Trek Madone frame query

[NorthernMtbr]

I am thinking about buying a second hand Trek Madone 5 series bike that is a 2008 model and I am after some advice. I have read on the internet that some of these frames had problems with the bottom bracket, i.e. the bottom bracket bearings could come loose or creak. Apart from looking for play in the bearings etc is there any way to tell if the frame bottom bracket cups are damaged or will cause the bearing to come loose or creak etc? I am not sure how trek got round this problem. On the newer models does Trek use an insert which gets round this problem?

It may be that only a small number of frames were affected but I need to be reasonably sure as I don't want to buy a problem frame and then need to replace it or repair etc.

Are there any other areas of the madone 2008 frame that are prone to problems that I need to watch out for?

Hope someone can help.

Cheers

 

[Mike Muz]

Re:

I've not come across this, I have a 2006 Madone that gets dusted off occasionally :facepalm: But never had any of those problems

Is it an eBay find? Or somewhere that you could get a refund if it turns out to be toast?

 

[NorthernMtbr]

The frame I am looking at is on Gumtree but is the later design of frame to your 2006 model. Does your frame have bottom bracket bearings that press into the frame? Have you had any problems with these bearings?

 

[Mike Muz]

Re:

The bike, as I bought it, did come with these bearings, but as I had other plans, I took them out and put a cartridge bb in
Sorry I can't be more help.
Have you posted the query on Retro road chat. I know it's not old, old, but it's still old!

 

[mechanical_vandal]

I was working in a Trek dealership not long after this (2009-2012) and can confirm that there were a lot of issues with the bottom brackets on these bikes.

The bearing seats seemed to be particularly susceptible to wear and while Trek were quite good at effecting repairs under warranty, the way I remember them doing these repairs was to send out a set of very slightly over size bearings which were to be loctited into the frame.

God knows what happened when you wore those bearings out.

God knows why they then migrated the same technology over to the mtbs.

God knows why you'd buy a Trek...

 

[T'boo Ted]

I was reading a thread (elsewhere) where a guy had a Domane and worked for trek and said that a fix was to use tapered "Enduro" bearings. I'm only guessing that they are from a Trek enduro model...or something.

 

[hamster]

Enduro is a bearing maker, specialising in bike bearings.

 

[T'boo Ted]

ah well there you go, good info.