Steel Charlie

Aw, c'mon man. Didn't he say that he was sorry?

indyfabz

It turned straight to vinegar.

mstateglfr 

The outer appearance of a weld, in and of itself, simply isnt an indicator of the build quality.
Bikes can have welds so thick it looks like toothpaste was squirted out of a tube, and the frame's build quality is top notch. Bikes can have smoothed welds that look almost like Ritchey level fillet brazing, and the frame's build quality is sketch because too much smoothing took place at part of a joint.


Frank the Welder is legendary in frame building circles and below are some of frame fabrications. The welds look even and perfectly done(I certainly dont know enough to suggest otherwise), but they are not smoothed. This is a style, just like smoothed welds on older US build Cannondales is a style. Neither style suggest a higher level of quality though.

mstateglfr 

And yet- it totally tracks for you.

Joe Bikerider

how do you figure that? I hate Lance for all his cheating and lies. I never connected Trek with him. That’s not the way I operate.

Atlas Shrugged

Perfect response to a ridiculous 13 year old thread, A ridiculous response.

veganbikes

Then how do you hate Lance if you don't understand Lance as a cyclist. He rode Treks for most of his career and especially the parts people really know him, Trek was a major sponsor and a big part of his life, it was on his jerseys and his bikes and probably more. He also sells Trek's out of his Austin shop Mellow Johnny's (hate him or not it is a very nice shop and I don't think he is really involved day to day) It is like saying I hate Jared Fogel but I didn't know anything about Subway.

Trek may or may not have had anything to do with the doping but they are one of the most important sponsors being they gave him bicycles which you cannot do a bicycle race without.

For the record I dislike Trek these days you do pay more to get less with Trek. That might not have been so true back in the day but now they have become corporate to an extreme and so known for their brand they rest of those laurels like it was a stack of mattresses.

Polaris OBark

How strong is the evidence that performance-enhancing drugs are in fact performance-enhancing?

shelbyfv

They were all dopers and Lance whipped them, year after year. Whiners. I wish he'd had sense enough to keep his mouth shut. Now back to Trek bashing. Or was it Spesh?

Eric F 

Which Trek? Trek makes a very wide range of bikes serving an immense range of riding styles and riders, from toddlers to World Tour racers.

This one may not suit your style - and that's fine - but it's hard to argue that it isn't kinda special...

mstateglfr 

Bit really- what's the giant black wrap on the fork?

seypat

It could be a Rapha band.

cb400bill

Spring can't get here quick enough.

bblair

Great bikes-I have 2: A CF 5200 from about 20 years ago and a tandem from older than that. I love the bikes.

But the company?

I don't like that they kicked out all the local shops and now are exclusively corporate owned. In my experience, they have that corporate attitude that is very arrogant. If I want, I can go to the Apple store.

Secondly, a good friend of mine bought a Trek with disk brakes, electronic shifting, all the stuff. A few months into ownership, a loose bolt from the water bottle cage came loose, got stuck between the chainring and frame and caused some minor damage. Their build, their fault. We were riding together, I saw it. Their solution, was to offer 10% off a new frame. THAT, is why I won't buy a Trek.

Atlas Shrugged

I was not aware that they “kicked out” all the dealers. Sounds like fake news to me but will leave that fight to others.

The fact they offered any discount at all to someone who had a water bottle bolt come loose is amazing. This is on the guy who doesn’t check his bike over once in a while. Rather than turn on Trek coach your friend on basic bike maintenance.

indyfabz

How you could educate yourself on the details and not learn of the Trek connection boggles my mind.

3alarmer 

...short sleeves and bib shorts on the bike ride today, here in Sacramento.
I would have ridden this Trek, (one of the last built in America,) but there's still some puddles, so I went with fenders.




Trek has gone through a lot of iterations over the years. Started out as a source for American built quality frames, at affordable prices. Was finally forced to offshore more and more production, to remain competitive in sales. Of all the Trek bashing I hear lately, it has to do with their current expansion into local markets by buying local bike shops and converting them to less well stocked, and less generally helpful, Trek stores.

That's what happened here in Sacramento. But I didn't work there when it was City Bicycle, and I don't work there now that it's Trek. It's not all that useful to me, personally.

I have one of their old hand brazed Columbus frames that I repainted/restored, and am looking forward to putting it back together. Trek was once a shining example of what American bike manufacturing could do.

rsbob 

Have owned two Trek mountain bikes. Both were bullet proof, competent yet uninspired. My wife has a Trek e-bike and it has excellent engineering and my wife loves it.

Lance also rode on of these - now hanging in my garage. Ask me if I care.

Buzzkill53120

I hate Trek…they didn’t hire me back in 1976!

Troul 

I've ran across folks that purchase budlight, yet have not a clue of the bad rap that BL got themselves into. Additionally, it didn't change my thoughts on them people as it 'is what it is' .

seypat

Going back to the original post, I'd say it's #3 and #5. I have an 82/83 Trek with a set of rims made by a small company. Tru-America Corp was the name I think. It was a good reputable product until Trek bought the company out and started dumbing down the product. Mostly though, my disdain for the company comes from the fan boys. The 82/83 Trek I have is a good bike, but certainly not superior to any comparable Japanese bike from a reputable company from that era. Same for the modern era. Good bikes, but not any better than their competitors. The Trek fanboys though, they're like carni barkers shouting the praises of all things Trek/Trek related to any other person they come in contact with. I'm sure they'd buy underwear, jockstraps, dental floss, whatever from Trek if they could get it with a Trek related name. That's where my Trek hating comes from.

seypat

Rant not over yet. The typical(but not always) Trek fanboy/girl seems to be the person that has/had no previous experience in the sport/activity. Same phenomenon happens out there with lots of companies/products. Nike and Garmin come to mind. So, average Joe/Jill decides to try their hand at whatever. In this case, it's cycling. So, they do some reading and decide to get a Trek. It's a Murican company and has a cool name. They go into the closest LBS. The LBS sells them a bike and loads them up with Trek related accessories because the margins are better on those. Guy/girl goes out, rides around and enjoys it. They take to social media, contact their circle, etc to talk about how great Trek is and get some kudos/backslapping/purchase verication. They encounter the Trek disdain. In typical BF fashion, they find a message board and start posts like this one. As Sonny and Cher once sang, "And the beat goes on."

Garthr

( ( ( ) ) )

Why ? Because everybody loves somebody sometime .....

Chuck M 

Did he stay on for 8 seconds like a real bull rider, was it the one on the right or left, and do you have a head mount or just the hide?

wheelreason

Stop digging...