Trek plans to "right size" with 10% cuts to spending
03-08-24, 05:14 PM
#26
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They stopped manufacturing their frames in the US since 2007 as far as I recall.
03-08-24, 08:03 PM
#27
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False.
From Trek's Wikipedia page, end of the very first paragraph.
By saying "nearly all" it implies that some are still US-made. (top of the line, I think)
From Trek's Wikipedia page, end of the very first paragraph.
By saying "nearly all" it implies that some are still US-made. (top of the line, I think)
https://allamerican.org/investigation/trek/
Trek makes zero bikes in the USA. All Trek frames are made in Asia. The only exception is, a small number of Asia made frames are shipped to the USA for painting. Probably that's where they do their limited edition paint schemes.
I wouldn't call building a frame in Asia and then shipping it back for painting "made in USA". That's a cheat at best.
Last edited by Yan; 03-08-24 at 08:09 PM.
03-08-24, 09:16 PM
#28
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12 minutes of blather to be summed up in in a single sentence at 9:50
"Regular people don't like going into bicycle stores"
Guess you need to be at lease 12 minutes to hit a level of revenue.
Companies of that magnitude do NOT "right size" to profitability.
The moment the line stops going up, they morph the company into a buyout target by firing everyone they can, and shedding old stock so the numbers look better to aspiring accountants for venture capitalists who take ailing companies, buy them on the cheap, gut them, run up debt, and go bankrupt.
Trek got greedy and elitist and is paying the price.
No sympathy
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03-09-24, 02:11 AM
#29
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Nope.
https://allamerican.org/investigation/trek/
Trek makes zero bikes in the USA. All Trek frames are made in Asia. The only exception is, a small number of Asia made frames are shipped to the USA for painting. Probably that's where they do their limited edition paint schemes.
I wouldn't call building a frame in Asia and then shipping it back for painting "made in USA". That's a cheat at best.
https://allamerican.org/investigation/trek/
Trek makes zero bikes in the USA. All Trek frames are made in Asia. The only exception is, a small number of Asia made frames are shipped to the USA for painting. Probably that's where they do their limited edition paint schemes.
I wouldn't call building a frame in Asia and then shipping it back for painting "made in USA". That's a cheat at best.
03-09-24, 02:56 AM
#30
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That is why purchased vintage Treks which at the time were fully made in the USA. As for modern Treks, I don't see myself spending on a non American made product. That would be the same thing with Cannondale which before the caad 10 frame were fully made in the USA and had better craftsmanship.
This was after Europcar had spent millions of euros on the sponsorship per year for a number of years. So, in essence, the poster wanted everyone to penalize Europcar and instead support car rental companies that had never spent a single euro on such sponsorships.
Your Jamis is a non-American-made product. Jamis is a U.S. company whose bikes were, like Specialized, sourced from Asia from day one. Myself, given comparable products and prices, I'd prefer to buy a bike from a company that had manufactured bikes in the U.S. for decades. That lets Jamis and Specialized out.
By the way, saying that the U.S. Cannondales had better craftsmanship is putting it rather strongly. Different craftmanship (i.e., frame welds smoothed by grinding), sure.
03-09-24, 03:23 AM
#31
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I've encountered this reasoning before. For example, when Europcar, a car rental business, announced that they were ending their sponsorship of a professional cycling team, one of the first comments under the Cyclingnews article was from a poster who said that he would never again rent a car from Europcar and urged cyclists everywhere to boycott the company.
This was after Europcar had spent millions of euros on the sponsorship per year for a number of years. So, in essence, the poster wanted everyone to penalize Europcar and instead support car rental companies that had never spent a single euro on such sponsorships.
Your Jamis is a non-American-made product. Jamis is a U.S. company whose bikes were, like Specialized, sourced from Asia from day one. Myself, given comparable products and prices, I'd prefer to buy a bike from a company that had manufactured bikes in the U.S. for decades. That lets Jamis and Specialized out.
By the way, saying that the U.S. Cannondales had better craftsmanship is putting it rather strongly. Different craftmanship (i.e., frame welds smoothed by grinding), sure.
This was after Europcar had spent millions of euros on the sponsorship per year for a number of years. So, in essence, the poster wanted everyone to penalize Europcar and instead support car rental companies that had never spent a single euro on such sponsorships.
Your Jamis is a non-American-made product. Jamis is a U.S. company whose bikes were, like Specialized, sourced from Asia from day one. Myself, given comparable products and prices, I'd prefer to buy a bike from a company that had manufactured bikes in the U.S. for decades. That lets Jamis and Specialized out.
By the way, saying that the U.S. Cannondales had better craftsmanship is putting it rather strongly. Different craftmanship (i.e., frame welds smoothed by grinding), sure.
Last edited by georges1; 03-09-24 at 01:53 PM.
03-09-24, 03:26 AM
#32
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I am well aware about my Jamis like the old Giant Tourer and old Giant Bronco that I have which are well made taiwanese bikes and I do like them. But when it comes to Cannondale and Trek , it is a different story. Cannondale is the early 90's till early 00's before its bankruptcy produced absolutely magnifisicent frames from caad3 to to caad8 optimo. On a caad10, you can notice that the smooth welds are not as well finished as on the other models. Back in the days they used to make coda cranks and coda hubs which were of high quality. I ended up buying a caad4 which was new old stock. Except titanium frame builders like Merlin, Linskey, Litespeed, Moots, Erikssen, Dean (in the past) and a very few steel frame builders like Inbdependant Fabrication,Waterford, Gunnar,Soma that propose US made frames , US made bikes are not so common .
You don't mention your reasoning behind penalizing companies that once built bikes in the U.S. in favor of those that never did.
03-09-24, 03:57 AM
#33
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03-09-24, 04:26 AM
#34
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When there is no r4asonable option to buy American .... I buy Quality.
If a US-made product can match the quality, I might accept a slightly higher price, but when it comes to bikes and their components .... I am not going to order a custom frame ..... Most frames are made in Taiwan or in communist China by Taiwan-owned companies .... and the quality is so good most people don't even know (many people seem to still think that "Made in America" is a stamp of quality, and for some reason many people seem to think every other country is primitive .... )
I am not a big "Downtube Decal" guy anyway. If I can impress people with brand names, I am not impressed by those people.
If trek shrinks, shuts down, whatever .... It is a market-driven economy, and if there are people who want to buy bikes, somebody will make them. There are brands all over the world most US riders have never heard of .... brands marketing bikes just like every other company marketing bikes.
If a US-made product can match the quality, I might accept a slightly higher price, but when it comes to bikes and their components .... I am not going to order a custom frame ..... Most frames are made in Taiwan or in communist China by Taiwan-owned companies .... and the quality is so good most people don't even know (many people seem to still think that "Made in America" is a stamp of quality, and for some reason many people seem to think every other country is primitive .... )
I am not a big "Downtube Decal" guy anyway. If I can impress people with brand names, I am not impressed by those people.
If trek shrinks, shuts down, whatever .... It is a market-driven economy, and if there are people who want to buy bikes, somebody will make them. There are brands all over the world most US riders have never heard of .... brands marketing bikes just like every other company marketing bikes.
03-09-24, 09:42 AM
#35
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Trek just opened their store here in State College. I haven't been out there yet, I wonder if I know some of the people that work there. At least if someone wants a domaine, they don't have to go to philly anymore.
I was wondering if they would go through with it. I am not sure it's in a location that's going to do them any good. I actually have been out to the shopping center that it's at and haven't seen it yet. Lots of businesses have failed out there, it's part of the walmart shopping center. And they are pretty far back, I think.
Some companies pulled back on staff during the pandemic. They sold everything they had right at the beginning, and didn't think they needed sales staff because they could sell everything they got in. I imagine this puts them at a disadvantage now.
I was wondering if they would go through with it. I am not sure it's in a location that's going to do them any good. I actually have been out to the shopping center that it's at and haven't seen it yet. Lots of businesses have failed out there, it's part of the walmart shopping center. And they are pretty far back, I think.
Some companies pulled back on staff during the pandemic. They sold everything they had right at the beginning, and didn't think they needed sales staff because they could sell everything they got in. I imagine this puts them at a disadvantage now.
03-09-24, 09:25 PM
#36
Junior Member
A few years ago we visited Wisconsin. At that time all bikes under a certain fairly high price point imported.They did not take us thru the rag and glue production. Top secret.
03-09-24, 09:53 PM
#37
Junior Member
Frakkin youtube
12 minutes of blather to be summed up in in a single sentence at 9:50
"Regular people don't like going into bicycle stores"
Guess you need to be at lease 12 minutes to hit a level of revenue.
Companies of that magnitude do NOT "right size" to profitability.
The moment the line stops going up, they morph the company into a buyout target by firing everyone they can, and shedding old stock so the numbers look better to aspiring accountants for venture capitalists who take ailing companies, buy them on the cheap, gut them, run up debt, and go bankrupt.
Trek got greedy and elitist and is paying the price.
No sympathy
12 minutes of blather to be summed up in in a single sentence at 9:50
"Regular people don't like going into bicycle stores"
Guess you need to be at lease 12 minutes to hit a level of revenue.
Companies of that magnitude do NOT "right size" to profitability.
The moment the line stops going up, they morph the company into a buyout target by firing everyone they can, and shedding old stock so the numbers look better to aspiring accountants for venture capitalists who take ailing companies, buy them on the cheap, gut them, run up debt, and go bankrupt.
Trek got greedy and elitist and is paying the price.
No sympathy
Sales slowdown overstock inventory and now shops and factories are paying higher interest rates to finance inventory.
It isn't a management problem if a Trek store loses a sale because someone got a good deal from another store that is going out of business.
03-09-24, 10:23 PM
#38
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Our localTrek dealer does incredible volume. He had a lot in his warehouse but during covid, told me it would run 17 months to get a shipment. We had a few old time shops close because they couldn't get inventory. Some shortages came from covid workers not able to work.Sales were strong and I see many over ordered and recently cancelled orders.
Sales slowdown overstock inventory and now shops and factories are paying higher interest rates to finance inventory.
It isn't a management problem if a Trek store loses a sale because someone got a good deal from another store that is going out of business.
Sales slowdown overstock inventory and now shops and factories are paying higher interest rates to finance inventory.
It isn't a management problem if a Trek store loses a sale because someone got a good deal from another store that is going out of business.
03-10-24, 09:09 AM
#39
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I needed a random small part last year and went to a Trek shop down the street. The guy looked at me like he was learning a new English word for the first time. The way these shops are run nowadays, if something didn't come out of the Trek factory box, then they don't know what it is. Totally useless shops.
03-11-24, 09:19 AM
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Nope.
https://allamerican.org/investigation/trek/
Trek makes zero bikes in the USA. All Trek frames are made in Asia. The only exception is, a small number of Asia made frames are shipped to the USA for painting. Probably that's where they do their limited edition paint schemes.
I wouldn't call building a frame in Asia and then shipping it back for painting "made in USA". That's a cheat at best.
https://allamerican.org/investigation/trek/
Trek makes zero bikes in the USA. All Trek frames are made in Asia. The only exception is, a small number of Asia made frames are shipped to the USA for painting. Probably that's where they do their limited edition paint schemes.
I wouldn't call building a frame in Asia and then shipping it back for painting "made in USA". That's a cheat at best.
