No mo' Gary Fisher

[BroDeal]

Trek is killing the brand and turning it into a "collection" under the Trek brand. They already killed off Klein and Lemond.

 

[David Suro]

Trek didn't kill anything. Rather, they paid handsomely for the rights to use the name. If they choose to call a collection of Trek bikes the "Gary Fisher Collection" they have paid for the right to do that.

If LeMond, Fisher, Klein, or anyone else wants to preserve the sanctity of their name, they should not cash in by selling the rights to the name to a larger company.

 

[cyclestationgiuseppe]

Trek + Specialized = Darth Vader and the Evil Empire....I am with you Brodeal....when your groupset has the same name as your frame it is time to move on....

 

[Tibber]

Trek + Specialized = Darth Vader and the Evil Empire....I am with you Brodeal....when your groupset has the same name as your frame it is time to move on....

Does that include pantographed Campy on a vintage Colnago?

 

[bobs nob]

You guys are completely mental sometimes. It is a little sad that Fisher's brand will become less significant, but you guys get so 'dogmatic' (sorry). If I throw a leg over a Trek or a Specialized and I find it to be better value than whatever brands you consider to be acceptable, then to heck with it, I am buying what I like best with my money.

I don't own a Trek (I own an Italian brand though God only knows where it was made) but I have ridden a Madone and found its power transfer to be remarkably better than anything else I have ridden. I didn't buy it because i like comfort and was afraid it would beat me up on 200k's.

I really can't be bothered by such militant thinking.

This economy stinks on ice. There are probably a lot of smaller brands that are gonna get flushed and the 'Giants' of the industry are likely going to use the weakness of the market to price a lot of small fry right out of business. It's sad, but it isn't like the people who make these good and desirable products are gonna get rounded up and sent to a Gulag. They'll be back when the economy turns around and many will be relieved to work for someone else providing their knowledge and ideas to employers while the economy sorts itself out. I know I am.

 

[forty four]

specialized cervelo and scott make the 3 best performing frame/forks on the market based on independent testing. so i will stick with my taiwan made sworks sl2. i would not by an overpriced lugged pos like a colnago or other if someone paid me. fashion or coolness means nothing to me and performance means everything. that said i run shimano and dont like the specialized drivetrain stuff.

 

[tubularglue]

Keith Bontrager

In 1978 Bontrager became attracted to cycling and in 1979 built his first road bike. With his motocross background he was attracted to mountain bike cycling. In 1980 he built his first mountain bike frame and founded Bontrager Cycles in Sunnyvale, California.

In 1984 he cut 700C (ISO 622) 40-hole Mavic MA-2 tandem rims to the circumference of a 26" rim, re-rolling them to create a 32-hole 26" rim.

Bontrager rims were the first lightweight yet strong mountain bike rims, albeit using a profile intended for road racing bicycles. Mavic provided MA-40 MTB rims for some time. Bontrager went on designing lightweight rims, manufactured by Weinmann USA. Several were introduced but never went into high production as the Weinmann plant suffered a fire.

The design of Bontrager frames was based on his studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz and experience as a motocross mechanic. While other manufacturers developed frames out of (oversized) aluminium, titanium, or carbon-fibre, Bontrager's believed steel was not outdated but that its design and production could be improved. Joints could be strengthened by gussets to distribute loads and reduce the weakening of brazing and welding. He found areas in which joints could be made by bonding and riveting, i.e. the frames made between 1989 and 1994 had cable stops milled out of Aluminum that were bonded and riveted to the top tube. Frames made at Bontrager's Santa Cruz workshop had two-piece seat stays made of larger diameter tubing in the upper area which added torsional stiffness around the brake-bosses, while the smaller tubes in the lower area reduced weight and vertical stiffness of the rear triangle leading to better damping of hits.

Bontrager published articles on bicycle design and construction, ranging from the effects of TIG welding on the tubes to the flaws in the accepted sizing methods of the day.

In 1987 he designed and patented the composite fork crown. This used an aluminum fork crown that clamped the fork blades and the steerer instead of using welds or brazing. This design was used on the Rock Shox RS1 suspension fork, and Bontrager's own rigid fork, the Switchblade. Bontrager's belief in avoiding heat affection of the tubes led to versions of the Switchblade with bonded and riveted dropouts and brake bosses leading to a fork with no welding or brazing. This retained the strength gained by tempering the tubing.

In 1992 Bontrager Cycles expanded from a one-man shop to a limited production facility. In 1993 they started to produce handlebar stems. In 1995 Bontrager's business partner, Hans Heim, left to join Santa Cruz Cycles, and put his share of Bontrager Cycles up for sale.

Well, then this happened. Loved my Bontrager handmade mountain bike. Lets those Corporate Gears go a grinding. FARK !

Trek acquired Bontrager Cycles and hired Bontrager as president.

yipiteedoodah, not

LeMond, Fisher, Klein,Bontrager

 

[tubularglue]

specialized cervelo and scott make the 3 best performing frame/forks on the market based on independent testing. so i will stick with my taiwan made sworks sl2. i would not by an overpriced lugged pos like a colnago or other if someone paid me. fashion or coolness means nothing to me and performance means everything. that said i run shimano and dont like the specialized drivetrain stuff.

i like steel, titanium and campagnolo. Your performance observation...........made my weekend

colnago equated with POS. I am dumbfounded. Or maybe I am just found to be dumb.

 

[Speedneedle]

That Specialized, Scott and Cervelo makes the best bikes in the market is an individual assessment, but if we look at the independent testing made by Tour Magazine from Germany, which in my mind makes the most comprehensive empirical testing, Specialized comes out very well, Scott is good, Cervelo less so. (I had a Soloist for a couple of weeks. Sold it as the headtube/front end was extremely flexy). But a number of other brands are also up there. The Specialized SL3 was even beat narrowly by a Storck Fascenario. So good, yes. Best? Not really.

As for Colnago. Overpriced Italian low tech frames, with a nice paint and a good name. My first choice for bike related wall art.