian Railway and have plenty of urban activities.

The Far Eastern Federal District is the largest of the eight federal districts of Russia but the least populated. The 11 federal subjects are: 1) Amur Oblast: 361,900 square kilometers, 830,103 people, capital: Blagoveshchensk 2) Republic of Buryatia: 351,300 square kilometers,, 971,021 people, capital: Ulan-Ude 3) Jewish Autonomous Oblast: 36,300 square kilometers, 176,558 people, capital: Birobidzhan 4) Zabaykalsky Krai: 431,900 square kilometers, 1,107,107 people, capital: Chita 5) Kamchatka Krai: 464,300 square kilometers, 322,079 people, capital: Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky 6) Magadan Oblast: 462,500 square kilometers, 156,996 people, capital: Magadan 7) Primorsky Krai: 164,700 square kilometers, 1,956,497 people, capital: Vladivostok 8) Sakha Republic: 3,083,500 square kilometers, 958,528, people capital: Yakutsk 9) Sakhalin Oblast: 87,100 square kilometers, 497,973 people, capital: Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk 10) Khabarovsk Krai: 787,600 square kilometers, 1,343,869 people, capital: Khabarovsk 11) Chukotka Autonomous Okrug: 721,500 square kilometers, 50,526 people, capital: Anadyr

Traveling in the Far East is troublesome. There are few roads, and they are in poor conditions. Many places can’t be reached by road anyway. Rivers are frozen much of the year. Helicopters can cost as much as US$500 an hour to rent. Corruption is rampant and it seems like everyone wants a cut. Even if paperwork is in order customs officials, police an other authorities demand, sometimes, huge outrageous "fees."

Economics of the Far East

The Far East is rich in gold, diamonds, oil, natural gas, minerals, timber and fish. It accounts for more than 60 percent of Russia's total sea harvest and fishing is the region’s leading industry, providing jobs for more than 150,000 people. People in the Far East should be rich from the wealth generated from fishing, timber and minerals but that is not necessarily the case. In the case of timber, in the early 2000s, local communities were supposed to get 30 percent of the profits but in reality Moscow took 80 percent and local officials took the rest.

In the early 2000s, gas and oil companies could not pay their workers and utility companies couldn’t pay the oil and gas companies and as a result electricity was only on for a few hours a day. Workers were among the last to receive their wages, factories were cannibalized of scrap metal and parts, students studied in sub-freezing classrooms, and people died at early ages. Those that could afford it moved away.

Many foreign companies were equally frustrated. The U.S. wood product giant Weyerhaueser, Korea's Hyundai conglomerate and Australian mining companies arrived in east Russia with high hopes but after some time there either packed up and left or scaled down their staff down to a skeletal crew.

Ussuri River

The Ussuri River forms the border between Russia and China in southern Khabarovsk Krai and . Primorsky Karia. A right tributary of the Amur, it is 897 kilometers long, with a basin area of more than 193,000 square kilometers. The Ussuri River originates in the spurs of the central Sikhote-Alin. Once it descends into it the valley, the river becomes flat and gentle but has a steep rocky coast. In many area there are meandering channels.

Among the tributaries of the Ussuri are: 1) the upper river: Izvilinka, Sokolovka, Matveyevka and Pavlivka. 2) the left tributaries: Arsen'evka, Muling, Naoli River and Songacha River; 3) and the right tributaries: Pavlovka, Zhuravlovka, Big Ussurka, Bikin and Khor.

In Khabarovsk Krai, near the village of Kazakevichevo, Ussuri River flows into the shallow Kazakevichevo channel and after that the confluence of the Ussuri is called the Amur channel. The Amur channel empties into the Amur River in the center of the city of Khabarovsk. The Ussuri is a full-flowing river from May to August. In the summer and when the ice breaks there are frequent floods. Ice on the Ussuri breaks up in April and forms in November. The water is used for water supply. Above Lesozavodsk the river is navigable. Previously it was widely used for timber floating.

The Ussuri River is good for fishing and rich in fish. Gudgeon, crucian carp, common carp, trout, burbot, pike, catfish, flax and grayling are all caught as are Kaluga sturgeon, which can reach a huge size (eight meters recorded in the Amur River). The river is a spawning ground for salmon and chum salmon. In the waters of the Ussuri fish mountain rivers are found near the bottom fish. Mountain fish comes to the Ussuri in the spring to spawn.

Ussuri Taiga and Dersu Uzala

The Ussuri taiga is a forest different from the normal Russian taiga. Located between the Ussuri and Amur Rivers in the Far East and dominated by the Sikhot Alim Mountains, it is a monsoon forest filled with plants and animals found nowhere else in Siberia or Russia and instead are similar to those found in China, Korea and even the Himalayas. In the forest there is s lush undergrowth, with lianas and ferns. Wildlife include Siberian tigers, Asian black bears, Amur leopards and even tree frogs. The Siberian Tiger Project is located here. The 1970 Akira Kurosawa Oscar-winning film “Dersu Uzala,” and the book it was based on, about a Tungus trapper, was set here.

Ian Frazier wrote in The New Yorker: ““Dersu Uzala,” the memoir and narrative of exploration by Vladimir K. Arsenyev, begins in 1902, when Arsenyev is a young Army officer assigned the job of exploring and mapping the almost unknown regions east and northeast of Vladivostok, including Lake Khanka and the upper watershed of the Ussuri River. The name for the whole area is the Primorskii Krai—the By-the-Sea Region. It and much of the Khabarovskii Krai, just to the north of it, consist of a unique kind of Pacific forest in which tall hardwoods hung with vines grow beside conifers almost equally high, and the lushness of the foliage, especially along the watercourses, often becomes quite jungly. [Source: Ian Frazier, The New Yorker, August 10 and 17, 2009, Frazier is author of “Travels in Siberia” (2010) ]

“In Arsenyev’s time, this jungle-taiga was full of wildlife, with species ranging from the flying squirrel and the wild boar to the Siberian tiger. Back then (and even recently) tigers could also be seen on the outskirts of Vladivostok, where they sometimes made forays to kill and carry off dogs. Arsenyev describes how tigers in the forest sometimes bellowed like red deer to attract the deer during mating season; the tiger’s imitation betrayed itself only at the end of the bellow, when it trailed off into a purr.

“The humans one was likely to meet in this nearly trackless forest were Chinese medicine hunters, bandits, inhabitants of little Korean settlements, and hunter-trappers of wild game. Dersu Uzala, a trapper whom Arsenyev and his men come upon early in their 1902 journey, is a Siberian native of the Nanai tribe whose wife and children have died of smallpox and who now is alone. After their meeting, Dersu becomes the party’s guide. The book is about Arsenyev’s adventures with Dersu on this journey and others, their friendship, and Dersu’s decline and end.

“In the nineteen-seventies, a Soviet film studio produced a movie of “Dersu Uzala,” directed by Akira Kurosawa. It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film of 1975. The movie is long and slow-paced, like a passage through the forest, and wonderfully evokes the Primorskii country. I own a cassette of the movie and in my many viewings of it even picked up some useful fractured Russian from the distinctive way Dersu talks.

Udegeh: People Who Live with Siberian Tigers

The Udegeh live around the Sikhotealin Mountains in the Far East, also home to many Siberian tigers, and traditionally survived by hunting in the forest. Their ancestors were farmers and members of the Zhurdzhen empire, which ruled parts of what is now China, Mongolia and Russia. In the 13th century, Zhurdzhen was defeated by Genghis Khan and the Mongols and survived in scattered communities in the forest, where they became nomadic hunters to survive and formed their own language and culture, called Udegeh. There are only about 2,000 Udegeh left. The largest group lives in a village called Krasnyr, about 175 miles southeast of Khabarovsk.

The Udegeh live in wooden houses that often have painted gables with images of bears, dogs, devils and pagan goddesses. Their villages are surrounded by forests, and in the winter deep snow. They primarily live on animals they hunt such as sable, mink, squirrel, deer and boar. They often earn what little money they have by collecting wild ginseng in the forest or selling furs.

About 80 Siberian tigers live in the Udegeh hunting grounds. The Udegeh worship tigers, which are considered sinful to kill. One Udegeh hunter told the Washington Post, "The tiger and the Udegeh people are the same."

In the 1920s, the Udegeh were organized into hunting cooperatives by the Soviets. They sold furs to the Soviets and were able to keep their culture alive even though the Communists frowned upon their pagan beliefs and shaman practices. Today most young Udegeh wear Russian clothes and few of them speak the old language. Intermarriage is common and there are few pure blood Udegeh left. In the early 1990s, the Udegeh were involved in a dispute with the South Korean conglomerate Hyundai, who wanted to log the Udegeh's hunting ground.

See Separate Article PEOPLE OF THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST factsanddetails.com

Ussuriisk (kilometer 9177 on the Trans-Siberian, an hour and a half drive from Vladivostok) contains a "Chinese Bazaar" that is more like a separate town. The market operates all night and approximately 2,000 Chinese traders live semi-permanently in metal freight containers near their stalls.

The Museum of History and Local Lore and the famous 800-year-old stone turtle will introduce you to the history of this city. At the end of summer, tourists come to see the city's blooming lotuses. In the winter, you can enjoy a swim in an outdoor pool, surrounded by snowy fir trees. There is a historical park of everyday life and customs of the Russian people called “Emerald Valley” located five kilometers away from the city . Various events are held here, including the celebration of Kupala Night, jousting tournaments, Christmas and Maslenitsa festivities.

Ussuriisk is located near the border with China and North Korea and stands at the confluence of the Komarovka, Rakovka and Razdolnaya. The city was founded in 1866 by Russians from Voronezh and Astrakhan province in East Russia and the Capian Sea area. The town began to grow when the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway began in the area.

Places Where the Siberian Tigers Live

Siberian tigers today are confined primarily to the Ussuri Taiga, a forest different from the normal Russian taiga. Located between the Ussuri and Amur Rivers in the Far East and dominated by the Sikhot Alim Mountains, it is a monsoon forest filled with plants and animals found nowhere else in Siberia or Russia and instead are similar to those found in China, Korea and even the Himalayas. In the forest there is s lush undergrowth, with lianas and ferns. Wildlife include Siberian tigers, Asian black bears, Amur leopards and even tree frogs. The Siberian Tiger Project is located here. The 1970 Akira Kurosawa film Dersu Uzala, about a Tungus trapper, was set here.

Sikhot Alin Reserve and Kedrovaya Pad Reserve within the Ussuri Taiga are the last homes of the Siberian tiger. The largest wildlife sanctuaries in the Far East, they embrace 1,350 square miles of forested mountains, coastline and clear rivers. Other animals found in Sikhot Alin reserve and Kedrovaya Pad reserve include brown bears, Amur leopard (of which only 20 to 30 remain), the Manchurian deer, roe deer, goral (a rare mountain goat), Asian black bears, salmon, lynx, wolf and squirrels with tassels on their ears, azure winged magpies and the emerald-colored papilio bianor maackii butterfly. Over 350 different species of bird have been sen here.

Dunishenko and Kulikov wrote: “In the 19th century, aside from the Sikhote-Alin and Malyi Khingan portions of Russia, tigers were found in southeastern Transcaucasia, in the Balkhash basin, in Iran, China and Korea. Now the Amur tiger is found only in Russia’s Primorskii and southern Khabarovskii Krais. This is all that remains of an enormous tiger population that formerly numbered in the thousands and that lived mostly in China. In the spring of 1998, one of the authors of this booklet took part in an international scientific study investigating the best tiger habitat remaining in the Chinese province of Jilin. We found three to five tigers there, mostly along the Russian border. Our general impression is that there are no more than twenty or thirty Amur tigers in all of China. [Source: “The Amur Tiger” by Yury Dunishenko and Alexander Kulikov, The Wildlife Foundation, 1999 ~~]

The general area where Siberian tigers lives is called the Primorskii or Primorye, a region of the southeast Russian Far East that embraces Vladivistok. John Vaillant wrote in “The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival”: “Primorye, which is also known as the Maritime Territory, is about the size of Washington state. Tucked into the southeast corner of Russia by the Sea of Japan, it is a thickly forested and mountainous region that combines the backwoods claustrophobia of Appalachia with the frontier roughness of the Yukon. Industry here is of the crudest kind: logging, mining, fishing, and hunting, all of which are complicated by poor wages, corrupt officials, thriving black markets — and some of the world's largest cats.” [Source: John Vaillant. “The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival” (Knopf, 2010)]

Nezhino (100 kilometers north of Vladivostok, 20 kilometers east of the Chinese border) is used as a base for people who track Siberian tigers. They are particularly easy to track in the winter, if you can initially locate some tracks, when they leave big paw prints in the snow. Tigers tracking tours began being offered in 2005.

See Separate Articles: SIBERIAN TIGERS factsanddetails.com ; PLACES WHERE THE SIBERIAN TIGERS LIVE factsanddetails.com ; HUMANS, SCIENTISTS, CENSUSES AND SIBERIAN TIGERS factsanddetails.com ; ENDANGERED SIBERIAN TIGERS factsanddetails.com ; SIBERIAN TIGERS CONSERVATION factsanddetails.com ; SIBERIAN TIGER ATTACKS factsanddetails.com .

Ussuri Nature Reserve and Lake Khanka

Ussuri Nature Reserve (100 kilometers north of Vladivostok) is specially protected natural area located in the southern Sikhote-Alina range, It is rich in virgin liana conifer-deciduous forests, which have been cut down in other parts of the Russian Far East and the neighboring countries. The reserve is named after Academician Vladimir L. Komarov, a Russian botanist who studied the flora of East Asia. He first gave a description of the area, visiting her in 1913.

The reserve was created in 1932 and since then has significantly increased its area, which now amounts to 4,040 square kilometers. The reserve embraces lowlands and mountains and foot hools formed by the the southern spurs of the Sikhote-Alin (Przewalski Mountains). The average elevation is 300-400 meters above sea level. The highest peaks are 650-700 meters high. There are also mountain rivers in canyon-like narrow valleys and small waterfalls. Summers are warm and humid. Winters are moderately severe with little snow. The coldest month is January (average temperature of -17.9 degrees C). The warmest month is August 19.7 degrees).

The flora of the reserve is composed almost entirely of forest species, mainly those found in cedar-broadleaf forests, which are are characterized by high species diversity and different from ecosystems found in Russia and elsewhere in the former U.S.S.R. A typical plot of pine forests, contains trees, shrubs and vines from 50-60 species. Among the many rare plants and ginseng, hard juniper, mountain peony and Chinese Prinsep

The fauna of the reserve is typical of coniferous and deciduous forests: wild boar, red deer, musk deer, and black bear. Among the birds are common warblers, blue nightingale, nuthatch and grouse. The reserve is home to the largest beetle fauna of Russia: It is interesting that several attempts to "diversify" the species composition of fauna — through the the introduction of sika deer and Barguzin sable — did not work as hoped. Most of the reserve is off limits to visitors. Among the places that one can visit are the rehabilitation center for the education of orphaned bear cubs. Reserve staff tell the story of each bear and describe it character and habits. There is also a nature trail and small museum.

Lake Khanka (200 kilometers from Vladivostok) has an average depth of 4.5 meters and is home to more than 300 species of bird and 75 species of fish. Trips to the lake includes stops at the villages of Kamen-Rybolov and Troitskoye on the west side of the lake and a trip to Gaivoron, near the town of Spassk-Dalniy, where there is a 10,000 square meter open air cage with a family of Siberian tigers. The cage is made of a transparent metallic net. The enclose incorporates the surrounding forest so you can see the tiger is a pretty close facsimile to how they lin nature.

Biodiversity of the Ussuriskii Taiga Forest

Siberian tigers inhabits the Ussuriskii taiga forest, a coniferous broadleaf forest that specifically favors the so-called Manchurian forest type. The Manchurian forests are located in riparian areas and are particularly high in biodiversity. John Goodrich of NPR wrote: “The most bio-diverse region in all of Russia lies on a chunk of land sandwiched between China and the Pacific Ocean. There, in Russia's Far East, subarctic animals — such as caribou and wolves — mingle with tigers and other species of the subtropics. It was very nearly a perfect habitat for the tigers — until humans showed up. The tigers that populate this region are commonly referred to as Siberian tigers, but they are more accurately known as the Amur tiger. "Imagine a creature that has the agility and appetite of the cat and the mass of an industrial refrigerator," Vaillant tells NPR's Linda Wertheimer. "The Amur tiger can weigh over 500 pounds and can be more than 10 feet long nose to tail." [Source: John Goodrich, NPR, September 14, 2010]

Dunishenko and Kulikov wrote: "The range of biodiversity experienced by the early explorers in the Ussuriskii taiga forest is hard to imagine. Read Vladimir Arsenev and Nikolai Przhevalskii and you’ll realize that the region’s present-day richness is but a sad remnant of what was once found here. The fact is, that not all that long ago there was a lot more to be found in our taiga. Old-timers can still vividly recall the herds of deer, numbering in the hundreds, that migrated the lightly snow covered regions of China, the incessant moan in the taiga when red Manchurian deer were mating, the endless waves of birds, the rivers boiling with salmon. [Source: “The Amur Tiger” by Yury Dunishenko and Alexander Kulikov, The Wildlife Foundation, 1999 ~~]

"And my lord, how many wild boar there used to be in the taiga! All winter long, the southern exposures of oak-covered hills were dug up by droves of wild pigs. Snow under the crowns of Korean pine forests was trampled to ground level as wild boar gathered pine cones throughout the winter. A symphony of squeal and moan! Mud caked wild boar racing around the taiga, rattling around in coats of frozen icycles after taking mud baths to cool passion-heated bodies. Horrible, blood caked wounds, chattering tusks, snorting, bear-like grunting, squawky squeaking, oh the life of a piglet.~~

"This was an earlier image of the Ussuriskii taiga. Just 30 years ago a professional hunter could take 60 to 80 wild boar in a season! There was more than enough game for the tiger out there among the riotous forest “swine.” Tigers strolled lazily, baron-like and important. They avoided the thick forests: why waste energy with all the boar trails around — you could roll along them sideways! It was only later on that the tigers took to following human trails.~~

"How many tigers there used to be in the wild can only be conjectured. Southern Khabarovskii Krai is a natural edge of their habitat; at one point in history there was a substantial tiger population that spilled over into surrounding regions. The tiger’s range coincided, for the most part, with Korean pine and wild boar distribution, and the number of tigers in the Russian Far East in the last century was at least one thousand. Tigers densely settled the Malyi Khingan and the Korean pine, broad leaf deciduous forests typical of southern Amurskaya Oblast. Lone animals wandered out as far as Lake Baikal and Yakutiya."~~

Sikhote Alin Reserve

Sikhote Alin Reserve (400 kilometers northeast of Vladivostok) and Kedrovaya Pad Reserve are the last homes of the Amur (Siberian) tiger. The largest wildlife sanctuary in the Far East. It embraces 3,500square kilometers (1,350 square miles) of forested mountains, coastline and clear rivers. Other animals found in reserves include brown bears, Amur leopard (of which only 40 to 50 remain), the Manchurian deer, roe deer, goral (a rare mountain goat), Asian black bears, salmon, lynx, wolf and squirrels with tassels on their ears, azure winged magpies and the emerald-colored papilio bianor maackii butterfly. Over 350 different species of bird have been seen here.

Central Sikhote-Alin was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001. According to UNESCO: “The Sikhote-Alin mountain range contains one of the richest and most unusual temperate forests of the world. In this mixed zone between taiga and subtropics, southern species such as the tiger and Himalayan bear cohabit with northern species such as the brown bear and lynx. After its extension in 2018, the property includes the Bikin River Valley, located about 100 kilometers to the north of the existing site. It encompasses the South-Okhotsk dark coniferous forests and the East-Asian coniferous broadleaf forests. The fauna includes species of the taiga alongside southern Manchurian species. It includes notable mammals such as the Amur Tiger, Siberian Musk Deer, Wolverine and Sable. [Source: UNESCO]

Founded in 1935, Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve covers an area of 3,902 square kilometers, plus and 2.9 square kilometers offshore. The reserve is located in the northern part of Primorsky Krai and includes the eastern slope of the Sikhote-Alin mountain range from its watershed to the coast (including one kilometer of shoreline), as well as a part of the western slope of the mountain range. The maximum elevation in the reserve is 1598 meters.

The reserve was originally established to protect sable populations that were on the verge of extinction. V.K. Arsenyev was one of the initiators of the reserve. K.G. Abramov and Y.A. Salmin substantiated the need to create the reserve. In our age when there are fewer and fewer untouched corners of nature on the globe, The profusion and diversity of the reserve’s ecosystems are attributable to the fact that the park includes different slopes of the Sikhote-Alin, range which differ in natural conditions and elevation. Availability of direct access to the sea is another important factor.

The reserve includes parts of three landscape areas: 1) Terney (cedar broad-leaved forests), 2) Samargino-Dalnegorsky (in the subzone of broad-leaved and coniferous forests) and 3) Mid-Sikhote-Alin (fir and spruce forests) in a boreal coniferous forest subzone. The flora and fauna in the reserve are strongly influenced by the presence of the Sea of Okhotsk: dark boreal coniferous forests are more strongly represented here than in other reserve in Primorye Krai. At the same time, conditions exist for the development of the Manchuria-like ecosystems. A distinctive feature of the flora and fauna in the reserve is the combination of heat-loving and cold-loving natural species. For its long-term research program and achievements in the conservation of the Amur tiger, the reserve was awarded with a CATS international certificate in 2015, becoming the only reserve in Russia (and the second in the world) to receive such recognition.

Traveling by Road Around Sikhote Alin Reserve

Ian Frazier wrote in The New Yorker: ““Rather than continue south, directly to Vladivostok, our ultimate destination, we had decided to turn east again, cross the Sikhote-Alin Mountains, and arrive at the Pacific (technically the Sea of Japan) in a less inhabited place on the mountains’ other side. The Sikhote-Alins, once we were among them, seemed more like hills, and not very forbidding, but the depth and silence of their forest made up for that. Arsenyev had described the taiga here as “virginal, primeval timberland.” From the altitude of the trees and the venerable length of the vines depending from them, I would guess that the taiga we saw was still original growth. That night, we camped above the small gorge of a river named for Arsenyev—the Arsenyevka. The sound of it was pleasant to sit beside; this was our first genuinely rushing stream. I stayed up for a while after Sergei and Volodya had gone to bed, listening to it and looking up at the stars and at the satellites tracking past. [Source: Ian Frazier, The New Yorker, August 10 and 17, 2009, Frazier is author of “Travels in Siberia” (2010) ]

“The next day, we continued winding generally eastward through the mountains. I noted villages called Uborka (Harvest), Shumnyi (Noisy), and Rudnyi (Oreville). Now we were in Arsenyev’s very footsteps. A little beyond Rudnyi, we crossed a mountain pass that hardly looked like one. This was the divide between the waters that flow roundabout to the Pacific via the Ussuri and the Amur, and those which drain down the front of the Sikhote-Alins and into the Pacific directly. At the crest of the divide, back among the roadside weeds, stood a cement obelisk on which was inscribed: “crossed over this pass: m. i. venyukov 1858*; N. M. PREZHEVALSKII* 1887*; V. K. ARSENYEV* 1906.”

Arsenyev’s passage across this divide happened during a mapping expedition guided by Dersu and described in detail in the book. The party continued from here until they came to the Pacific and the port village of Olga, where they were resupplied. Sergei said that we would also aim for Olga and camp near there.

“Often the taiga stood so close to the road that the vines almost touched the side of the car, and on the upgrades we were looking into the canopy. At one point in the movie “Dersu Uzala,” a tiger stalks Arsenyev’s party, and the Siberian tiger used for the scene was a splendid animal, all liquid motion and snarling growls. Though near extinction, the Siberian tiger has not yet been wiped out, and the thought that this Pacific forest—reminiscent in some ways of the American and Canadian Northwest—had tigers in it gave the shadows far back among the trees a new level of authority. I had been in a few forests that held grizzly bears, but a forest with tigers in it seemed even more mysterious and honorable.”

Kedrovaya Pad Reserve

Kedrovaya Pad Reserve (400 kilometers northeast of Vladivostok) is the oldest reserve in the Far East and the southernmost reserve of Primorye. Sikhote Alin Reserve and Kedrovaya Pad Reserve are the last homes of the Amur (Siberian) tiger. The largest wildlife sanctuary in the Far East. Kedrovaya (Cedar) Pad Reserve embraces 178.97 square kilometers (69.10 square miles) of forested mountains, coastline and clear rivers. Other animals found in reserves include brown bears, Amur leopard (of which only 40 to 50 remain), the Manchurian deer, roe deer, goral (a rare mountain goat), Asian black bears, salmon, lynx, wolf and squirrels with tassels on their ears, azure winged magpies and the emerald-colored papilio bianor maackii butterfly. Over 350 different species of bird have been seen here.

Kedrovaya (Cedar) Pad Reserve was one of the first officially organized reserves in Russia. The idea for establishing was raised at the beginning of the 20th century after the Trans-Siberian railway and built nearby and intensive development of the Ussuri region was accompanied by indiscriminate logging, forest fires, uncontrolled hunting. In 1908, the region created the first forest reserves, one of which was on Cedar River. Kedrovaya Pad Reserve, founded in 1916 close to the western shore of Amur Bay. Over time that status of the reserve was improved and the reserve was enlarged. In 2004 UNESCO designated the reserve as a biosphere.

Kedrovaya (Cedar) Pad Reserve is located in the Khasan district of Primorye Territory. The villages of Seaside, Perevoznaya, Cedar, Bezverkhova and Barabash located within a few kilometers of the reserve. . The reserve was established for the preservation and study of natural systems there of liana deciduous and mixed forests with hornbeam and black fir-broad-leaved forests and their animals and plants. The reserve provides shelter for two adult Amur leopard females and their offspring and one male. Among the rare species of insects found there are the excellent marshmallow beetle and Jankowski beetle.

The territory of the reserve is occupied by by two major low mountain ranges — the Gakkelevskaya and Suhorechensky — representing the extreme northeastern foothills of the Black (Changbai) Mountains, which are mainly in China and Korea. The length of the main Cedar River within the reserve is about 15 kilometers. The largest number of tributaries originating from Suhorechenskogo ridge flows into the forest, where many wild boars live. About 73.1 percent of the entire reserve is occupied by forests. The remaining area is occupied by scrub and secondary meadows resulting from logging in the past and especially forest fires.

The forest reserve contains numerous species of trees. The underbrush is represented by various bushes, that often blossom beautifully, such as early-flowering honeysuckle and Weigel, which produces fine-leaved mock orange flowers. Vines entwine tree trunks rising to a height of 30-35 meters. The diameter of the winding vines of wild grapes and the Amur Actinidia Argut reaches 10-15 centimeters. They are like giant snakes crawling from the ground and entangling shrubs and trees.

In places the reserve resembles a rainforest and it does have parallels with the temperate rain forests in coast British Columbia, Alaska and Washington state. Among the many plant species are Manchurian walnut, dimorfanta and aralia, with and velvet, spiny trunks, and several types of ferns. In the crevices of bark and crotches of trees attract epiphyte and small fern called Ussuri centipede.

Zov Tigra (“Roar of the Tiger”) National Park

Zov Tigra National Park(Near Lazo, 150 kilometers northeast of Vladivostok is a mountainous refuge for the Amur (Siberian) Tiger. Established in 2008, the park encompasses an area of 834 square difficult (322 square miles) on the southeast coast of Primorsky Krai. The park lies on both the eastern and western slopes of the southern Sikhote-Alin mountain range.,The relatively warm waters of the Sea of Japan are to the east, the Korean peninsula to the south, and China to the West. The terrain in rugged and difficult to access, with heavily forested taiga coexisting with tropical species of animals and birds. The park is relatively isolated from human development, and functions as a conservation reserve. Tourists may visit the portions of the park marked for recreation, but entry to the protected zones is only possible in the company of park rangers. The park’s name in English means "Call of the Tiger” or "Roar of the Tiger".

Zov Tigra National Park is occupied by Ussuri taiga and is located at the junction of Lazovsky, Chuguevsky, and Olginsky districts. The park covers 1,854-meter-high Oblachnaya mountain, the upper half of the Milogradovka's river basin, and sources of the Kievka River. There are more than 50 mountains more than 1000 meters high. The forest feature giant cedars, specimen trees, slender spruces entwined with gaily-coloured actinidia's lianas, emerald-green clusters of Amur grape and Schizandra brushwood.

Zov tigra was established in part as as a "source habitat" for the recovery of the Amur Tiger and its prey base. A survey in 2012 identified four Amur tigers resident in the park, and four more that visited the protected areas frequently. The base of prey consisted of 1,200 Manchurian deer, 800 Roe deer, and 99 Sika deer and 189 wild boars. These species make up some 85% of the Amur tiger's diet. Brown bears and lynx are relatively common in area. The Far Eastern Forest Cat is found in the broad-leaf and oak valleys. The critically endangered Amur Leopard has not been resident since the 1970s.

Amur Leopards

The Amur leopard inhabits an 800-mile long stretch of evergreen forest in the eastern Siberian taiga near the North Korean border. Named after the river that forms the border between Russia and China, they live in a narrow mountain chain that extends from Hanka Lake in the Russian Far East south to the borders of China and North Korea. It ranges further north than any leopard species, even the snow leopard.

Amur leopards weighs between 40 and 60 kilograms (90 and 140 pounds). They are reclusive, solitary creatures. They eat sitka deer and wild boars. Their numbers have declined as the numbers of their main food source, roe deer, have declined. They also suffer from declining numbers of sitka deer and wild boars. Leopards eat dogs of villagers to survive. Sometimes they are forced to make a single meal last for two weeks. Other times they reduced to scavenging for carrion. It’s winter coat has large spots.

Only 38 to 46 Amur leopard are believed to remain. Twenty to twenty-four in Russia. Fifteen in China and an unknown number in North Korea. They have been hurt by loss of habitat, loss of prey and poaching. Around 30 Amur leopards live in an area which borders China and is 150 kilometers long and 30 kilometers wide. At least 16 live in Nezhinkoye game reserve. This area contains many villages and is crisscrossed by roads, making survival problematic

Environmentalists have trouble securing funds to study the leopards. Most of what is known about them is based on studies conducted at Kedrovaya pad nature Reserve near Vladivostok. The Russian Academy of Science, the University of California and the International Wildlife Congress are studying the leopards using “phototraps”— motion sensitive cameras.

Land of Leopard National Park

Land of Leopard The National Park (200 kilometers west of Vladivostok) occupies 2,620 square kilometers and is located in the Khasansky, Nadezdinsky, Ussuriysky districts of Primorsky Krai as well as in the small area of Frunzenskiy district in Vladivostok. Kedrovaya Pad and Leopardovy reserves and number of other territories, with total area exceeding 2,800 square kilometers are as compounds of the National Park. The national park’s buffer zone covers about 800 square kilometers.

About 30 individual Amur leopards are thought to be living in the southwest area of Primorsky Krai. “Land of the Leopard” national park covers about 60 percent of the natural habitat occupied by the leopards and the main reason the park was set up was to preserve them. Many surviving Amur leopards live In the Nezhinkoye game reserve that is under partial protection of the Russian Pacific fleet. Hunting with dogs and hunting for fur animals is banned in the reserve. Deer and wild boars are fed. Some leopards used to follow hunters in hopes of snatching an easy meal. Work on the world’s longest pipeline — between Siberia and the Sea of Japan — was suspended in 2005 due to ecological concerns, among them the fate of the Amur leopard, whose territory would be bisected by the pipeline.

The “Land of Leopard” is divided into several zones, the smallest of which is a 230-square-kilometer conservation zone that you can’t visit without special permission. Other zones have a simplified visiting regime. Guided trips are allowed in the “specially protected” zone. The 7950-square-kilometer recreational zone allows more touristic activity. The “Leopard Trail” is the first tourist route, developed in the National Park. The 770-square-kilometer administrative zone accommodates villagers and interests of other people living in the territory of the National Park.

Leopardovy Sanctuary

Leopardovy Sanctuary (200 kilometers west of Vladivostok) embraces 1,694.29 square kilometers of the “Barsovy” and “Borisovskoe Plato” sanctuaries in the Khasansky, Ussuriysky, and Nadezhdinskiy districts. The state biological sanctuary “Barsovy” was founded in 1979 to preserve and restore not only the endangered animal species such as Siberian Tiger and Amur Leopard but also their natural habitat. The animal sanctuary “Borisovskoe Plato” was created in 1996 to conserve and increase the population number of Amur leopard; Siberian tiger and other threatened animals.

The sanctuary's natural environment is highly favorable for the forest faun's inhabitation. The low-level mountain ranges deeply dissected with the river valleys, extended rock masses, and plateau-like mountains create mosaic of forest, tree and shrubbery vegetation. Secondary broadleaved forests prevail here. Primary forests with fir trees, cedars and khingam fir remain in the west and northwest part of the sanctuary. The plateau-like mountains are covered with the leafed forest.

Amur leopard is the main protected species here.Siberian tiger, Asian black bear, leopard cat and other animals are also placed under special protection. There are six ungulates species such as Amur goral, Manchurian wapiti, wild boar, musk deer, roe deer, and deer in the sanctuary. Lot of rare vascular plants grows here, some of them such as water caltrop, stipa baicalensis, nepeta manchuriensis are not presented even in the neighboring “Kedrovaya Pad” reserve. More than 150 species of birds nest in the sanctuary and around 100 species traverse its territory or make stopover here during the migration period. It must be stressed that “Leopardovy” sanctuary is the only place of nesting for some bird species in this part of Primorsky krai. 15 of these species are threatened with extinction. Over 40 IUCN Red List insect species inhabit here, what is more some of them occur exceptionally at the sanctuary's territory.

This district has a monsoon climate. Its specific trait is the variability of the airstreams direction in the summer and winter seasons. Plenty of rivers and streams run at the sanctuary’s territory. There are no large lakes. The biggest one, Krivoe lake, covers 11 hectares. All types of hunting, commercial fishery, timber felling, resource development, ploughing the ground, and application of chemicals are prohibited here. Beyond that, public visiting, amateur fishery, and gathering wild harvest are brought under regulation. The sanctuary contains some populated places such as Barabash settlement and military firing range with total area in 3,490 squate kilometers A considerable part of the territory is the border territory separated from the rest of area by the plowed strip.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Federal Agency for Tourism of the Russian Federation (official Russia tourism website russiatourism.ru ), Russian government websites, UNESCO, Wikipedia, Lonely Planet guides, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Bloomberg, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Yomiuri Shimbun and various books and other publications.

Updated in September 2020

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