The Award for the Sickest and Slickest E-Road Bike Goes to Trek's Domane+ HP 7

What we see in the cover photo is one of the rewards that can already be had for our troubles this year. It’s called the Domane+ HP 7 and it’s nothing more than one of the most beautifully crafted electric road bikes I've seen these past few months. But beyond the glitz and the glam lies one hell of a bike. Ready?

Before anything, please take a look in the gallery and then come back to the text. All good? Personally, I've fallen in love upon seeing the white color variation with that Root Beer Ano decal. The way that fits together is just, wow.

As for what all that paint is set upon, we are offered a 500 Series OCLV Carbon frame with a removable integrated battery and obvious internal cable routing. After all, you’re going to be spending $9,699.99 on the bike alone. But that’s the MSRP; sadly, you have to go through a middleman for this product so expect to pay a little more than that. But whatever you’ll end up paying for this, you won’t regret it one bit.

Aside from having an overall bitching frame geometry, the HP 7 also includes an adjustable top tube using Trek IsoSpeed. What this component does is the following: the bike maintains its diamond shape while decoupling the seat tube from the top tube, allowing the seat to flex under the impacts encountered on the road. Simply put, it’s a suspension. There’s also another IsoSpeed system found at the front of the top tube as well.

Now, I mentioned the battery earlier, and I'll continue with that. Trek teamed up with Bosch to offer a top-of-the-line PowerTube 500. Sure, it’s not the 625er, but then again, being a road bike, you don’t want all the work to be taken out of your ride. How far this battery will take you is a bit of a different story. You won’t find any mention at all on Trek’s website because this all depends on ever-changing road conditions.

Now for the motor, Bosch once again brings its magic to the show with the new Performance Speed cranking out 75 Nm (55 lb-ft) of torque and enabling a top speed of 28 mph (45 kph). That’s not even road legal in Europe, mind you.

The drivetrain is mostly Shimano, all tuned to 11-speeds, and include components from the Ultegra, Deore, and GRX lines. Brakes, too, are covered by this master team and include an RX400 flat mount hydraulic disk and MT800 16 mm centerlock rotors.

As for the rest of this rough rider, Bontrager seems to be the weapon of choice. Wheels, saddle, seat post, handlebars, stem, and even grip tape are all from this world-renowned team. It also seems that Bontrager is following Trek on the whole lifetime warranty business, as they are offering the same deal on the wheels they build.

If you still can’t imagine yourself on this bike, have another good look at the gallery and just let yourself slide into that world. If you can’t, give it a minute. I am more of an MTB kind of guy, but this 35.76-lb (16.22-kg) for size 56 beauty still melted my heart. How can it not?