Was Matrix ever its own company or only a Trek house brand?
08-05-23, 07:23 PM
#1
Pedalin' Erry Day
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Was Matrix ever its own company or only a Trek house brand?
Referring to the magazine article scans in the following thread, I noticed an advertisement there for Matrix wheels and tires which raised a question in my mind: I've seen plenty of Matrix -branded hubs and rims on vintage Treks and always assumed it was Trek's house brand (can't recall any "Matrix" tires though). Searching online I can't find any reference to a separate company or their wheels as anything but stock parts on Trek bikes, and there's at least one Matrix rim pictured online with a "made in the USA - Waterloo, WI" sticker which would of course be consistent with this being a Trek brand. Does anyone know if they were ever their own company?
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ne-rb-1-a.html
https://www.velosaloon.com/products/...from-the-1990s
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ne-rb-1-a.html
https://www.velosaloon.com/products/...from-the-1990s
Last edited by lasauge; 08-05-23 at 09:30 PM.
08-05-23, 08:48 PM
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This is an interesting question. There doesn't seem to be much information on the intertubes. The word "matrix" yields zero results on the "inside Trek" company history site and on the Trek Wikipedia page.
This site mentions Matrix as a Trek house brand for wheels, tires, and helmets, but doesn't say much about it:
MOMBAT: Trek Bicycles History
Maybe there isn't much to say besides Matrix was a Trek house brand for a little while.
I hope some of our Trek experts will chime in.
This site mentions Matrix as a Trek house brand for wheels, tires, and helmets, but doesn't say much about it:
MOMBAT: Trek Bicycles History
Maybe there isn't much to say besides Matrix was a Trek house brand for a little while.
I hope some of our Trek experts will chime in.
08-05-23, 10:54 PM
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I've had several pairs of matrix tires over the years; always pulled off of older wheel sets that came with used Treks. Early 90s stuff, I think?
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08-05-23, 11:27 PM
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...from Velobase:
Matrix was the house brand for Trek bicycles during the 1980's and into the early 90's. They sourced the components from sevearal countries. Tires seem to be mostly from France, where the first rim added to VeloBase.com states that it was made in the USA.
08-06-23, 02:05 AM
#5
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Referring to the magazine article scans in the following thread, I noticed an advertisement there for Matrix wheels and tires which raised a question in my mind: I've seen plenty of Matrix -branded hubs and rims on vintage Treks and always assumed it was Trek's house brand (can't recall any "Matrix" tires though). Searching online I can't find any reference to a separate company or their wheels as anything but stock parts on Trek bikes, and there's at least one Matrix rim pictured online with a "made in the USA - Waterloo, WI" sticker which would of course be consistent with this being a Trek brand. Does anyone know if they were ever their own company?
Seen the same type label with the Trek name, possibly later production.
Last edited by KCT1986; 08-06-23 at 02:26 AM. Reason: Nashbar info
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08-06-23, 08:35 AM
#7
Pedalin' Erry Day
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Thank you, I think that points us to the answer which was given in another thread about Tru-America:
Made in Rockford Illinois for just a few years. Stretching the memory banks hard and coming up with Tim Smith for name of proprietor but please don't trust that. He worked a bit with Ron Boi getting the business going. Contact Ron at RRB Cycles and he can talk your ear off and put you in touch with Tim. The basic intuition the two of them had was most rim extrusions are not at all accurate and the variations in wall thickness create uneven stresses and rim failure. Confirmed by taking measurements on failed rims and measurements on rims that lasted forever. Like most rim makers the extrusions were by outside vendors. Tru-America simply put calipers on every extrusion they purchased and rejected any that were out of spec. The extrusion jobber figured out they were serious and gave them the accuracy they wanted. The result was phenomenally strong rims. The Schwinn engineers had trouble believing they were not double heat treated rims like Mavic SSC. Purchased by Trek who labelled them as Matrix Iso rims and of course let the quality control slide. Never had good distribution. Never found customers who would pay a nickel more to get a superior product. They were priced about same as any other rim of the period. They were competing with Mavic and Rigida rims on price and were just entirely ahead of those on quality.
08-06-23, 09:09 AM
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I have a bunch of Iso anodizing rejects I use for stretching tubular tires.
I also cut up reject rims to use as handles for the tools I made to install the plastic funnel inside the drive-side chainstay, for through-the chainstay cable routing with the Trek investment cast dropouts.
Last edited by JohnDThompson; 08-06-23 at 09:16 AM.
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08-07-23, 03:27 PM
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Wish these robust Matrix CDR3 27" clinchers were yet available. Used on tandems for years. Made in Japan.
Below is the Matrix ISO Tech 3K clincher. Japan sourced.
Below is the Matrix ISO Tech 3K clincher. Japan sourced.
Last edited by chain_whipped; 08-07-23 at 05:16 PM.
09-04-23, 10:35 AM
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Really don’t know, however Sheldon Brown referred to them as Treks house brand quite some time ago. He apparently wasn’t a big fan of them either.
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09-04-23, 10:48 AM
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"Matrix" was also a brand of Columbus tubing but due to trademark infringement legal action, Columbus retired that brand and Matrix tubing became "Cromor".
But you still occasionally come across some (almost all Italian mid-grade frames) that have the Columbus Matrix tubing decal
Here's a couple examples lifted from the very educational Italian Cycling Journal blog:
I guess some were maybe a little "better than midgrade" Italian frames!
But you still occasionally come across some (almost all Italian mid-grade frames) that have the Columbus Matrix tubing decal
Here's a couple examples lifted from the very educational Italian Cycling Journal blog:
I guess some were maybe a little "better than midgrade" Italian frames!
Last edited by unworthy1; 09-04-23 at 10:57 AM.
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09-04-23, 01:41 PM
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All of the Matrix rimmed wheelsets that I have owned or on bikes I’ve worked on have actually been pretty nice.
Certainly no better or worse than others of the same late 80’s period.
Now that I think of it, have a NOS set right here, laced to 8 speed Tricolor hubs!
Certainly no better or worse than others of the same late 80’s period.
Now that I think of it, have a NOS set right here, laced to 8 speed Tricolor hubs!
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09-04-23, 02:39 PM
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As a reference point, my 83 Trek 700 has Tru-America “narrow” rims. Made in USA and 13-20. Some info points to them predating Matrix. They seem fine and must’ve been well regarded by Trek to put on the 700 series and with Campy hubs. No problem at all with them running 32s, but eventually I may go with wider rims.
09-05-23, 03:26 PM
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I volunteer with a guy who was the Trek rep for the Western US for the last 30+ years. He said Matrix was always a Trek in-house brand.
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09-05-23, 04:05 PM
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+1, Sheldon seems to base his judgement of Trek's "wheelsets" on the Helicomatic hubs, and that somehow rubs off on the quality of the rims. He said nothing to substatiate any quality claim about Matrix, other than possibly to imply that "house brand" means "mediocre". Maybe there's no such intention; it's ambiguous at best.
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09-05-23, 05:29 PM
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+1, Sheldon seems to base his judgement of Trek's "wheelsets" on the Helicomatic hubs, and that somehow rubs off on the quality of the rims. He said nothing to substatiate any quality claim about Matrix, other than possibly to imply that "house brand" means "mediocre". Maybe there's no such intention; it's ambiguous at best.
