After dabbing its toe into gravel with the Domane Gravel, Trek jumped in with both feet with the new Checkpoint.
Comprised of seven alloy and carbon bikes, the Checkpoint features massive tire clearance, an adjustable wheelbase and mounts for 3-4 bottles (depending on frame size), fenders, racks and bags.
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Prices range from $1,699 with the Checkpoint ALR 4 with 10-speed Shimano Tiagra up to $3,799 for the Checkpoint SL 6 with the latest Shimano Ultegra. All bikes come with 35mm Schwalbe G-One tires but can fit up to 45mm-wide tires. UK and EU pricing was not immediately available.
Trek Checkpoint first ride
Trek Checkpoint geometry and features
Trek has a huge variety of bikes in the general neighborhood of this Checkpoint, from the Boone and Crocket cyclocross bikes to the Domane endurance road line to the entry-level CrossRip 3 all-road bike. Trek’s city bike team, led by Jocelyn Vande Velde, developed the Checkpoint.
"The Checkpoint is the drawdown of the straightforward road experience," Vande Velde says. "Riders want to buy a bike today that will answer their needs in the future. It's not just a gravel race bike, not just an adventure bike. It’s a capture-as-much-experience bike."
The geometry is quite similar to the Boone ’cross bike — nearly identical in reach, with a slightly taller stack and a lower bottom bracket. The chainstay length and wheelbase in the short setting are the same, Vande Velde says.
Like the Crockett alloy ’cross bike, the Checkpoint features adjustable dropouts that change the chainstay length from 425-440mm. The shorter setting is for a livelier ride, and the longer one for more stability, especially when loading the bike down. Another benefit is the ability to set up the bike as a singlespeed.
The bikes all have fork mounts, rear rack mounts and fender mounts.
Sizes 54cm and smaller get three water-bottle mounts. Sizes 56cm and larger get four water-bottle mounts — three in the main frame and one under the down tube.
The bikes all come with 35mm Schwable G-One tires, but the bike can handle up to 45mm tires.
The bikes also all come with Bontrager Blendr mounts, which integrate tidily into the front of the stem and house a bike computer up top and a light or a GoPro on the lower portion.
Assistant product manager Dave Studner says that Trek expected most people to use the bike at least partially for commuting and general road riding, and therefore the fast-rolling G-One was a good middle ground. Changing the tires can affect the bike's personality quite a bit, and with options from 28–45mm, riders can customize the ride to their locale and preferences.
Women's models
Trek has women's models for ALR 4, ALR 5 and SL 5 level bikes. The differences between the WSD models and the standard models are paint, narrower handlebars and women's saddles.
Additional features of Checkpoint SL models
On the Checkpoint SL 5 and SL 6 models, the upgrades include a carbon frame with the IsoSpeed Decoupler system that essentially acts as low-key rear suspension. There is no front IsoSpeed as on the high-end Boone and Domane models — perhaps that could come on a not-yet-released Checkpoint SL 7 in the future.
The SL 5 and SL 6 bikes also get a top tube mount for a bento box, and a bash guard on the lower down tube to protect the carbon frame from rocks.
