Trek Domane

I had the opportunity to name a completely new road bike platform for Trek Bicycle, the endurance road bike, Domane. This is how I derived the name.

01—BACKGROUND

In 2008, Trek Bicycle introduced a completely redesigned, modern version of the popular road bike, the Madone. The Madone, a classic racing bike, was named after the Col de la Madone, one of Lance Armstrong’s favorite Tour de France training peaks.

In 2012, Trek introduced a bike that would create a completely new racing platform, the Domane, filling a gap in the product line covering endurance road bikes.

02—HERITAGE

The new bike was designed for, and in cooperation with, the premier professional road cyclists in the world, like Fabian Cancellara. The heritage of professional bike racing is deeply European, from the lowland countries who host the classic one-day races, to France, Spain, and Italy who host the weeks-long Grand Tours. This heritage conjures images of daunting peaks in the Alps and Pyrenees and punishing cobblestones in the lowlands, as well as renowned names like Hinault, Coppi, Anquetil, and Merckx.

I started my search for an inventive or coined name, akin to Madone, in the languages of Europe, and focused early on the romance languages. (I speak some German, and a little Dutch, so I had an educated hunch that most people—American or otherwise—would be more able to pronounce something rooted in a romance language than a lowland language like Dutch or Flemish.)

03—THE BIKE

The technical product development goal of the new platform was specifically to help racers like Cancellara perform better in one-day classics races. These races frequently include long stretches over absolutely punishing cobblestones. A variety of innovative techniques were introduced to help “conquer the cobbles,” making the ride smoother, more comfortable, and more efficient—all things which provide essential benefits to professional racers and normal consumers alike.

I centered my specific language search around words that would speak directly to this goal, and eventually discovered the Italian infinitive, domare (to tame). The idea of taming the cobbles, or overcoming their inherent difficulties, resonated deeply.

04—distinctiveness. and serendipity

I didn’t believe taking an infinitive from a foreign language was sufficient. It’s not that clever, and it’s not distinctive enough (imagine googling "glasses" or even "hipster glasses" vs. "Warby Parker"). Further, because I don’t speak Italian, I couldn’t be aware of problematic slang, nuances, or connotations associated with the word. So I began experimenting with letter transpositions and replacements, to keep the inspiration of domare, but create something new, unique, and coined. At one point, I landed on Domane.

It was here that a beautiful serendipity struck. With my mind actively engaged in letter transpositions, I noticed that D-o-m-a-n-e was an anagram for M-a-d-o-n-e, and there was a poetic underscore that, for me, heralded the perfect name candidate.

05—postscript

Ultimately, the name Domane was the one chosen. At launch, Trek said Domane was Latin for “the king’s crown.” They also said the pronunciation was “do-MAH-knee,” although, inspired as I was by romance languages, I had intended it to be “do-MAH-nay.”

Finally, Trek liked the anagram enough to use it again at the introduction of its next road bike platform, naming it Emonda.