In terms of stiffness, first suggestions are that there’s nothing to worry about. Top end aluminium frames are usually very stiff because they have to be to counteract the fact that aluminium itself is a soft metal (also a reason why alu is always alloyed with something else). The nice thing about the ALR is that Trek haven’t had to make the tubing too chunky in order to achieve the required strength, and it gives the bike a sleek, classic look. Not functional, but always appealing. Out of the saddle uphill and bombing along the flat at over 40km/h I haven’t been able to fault it yet, although I’ll keep pushing it as far as my (admittedly not Kristoff-esque) legs will allow. The handling is similarly impressive. There aren’t too many bikes that I’ll jump on and head downhill without a bit of caution early on, but I was more than comfortable hitting some of my regularly descents without any unneeded caution, suggesting that the ALR will be a more than capable all-rounder, not just an alu climber’s bike.