2025 Trek Road and Gravel Bike Range
2025 Trek Road and Gravel Bike Range
There are some big changes to the Trek road and gravel line-up for 2025. A couple of bikes have been discontinued and we have some brands new ones in their place. There’s still a comprehensive range with road and gravel bikes for beginners, right through to pro-level racers.
Trek Domane AL 2 Rim - £750
At the time of writing Trek are still classing this as a 2024 bike but there seems to be plenty of stock and no plans to stop selling it. As the name suggests it comes with rim brakes and is a great choice for beginners on a budget. The endurance focussed geometry makes the bike stable to handle and you can easily add mudguards and pannier racks to make this into a commuter.
Trek Domane AL Gen 4 – From £1050 to £2000
The Gen 4 Domane comes with disc brakes and much bigger tyre clearance then the rim brake bike. Trek rate it for road riding, commuting and ‘most gravel roads’. So if you need to use the odd bit of old railway line, canal towpath, or other hard packed surfaces it should be fine. They come fitted with 32c tyres but have clearance for up to 38c which gets you into gravel tyre territory.
The entry level Domane AL 2 comes with mechanical disc brakes. The 4 is probably the pick of the bikes. It comes in at £1700 and gets you hydraulic brakes and a 2x10 speed Shimano Tiagra groupset.
Trek Checkpoint ALR– From £1190 to £2350
Where the Domane AL Gen 4 can do a bit of gravel the Checkpoint is purpose designed for grave riding. The ALR is Trek’s aluminium road bike. There are 3 models, the 3, 4 and 5. Both the 3 and 4 come with mechanical disc brakes. The 5 comes with hydraulic disc brakes and 12 speed SRAM Apex gravels specific gearing.
These bikes come with all the attachment points you need for bikepacking bags. If you are going to be doing a lot of riding off-road the Checkpoint ALR 5 is the one to go for as the hydraulic brakes give much better stopping power, especially on a fully loaded bike. The Checkpoint 3 makes for a great affordable commuting bike.
Trek Emonda ALR 5- £2100
The Emonda ALR range has shrunk to one bike for 2025. This is a classic lightweight race bike. It has a responsive aluminium frame, bombproof Shimano 105 gearing and hydraulic disc brakes. It’s perfect for fast group rides, big climbs or racing and it’s pretty affordable.
The only downside of the Emonda ALR is the maximum tyre clearance which is 28mm. While that’s still decent it is at the bottom end of what you’d expect to have on a modern road bike.
Trek Domane SL and SLR – from £3000 to £10,000+
This is the carbon version of the Trek’s Domane road bike. It is classed as an ‘endurance’ bike and, like the aluminium version, it can handle ‘light gravel’ as well as roads. This is the bike Trek’s pro teams often use to race the mud and cobbles of races like the Paris-Roubaix.
To handle bumpy roads the Domane bikes come with IsoSpeed dampers built in. This allows the seat tube to move forwards and backwards in a small, controlled, movement. The effect is to absorb some of the shock of hitting bumps without sacrificing the stiffness needed for good acceleration. Overall IsoSpeed will let you ride for longer on rougher roads.
The Domane SL and SLR use the same basic geometry but the SLR is made using more expensive carbon fibre processes to shave a bit of extra weight. Most of the SLR versions are made to order so are normally only available as a special order.
Trek Madone Gen 8 – from £3250 to £12,000+
New for 2025 the Madone Gen 8 combines elements from the old Madone which was very aero focussed, and the carbon Emonda which was a lightweight climbing bike. The result is a bike that is just as fast as the old Madone but 320 grams lighter. If you are looking to race, do fast club rides, sportives or just like going fast the new Madone Gen 8 is the bike for you.
The distinctive Madone Gen 8 frame has a notch where the top-tube and seat-tube meet. This is the IsoFlow cut-out which allows a small amount of flex in the frame to filter out small bumps and road chatter so you can stay in the saddle for longer. Unlike the IsoSpeed used on the Domane bikes this has no moving parts.
Like the Domane the Madone is available in both SL and SLR versions. The SLR uses higher grade carbon fibre in the frame and most of these bikes are built to order.
Trek Checkpoint SL – From £3700 to £6350
This is Trek’s carbon gravel bike. The range has shrunk a lot for 2025 with just 3 models. It does have a new frame for 2025 which uses the same kind of IsoSpeed used on the Domane bikes to allow a small amount of movement at the back of the frame to soak up bumps.
The carbon Checkpoint is lighter than the aluminium ALR version and the natural flex in carbon makes for a less harsh ride. With clearance for up to 50mm tyres there is more room to add comfortable tyres for challenging off-road rides. The carbon checkpoint comes with all the mounting points you need for bike packing bags.
Trek Checkmate – from £8500 to £10,000
In previous years there was a Checkpoint SLR bike which was Trek’s gravel race bike. For 2025 this has been replaced with the new Checkmate.
The Checkmate is a fast, light and aero gravel race bike. Like the Domane and Checkpoint it also comes with IsoSpeed to soften bumps and allow you to stay on the power for longer.
All three models of the Checkpoint come with SRAM AXS wireless electronic gearing.
