We’ve all been blown away by Project One bikes from Trek. They’re simply beautiful to look at and the bespoke component choices allow you to build the bike of your dreams. At Flamme Rouge, we have a steady stream of Project One orders flowing through the shop and have recently built at least one from each of Trek’s core road line-up – Madone, Domane and Emonda – as well as a truly fast Speed Concept time trial bike that is on display in the showroom (pictured middle).
There’s a couple of things that have historically put people off from ordering a Project One bike: the cost and the lead time. We have good news on both fronts. Lead times are coming down from about a year – a year! – to 30 to 40 days on average and we can offer part exchange on your existing bike and three-year 0% finance to make it easier on your wallet. More of that later.
Why go Project One?
A lot of the marketing from Trek is about the Project One custom paint job. While they really are amazing to look at, we think it’s more important being able to spec your bike exactly how you want it to fit and ride. You can flex your wheel choices, gear ratios, groupset… anything. Then we’ll do a bike fit to get your set-up perfect for your size and riding style. This is the real personalisation in Project One at Flamme Rouge.
Customers buy on Project One because they want the best performance; they want the ultimate riding machine. We find they are typically either at a point where they’re getting pretty serious about their riding or they are approaching a bucket list event they want the best kit for.
How does it work?
Come into Flamme Rouge and we’ll take you through the process:
1. Choose your model: The starting point is the core model. Do you want the speed of the Madone, the lightweight Emonda or the comfort of the Domane? If MTB is your thing, we can also do Slash, Rail, Fuel EX and more on Project One.
2. Choose your paint job: There are literally thousands of colours and design schemes to choose from. There’s virtually no end to the creative options.
3. Choose your parts: We think this is the biggest selling point. Take control of the whole spec down to the smallest component or choose a curated build if the sheer number of options is a bit overwhelming. We’ll work through it with you to get it exactly right.
4. Begin the countdown!: Your new bike could be with you as quickly as four weeks!
Making it more affordable
Cost is often a barrier to going Project One and understandably so, with a typical starting point of around £7,600. But we can now offer part exchange to bring the price down. We can also break the cost up by offering your new bike through any of the cycle to work schemes we accept, which enables you to pay in tax-free instalments through salary sacrifice, or with three years 0% finance on Klarna.
To give you a real world example of this, earlier this week one happy customer rode out the doors with an £14,500 Project One Madone SLR 9 (pictured top) for £5,000 less after trading in his old Gen 3 Madone. It’s also worth bearing in mind that if you buy an off-the-peg model and then upgrade the wheels, groupset or whatever, you’ve paid for two of each. With Project One you only pay once.
The Flamme Rouge Special
Right now we have a special build at Flamme Rouge. There is no way to get a Trek Madone SLR 6 Gen 4 (pictured above) – the one with the super-aero frame and the radical hole in the seat tube and the new Shimano 105 12 speed Di2 groupset. Trek have sold out and it’s not even available to order. So we have decided to take the build in house at Flamme Rouge; a Project Rouge if you like! We are offering this model with as little as four weeks lead time, and given it’s £2,600 cheaper than the next model up, the SLR7, it’s generating a lot of interest.
Summary
So, if Project One has always been a dream of yours but you’ve been put off by the cost and delivery delays, we think it’s time to look again because lead times are as little as one month, you can now reduce the cost through part exchange and you can also pay in instalments. Come and see our expert team in store in Bedford and we’ll talk you through the options.
