Trek and graphic artist Shepard Fairey team up for RadioShack's new bikes
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Trek provided Chris Horner and the rest of Team RadioShack with these specially finished Madone 6.9 SSL machines at this year's Tour of California.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Chris Horner (Team RadioShack) uses the anatomic-bend version of Bontrager's Race Lite aluminum handlebar.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Bontrager's prototype 50mm-deep wide-profile carbon tubular wheels use carbon bodied hubs front and rear.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Chris Horner (Team RadioShack) uses a Bontrager inForm RL saddle.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
California's state animal is prominently displayed on the seat cluster of Chris Horner's (Team RadioShack) new Trek Madone 6.9 SSL.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Even the seatmast gets the custom paint treatment.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Bontrager's clever DuoTrap sensor tucks neatly into a dedicated pocket on the chain stay.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Renowned graphic artist Shepard Fairey crafted this new icon for Team RadioShack.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The custom finished Bontrager Race XXX Lite Carbon stem sports a big red lightning bolt.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Challenge Forte tubular tires are glued on to Bontrager's prototype 50mm-deep wide-profile carbon wheels, which also get the custom graphics treatment.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The top tube bears an array of intricate graphics. Trek team liaison Matt Shriver says each frame takes 12-14 hours to paint.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The new black color option on SRAM's Red group is a perfect match for the new Team RadioShack paint jobs.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Chris Horner's (Team RadioShack) Trek Madone 6.9 SSL is fitted with Look KeO Blade pedals.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Trek's Bontrager parts and accessories division also supplies the team with bottle and cages.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Hidden away into the integrated bottom bracket shell is Enduro's latest XD-15 angular contact cartridge bearings.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Bontrager carbon-specific cork pads are fitted to the SRAM Red Black dual-pivot brake calipers on Chris Horner's (Team RadioShack) Trek Madone 6.9 SSL.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Chris Horner (Team RadioShack) had an 11-26T SRAM PG-1070 cassette fitted to the back of his Trek Madone 6.9 SSL in the days leading up to the start of the Tour of California.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Chris Horner's (Team RadioShack) Trek Madone 6.9 SSL is equipped with a SRAM PC-1091 chain.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
SRAM 53/39T Red chainrings are attached to the SRM spider with red-anodized aluminum chainring bolts.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Chris Horner's (Team RadioShack) Trek Madone 6.9 SSL has a SRAM S975 SRM power meter installed and yet it still is only a couple hundred grams over the UCI weight limit.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Trek team liaison Matt Shriver says each of Team RadioShack's special bikes were designed by renowned graphic artist Shepard Fairey but painted in-house.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Chris Horner's (Team RadioShack) SRAM Red Black front derailleur uses a steel cage instead of the standard titanium one.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
A bit of tape wrapped around the valve stem keeps it from rattling.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Trek and renowned graphic artist Shepard Fairey have teamed up for yet another specially painted Madone for the RadioShack squad, only this time all of the riders here at the Amgen Tour of California - including 2010 fourth-place finished Chris Horner - have been given the treatment instead of just Lance Armstrong as in years past.
"This is a big target for the team so we wanted to do something really good," Trek team liaison Matt Shriver told Cyclingnews at the team hotel. "We've done bikes with Shepard Fairey in the past and we have a good relationship with him and the bikes were really successful before."
Trek and RadioShack didn't just want to outfit the rider with fancy bikes just because, though. While Horner and teammate (and three-time Tour of California winner) Levi Leipheimer will use the freshly painted machines throughout the eight-stage event, Trek will put them up for auction shortly afterward with all proceeds being donated to charity.
"The guys will race them all week and then they'll go up on auction around USPRO time," said Shriver.
California's state animal is prominently displayed on the seat cluster. Photo: James Huang
According to Shriver - the former Fort Lewis College cycling coach who famously paced Armstrong to his Leadville 100 victory in 2009 - Fairey designed all of the bike's graphics but the actual task of painting the frames was done in-house at Trek's Waterloo, Wisconsin factory.
"It's a long process," he said. "You have to lay one set of graphics down, do some paint, lay the other set of graphics down, more paint. It takes between twelve and fourteen hours per frame."
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Horner's bike is otherwise essentially stock team-issue, including the black-anodized version of SRAM's Red component group, a SRAM S975 SRM power meter, a Bontrager saddle, stem, and handlebar, Look KéO Blade pedals, Enduro XD-15 angular contact bottom bracket bearings, and Bontrager's as yet unnamed 50mm-deep wide-profile carbon tubular wheels wrapped with Challenge Forte tires.
Chris Horner's Trek Madone 6.9 SSL has a SRAM S975 SRM power meter installed. Photo: James Huang
One thing that has always set Horner apart, however, is his somewhat unusually upright riding position. Whereas most of the rest of the RadioShack team opt for Trek's most aggressive 'H1' geometry variant, Horner instead goes with the taller H2 version, which is even further augmented with 25mm of headset spacers for a relatively sedate saddle-to-bar drop of just 55mm.
Taller front end notwithstanding, Horner's bike is still impressively light, however. Total weight as pictured (without bottles) is just 7.08kg (15.61lb).
Frame: Trek Madone 6.9 SSL ATOC Special Edition, size 56cm H2 Fork: Bontrager Race XXX Lite Headset: Cane Creek integrated, tapered 1 1/8-to-1 1/2in Stem: Bontrager Race XXX Lite, 120mm x -7° Handlebars: Bontrager Race Lite Anatomic, 44cm (c-c) Tape/grips: Bontrager Cork Front brake: SRAM Red Black w/ Bontrager carbon-specific cork pads Rear brake: SRAM Red Black w/ Bontrager carbon-specific cork pads Brake levers: SRAM Red Black DoubleTap Front derailleur: SRAM Red Black w/ steel cage Rear derailleur: SRAM Red Black Shift levers: SRAM Red Black DoubleTap Cassette: SRAM PG-1070, 11-26T Chain: SRAM PC-1091 Crankset: SRAM S975 SRM, 172.5mm, 53/39T Bottom bracket: Enduro XD-15 Pedals: Look KéO Blade Wheelset: Bontrager 50mm carbon tubular prototype Front tire: Challenge Forte tubular, 22mm Rear tire: Challenge Forte tubular, 22mm Saddle: Bontrager inForm RL Seat post: Bontrager Ride Tuned Carbon seatmast Bottle cages: Bontrager Race X Lite Carbon (2) Computer: SRM Power Control 7 Other accessories: Gore Ride-On Professional System derailleur cables and housing
Critical measurements:
Rider's height: 1.8m (5' 11") Rider's weight: 70kg (154lb) Saddle height, from BB (c-t): 760mm Saddle setback: 57mm Seat tube length, c-t: 488mm Seat tube length, c-c: 472mm Tip of saddle nose to C of bars (next to stem): 547mm Saddle-to-bar drop (vertical): 55mm Head tube length: 170mm Top tube length: 560mm Total bicycle weight: 7.08kg (15.61lb)
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