Same boat here… bought the bike last year did less then 3000 km on it. First went back for a clicking noise fixed for 2 rides and then back again so been driving with the bike up and down to the dealer to fix this but never went completely away. Then noticed a lot of movement. So back again for the movement… fixed for I think 1 ride. But the engineer trew the bumper in front away. So now I have a nice bumb in my top bar where the screw is of the isospeed😅. Still stuck with the movement in the saddle so new isospeed installed. Still after a few miles movement back with a lot of snepping every time I paddle.
Went to another dealer said they fixed the problem. But the dealer want to send it to trek for the bump which hopefully will come under warranty.
Told the dealer if she would tel trek about the movement also.
Curious what trek will do to solve it??? Because I am afraid that the movement will come back. I couldn’t get a better picture of the bumb but you can clearly see it in real life…
I have the same problem with clicking , I’m interested in your bolt installed, in the normal way, 8mm alu should on the drive side.
after installed, do you solved the problem?
Hi - actually I only just saw that video with the bolt the other way round. That is very interesting. So mine is still reversed. Not sure if it makes any difference but you’d think the collar that it slots into must be the right diameter for the bolthead and if it’s too big… I have to say I did find it a bit difficult to get the nut to catch the screw thread on the end of the bolt. Perhaps that’s why.
Anyway, having used loctite blue, it stayed tight for longer, but it’s starting to move a little again and I haven’t really done that many miles over the winter - been on the turbo most of the time.
I did try to loosen it gently, to see if it had come loose by itself but it wasn’t going to move easily - felt like the loctite was still doing its job. Which isn’t good news really if the post is still able to move a bit. So I might take it out, reverse the bolt and tighten it up again with some more loctite.
My frame was send to trek. And didn’t see the results yet. But from what I understand is that the fixed the whole isospeed and completely repainted and fixed everything as new… so let see when I get it back how it is.
I have the same issue of isospeed clicking only it showed up 7 months or 600 miles on the Madone SLR6. Busted LBS three times and they only tighten it up to 8 N-M, and the clicking shows up within 20 miles of riding. Now trek is replacing the isospeed hardware kit. Parts for free, but charging me labor to replace $30. Will report back after first few rides. The trek tech is stating it’s a kit that is meant to wear out and replace over time. I find that a bit hard to believe. Anyone with the story that the isospeed hardware kit is meant to be replaced on set intervals?
My SLR 8 is currently with the local Trek dealer, after carrying out an inspection they found ‘nothing obvious’. They’ve emailed Trek re warranty, hopefully something can be done.
However, I’m thinking they may struggle to find a rim braked Madone replacement frame (56) in the UK.
I’ve got a 2020 SL7 that I acquired in Sept. In the last few rides it’s felt sort-of like I had a soft-ish back tire. Nope. While prepping the bike for a race (a hill climb TT, but still) I discovered the seat mast was wiggling side-to side. After a brief panic, followed by a search that landed me here again, I tightened the thru-bolt and no more wiggle.
After about 80 miles of riding, the wiggle is back. When I tightened it, I noticed a small bit on the frame on the NDS side of the hole for the bolt that could be a crack. I haven’t inspected it yet, but given how quickly it loosened up again, I think it probably is a crack. Time to take it back to the LBS where I bought it and start the inspection/warranty process. I’m hoping they’ll do the right thing.
Update: it is a crack. Trek is replacing the frame. Or more accurately, they’re giving me credit for the frame towards any frame or bike I’d care to have. I did the math and went for an SLR frame upgrade. It’s supposed to be here around July 5. No cost to me for the component swap.
I got my replacement frame for the same issue about a month ago. To Trek’s credit they were awesome about the swap. My LBS sent off some photos of the tiny crack, and a couple of days later I was asked if I liked the colour option they had in stock. I know what stock levels are like at the moment so I wasn’t going to get picky, but the colour looks great anyway. The frame arrived a few days later at the LBS.
I did the component swap myself as I’m friends with the guys at the bike shop. It doesn’t seem fair to make them do the swap when Trek doesn’t pay them to do it and I can do it myself. It’s a big job but it went fairly smoothly. The biggest issue was the change to the cable routing system on the 2021 frame. I’m running mechanical and the cables now run full length outers all the way to the derailleurs. It’s actually a lot easier to work with once I got it figured out. For a while I was terrified that I was going to have to redo the cabling through the bars and stem. Thankfully I just used an in-line adjuster to extend the housings and it was easy from there.
I read the above posts with great interest. Unfortunately, these posts sound far too familiar to me. I have an SLR Disc 7 from September 2018 (model year 2019). For a long time I have been suffering from the creaking sounds but apparently have been looking in the wrong place for a long time and now suddenly I see that my saddle moves from left to right!
Earlier this year the bolt in the ISO speed decoupler broke. I already thought that was very peculiar. The bolt broke when I was out of the saddle and not pedaling (no force on the frame). But according to the Trek store, that could just happen. It was not under warranty. But now that I have read these posts everything falls into place and I suddenly understand where the creaking sounds are coming from. I might also add that I also hear the occasional popping sound when I ride over a little bump while out of the saddle. It gives me the impression that the ISO speed system can’t handle that kind of impact.
I am definitely going back to the store now and want to be there when they remove the ISO speed saddle. Hopefully I won’t have any cracks in the frame.
A small up-date on the creaking and wiggling seatpost:
The bike has been taken to the Trek shop for inspection and repair. The staff also determined there was something wrong with the seatpost, but became quite defensive after I mentioned what I had read here on the forum. I kept my cool and continued to talk to the staff. Much to my surprise, a little later in the conversation the staff mentioned that Trek had released a custom locktite kit for Trek Madones, and that they had about 10 of those kits on order.
The staff surprised me in a positive way when I came to pick up my Madone. They did investigate my story and confirmed that there indeed can be problems with the Madone SLR Disc (as described here in the forum). They could also explain in detail where and how frame damage can occur. They also told me that frame damage is rare and that the modified loctite should solve the problem.
They did the repair free of charge and my bike is silent again.
It’s good to hear that Trek is treating owners right on this issue but looking at all these problems and their warranty policy covering only original owners, I will not want to touch a used Madone with a 10ft pole. This will also affect people’s resale values of these bikes if there are potential issues with the trames/seatposts that 2nd user can’t have fixed under warranty.
Same issue on my madone sl6 I bought last year. Had the clicking noise some weeks ago. Fastened the isospeed and it was gone. Now the screw comes loose after every ride.
This case was send to trek. I am excited what will happen!
At the end the bike had to go back to trek to check the iso speed and I also asked about this issue. What trek dit is the repainted te top bar for me so the bumb is gone. Then the isospeed issue still existed. Again back to trek. Now got it back. They replaced the saddle pen. Must say it is much better but it’s starts snapping again.
So prob needs to go back again. Fed up with it.
Thanks for the info. I suppose it’s good the top tube bump was just a paint issue and you’d expect to no have these issues with pricey bike. Looks like my Madone might have to be sent back a second time also.
I think next time I’d get another Cervelo, never had any of these type problems with my S3.
Hi all, reading through this as I have an SLR9 with a loose seat post. Probably have ridden about 3k miles with no major issues but now I tighten the bolt and it’s loose again in 20 miles.
I plan to get on top of this before it rocks back and forth enough to damage the frame. So I will order brand new bolts, get a torque wrench to ensure its at 8Nm and also put loctite threadlocker on… My question is what threadlocker… Clearly the best option to make sure the dam thing never moves again is loctite 270 red. Is that dangerous? Otherwise I guess I go for blue and hope it does the job for a while?
