Why I will never buy a TREK.
#151
Senior Member
When I was in the market for a new bike recently, I went to the LBS I've been using for decades. I'd done some research, and had a list of bikes/frames I was interested in. They guy I normally deal with now (the owner spends more of his time running the shop instead of on the sales floor) recommended looking at a Trek bike. I compared the Trek he recommended to the bikes I had on my list, and the frames I was considering building up. The Trek he recommended came out ahead on weight and cost in most cases. I never once thought about the corporation that makes/markets the bike, nor about their business practices, and I went with the bike he recommended. Maybe that makes me a bad person. But I was happy to get a bike that fit my needs from someone I've known for decades.
This LBS is now a Trek retailer, though they used to sell a lot of bikes other than Trek (Serotta, Cannondale, Guru, Parlee, to name a few). Over the years they've gradually phased out the other brands, and now I think they only sell Treks. I wish it were different, but I'm not sure that taking my business to an online seller of different kinds of bikes, rather than the LBS down the road, would make a big difference.
This LBS is now a Trek retailer, though they used to sell a lot of bikes other than Trek (Serotta, Cannondale, Guru, Parlee, to name a few). Over the years they've gradually phased out the other brands, and now I think they only sell Treks. I wish it were different, but I'm not sure that taking my business to an online seller of different kinds of bikes, rather than the LBS down the road, would make a big difference.
#152
I never once thought about the corporation that makes/markets the bike, nor about their business practices, and I went with the bike he recommended. Maybe that makes me a bad person. But I was happy to get a bike that fit my needs from someone I've known for decades.
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#153
I do as well, I think most of the posters in this thread know your intent. You don't post "Why I will never buy a TREK" and your only message is a video about L.A. that says "the greatest fraud" and zero personal opinion. If you wanted to talk Trek you would have talked Trek and not posted a video about L.A. who is really not related to Trek anymore and has no bearing on any of their current bikes for the past many years.
There is no need to interpret. You posted in a universal language anyone can understand.
There is no need to interpret. You posted in a universal language anyone can understand.
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#154
Commuter
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I bought two Treks in the last decade or so: a Verve 3 (hybrid/comfort bike) and a Domane AL3 Disc. Neither of them had to do with Armstrong or even the leadership that was in place during the Armstrong era.
For me, there is another factor too: nearly every bike shop near me is a Trek dealer and the shop that supports my local bike club is one of them. Should I hold the grudge from what Trek did in the 90s and screw my local shop that supports my club in the process? I decided not.
It's time to let it go, in my opinion.
If you still want to stick it to ol' Lance, just don't watch his content online. Then, he won't get the ad revenue.
For me, there is another factor too: nearly every bike shop near me is a Trek dealer and the shop that supports my local bike club is one of them. Should I hold the grudge from what Trek did in the 90s and screw my local shop that supports my club in the process? I decided not.
It's time to let it go, in my opinion.
If you still want to stick it to ol' Lance, just don't watch his content online. Then, he won't get the ad revenue.
#155
Senior Member
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Found me a nice Trek 630 outside a bike store two years ago. It was out there for anyone to take parts off of. Frame was in great shape, not much else was. I asked the counter lady what she was going to do with it. She replied in an slightly angry tone "You want that old thing? Take it. You'll be saving us the trouble of pitching it!".
Threw this 50cm frame into my car, took it home. New wheels, tires, chains, BB, RD, and some general care, it's an incredible randonneuring bike. Even came with the original luggage rack.
Threw this 50cm frame into my car, took it home. New wheels, tires, chains, BB, RD, and some general care, it's an incredible randonneuring bike. Even came with the original luggage rack.
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#156
Junior Member
My first semi-serious bike was a Trek Verve 3, and I currently ride a Checkpoint as my commuter. I don't know that I'd by a new Trek these days, but that might just be more a reflection on the bike industry as a whole rather than a brand issue, at least for me.
#157
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I will never buy a new Trek mountain or road bike. I just have never found them to be interesting or compelling. The whole Lance thing really solidified Trek as a crap company as well. That being said, I do have a 1997 Trek Multitrack 720 that I really do love. I needed a grocery getter/pedal around the neighborhood bike and it was cheap in the second hand market.
#158
They shoot horses, don’t they?
#159
#160
Senior Member
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#162
Senior Member
#163
Senior Member
My guess is that you'd have to make your bike out of home-grown bamboo to be sure of the ethics ointhe bike's background, and even then the ethics are likely to be questionable. None of us is without error.
Sure, Trek supported Armstrong's doping, but I can't get away from the fact that attitudes toward doping have changed since Anquetil openly acknowledged using them. If I ever buy another bike, I'll consider Trek, maybe just for a moment, but I WILL consider them. And if a Trek fit me best within my budget, I'd consider myself a fool if I rejected it.
JMO, of course.
One of the most depressing movies ever...
... a laugh riot compared to Leaving Las Vegas.
Also JMO.
Sure, Trek supported Armstrong's doping, but I can't get away from the fact that attitudes toward doping have changed since Anquetil openly acknowledged using them. If I ever buy another bike, I'll consider Trek, maybe just for a moment, but I WILL consider them. And if a Trek fit me best within my budget, I'd consider myself a fool if I rejected it.
JMO, of course.
They shoot horses, don’t they?
Also JMO.
#164
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Trek is to bicycles what McDonald's is to fast food. Let's be honest.
#165
O.p., this isn't about TREK at all, is it. Nope. It's yet another thinly disguised L.A. deserves to die, ragepost. Just saying, when VW deliberately set out to avoid emissions detection for 20 years (!),YOU were harmed. Directly. Are you as angry towards VW? If so, let's hear it. In the appropriate forum, of course.
#166
Senior Member
That's not quite true. Or fair. It's difficult to call a 5 Series Madone 'junk food'. Plus for every market niche that Trek has designed a bike for, so have Giant and Specialized. It just seems like everyone is riding a Madone, but there are plenty of Defys and Diverges running around loose.
#167
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The premise of this thread is just as wacky as saying I will never buy a German, Italian or Japanese product because they killed Americans in WWII. And what do you consider worse - doping or taking lives? Both incidents are history in more ways than one.
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#168
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#169
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#170
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Except that it’s a real effect and not fantasy argument. Real people don’t buy Trek, whereas *no one* doesn’t buy former Axis countries’ products.
How you account for reality vs. fantasy is your own business, but if only for the sake of your own credibility, I suggest you do.
How you account for reality vs. fantasy is your own business, but if only for the sake of your own credibility, I suggest you do.
#171
Senior Member
Except that it’s a real effect and not fantasy argument. Real people don’t buy Trek, whereas *no one* doesn’t buy former Axis countries’ products.
How you account for reality vs. fantasy is your own business, but if only for the sake of your own credibility, I suggest you do.
How you account for reality vs. fantasy is your own business, but if only for the sake of your own credibility, I suggest you do.
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#174
Grupetto Bob
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Except that it’s a real effect and not fantasy argument. Real people don’t buy Trek, whereas *no one* doesn’t buy former Axis countries’ products.
How you account for reality vs. fantasy is your own business, but if only for the sake of your own credibility, I suggest you do.
How you account for reality vs. fantasy is your own business, but if only for the sake of your own credibility, I suggest you do.
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#175
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There is no question a lot of people buy Trek, so that was never the point. Rather, it's that there are some people who do not buy Trek compared to the totally non-existant people who don't buy from ex-Axis countries. That's the reality vs. the fiction, which you seem not to have a grip on at all. But you're right, that's your concern, not mine.