Sy Reene

Speaking of Honda and Lemond, etc. Are Lemond bikes still being made? Or, as like Honda has Acura (Toyota=Lexus; Nissan=Infiniti), I'm surprised that Trek hasn't done some other brands to fill their stores. Giant has Liv bikes for women, etc. Specialized has S-Works.

NomarsGirl

They would look great! you should consider it when you need new tires.

SpeedyBlueBiker

LeMond bikes haven't been made since around 2008. There have been a lot of lawsuits and Greg LeMond had a falling out with Trek and Lance Armstrong. LeMond did announce three new bikes to be made in 2013. I don't think much ever came from that.

mstateglfr 

The LeMond brand was killed off years ago by Trek, probably over 10 years at this point. Greg LeMond had some models built up under his full name 6 or so years ago, but that was thru a different company.

For various reasons, Trek has effectively killed off bikes from-
- LeMond
- Klein
- Gary Fisher
- Bontrager

Sy Reene

Yeah, I think I've heard that. I guess I was thinking maybe they'd benefit though from another brand, not related to an individual personality. Market segmentation and all that, or for folks who feel they see the name "TREK" too often on the road. eg. they have "Project One" -- maybe that could be a brand in similar vein as S-Works and have a different downtube logo. just an idea..

mr_bill

That’s simply not true. In the US, the big box stores have the market cornered for the sub $100 AUP (many of which are children’s bikes) - but that’s it.

Outdoor store brand bicycles (yes, even Trek) are less than a couple hundred more. And the dreaded LBS average unit price is several hundred (and fifty-three) for latest publicly available data.

I know, this does’t track with your prejudice that most every bike bought at a LBS costs thousands of dollars and deserves smear, but....

“Suspect?” You can look it up! ~75% of unit sales go through big box retailers. However, many are children’s bike and the sum total is less than half dollar sales.

But WTF cares?

In some communities there are indeed bike deserts, but they are spending a few hundred dollars at the big box stores to get on the road. The implication that sub one hundred dollar adult bikes dominates here is just ignorant.

-mr. bill

I-Like-To-Bike

Yeah, who cares if you are arguing with yourself?

What you "know" are your own straw man arguments, including this one responding to your own fabrication of an alleged "prejudice" about bicycles sold at LBS and their price tag.

What you also seem to "know" is that children's bicycles sold are apparently not bicycles sold.

You do seem to know that sub $100 bikes are much less expensive than those costing hundreds more and though you may poo-poo the difference in price, it is obvious the general public that buys bicycles also know about the price differential and buy their bicycles (and bicycles for their children) accordingly.

indyfabz

This thread needs more bear pictures.

livedarklions

I don't think this is a Trek:

indyfabz

A frame from a short video (the GF hit the video button by accident) shot during a day ride I led in New Jersey. When we first came upon it it was by the side of the road in some tall grass. At first I and the guy who was just ahead of me (riding a Trek) thought it was a large dog.

livedarklions

So basically you're accusing him of "knowing" too much, while you're claiming to speak for the "general public" and what the general public "knows".

Good one!

There's a huge, very obvious difference between buying a bike for a child vs. buying for an adult which is that no matter how durable the child's bike is, that child is going to outgrow it in a relatively short amount of time. So, unless you have more than one child and intend for it to be a hand-me-down, it makes very little sense to spend more on a kid bike for greater durability. That's a completely different calculation for an adult's bike.

Maybe this varies store to store, but I do check out the Walmart bike departments from time to time, and there are a lot more adult bikes in the $120-250 range than there are in the sub-$100. You can get some pretty good, durable bike shop bikes in the $300-400 range (probably not Trek or Spesh), so the gap in price may not be as great as you're making it out to be.


I think it's equally silly to ignore Walmart (and other big box) as a major player in the bike market as it is to exaggerate it into the dominant player in the adult bike market. In the adult segment, it's major but not dominant. In the kid's segment, it's dominant, and we can stipulate that without making it something that needs to be mentioned every time we want to talk about sources of bikes for adults.

pdlamb

I've always been too excited to pull out a camera when I see a bear while I'm on a bike.

And the time I stood my ground as the bear walked up the road to within 15 feet? My daughter was behind me, and could have taken the shot, but I wasn't on a Trek. See, back on topic!

indyfabz

I was not riding a Trek when I shot this. Neither was the rancher.

mr_bill

How about bear videos?

How about Bruins videos?


-mr. bill

indyfabz

I nearly wiped out big time slamming on my brakes and getting out my camera to get a pic of that bear that swan across the creek. I was riding a dirt rail-trail, so traffic wasn't an issue, but boy did I skid. I had had a very close encounter the day before where taking a photo would not have been wise, so I was determined to get proof that time.

I-Like-To-Bike

How 'bout Da Bears?

mdcoram

I think a lot of people buy Treks because their resale value is better than most others. All bikes take a quick hit though

pdlamb

Are you sure? Did you ask about his horse's name?

livedarklions

That's circular, though. The resale value is higher (if that's true) because more people are willing to buy used Treks.

I'm not at all sure that prospective resale price is anywhere near as big a factor in the bike market as it is in cars. The car market has trade-in value and used dealerships as a prominent feature of price setting, while there's very little of that in the bike market.

jim_pridx

livedarklions

mort1369

cattle_drive_943fcc35c206e849da2656ef06f055cdce8fcf40 by John Mortensen, on Flickr

indyfabz

You should have put "Trek" brands on the cattle and the horse.

katsup

From a hike a few months ago, he got the trail to himself.

N00b_Cyclist

That's a big bear. Glad I don't have to worry about that kind of stuff. I'd lose my crap.