Trek bikes

[craig1985]

Ok this maybe somewhat suicidal on my part, and I do know better, but it has been something on my mind since my time on the forum.

I know some people here don't like Trek bikes, when I once mentioned that I know somebody who has 7 Trek's (yes you read that correct), Alpe d'Huez expressed his disgust at such a thing.

So it has me asking, do people hate Trek because of:

1) Their connection with Lance Armstrong and to which for their reasons, they are not a fan of Armstrong?;

2) Their treatment of Greg Lemond;

3) They are a rubbish bike to ride, and you have ridden better bikes; and

4) All of the above.

 

[blackcat]

Ok this maybe somewhat suicidal on my part, and I do know better, but it has been something on my mind since my time on the forum.

I know some people here don't like Trek bikes, when I once mentioned that I know somebody who has 7 Trek's (yes you read that correct), Alpe d'Huez expressed his disgust at such a thing.

So it has me asking, do people hate Trek because of:

1) Their connection with Lance Armstrong and to which for their reasons, they are not a fan of Armstrong?;

2) Their treatment of Greg Lemond;

3) They are a rubbish bike to ride, and you have ridden better bikes; and

4) All of the above.

Trek bikes must be doping. Its in the doping thread.

 

[Big GMaC]

Trek bikes must be doping. Its in the doping thread.

I think discussion points 1 and 2 will render it clinic material sharpish. For me low end Madone vs. top end CAAD9, the Cannondale fit me better and I could afford better gruppo on it. Also I was biased against them because of the treatent of LeMond.

I have to say though the new Speed Concept TT bike is a really good interpretation of the UCI ruling, and increadibly clean looking. Don't know how well it will perfom

 

[53 x 11]

Ok this maybe somewhat suicidal on my part, and I do know better, but it has been something on my mind since my time on the forum.

I know some people here don't like Trek bikes, when I once mentioned that I know somebody who has 7 Trek's (yes you read that correct), Alpe d'Huez expressed his disgust at such a thing.

So it has me asking, do people hate Trek because of:

1) Their connection with Lance Armstrong and to which for their reasons, they are not a fan of Armstrong?;

2) Their treatment of Greg Lemond;

3) They are a rubbish bike to ride, and you have ridden better bikes; and

4) All of the above.

Ok, Im a massive Trek hater for all the reasons above but mostly because they are prone to failure and their warranty dept are a bunch of a-holes.

The virtual airfoil on the new TT is really interesting but at cycling speeds I cant help but think its no more than marketing BS.

 

[luckyboy]

This is it right? The yellow thing? The article says that it 'tricks the air'

 

[beroepsrenner]

Trek bikes are no better or worse than any other successful brand. The points raised are ridiculous and childish. Its like saying you dont like Ferrari because you dont like Michael Schumacher. Everyone's anatomy is different and most weekend warriors will be buying a bike off the shop floor and certain brands will have a frame geometry to match and some won't. Its just a matter of finding the one that suits you. Pros have their frames custom made to suit their individual needs. Whether a bike performs or not really is only determined by who is powering it. Come on guys get real.

 

[53 x 11]

Why Not?

 

[craig1985]

I should point out that I ride a Trek and I found it a lot better then the Giant I used to have.

 

[flicker]

Mine rules. Aluminum and carbon. Totally stable on descents and I can thrash it in sprints on any rough roads. Nice and stiff yet fine for 120 miles country roads.

 

[lostintime]

Why do people hate Trek ?

Forum members may not like to hear this ...... but hatred is hatred. No excuses. Look in the mirror and you'll get all your answers. It's ugly, brutal, horrifying ..... but honest.

 

[forty four]

i dont hate treks just like many other brands better. as for north american brands i prefer specialized cervelo and scott there better performers at a similar price.

 

[Anonymous]

Trek bikes are no better or worse than any other successful brand. The points raised are ridiculous and childish. Its like saying you dont like Ferrari because you dont like Michael Schumacher. Everyone's anatomy is different and most weekend warriors will be buying a bike off the shop floor and certain brands will have a frame geometry to match and some won't. Its just a matter of finding the one that suits you. Pros have their frames custom made to suit their individual needs. Whether a bike performs or not really is only determined by who is powering it. Come on guys get real.

+1

If I could afford one and it fit me well I would have bought one.

 

[VeloFidelis]

i dont hate treks just like many other brands better. as for north american brands i prefer specialized cervelo and scott there better performers at a similar price.

Can you please qualify that "better performers" comment?

 

[Feldy82]

I should point out that I ride a Trek and I found it a lot better then the Giant I used to have.

Yeah, but the old Giants were nothing compared to the new ones.

I don't like Lance or his ugly bikes.

 

[Feldy82]

i dont hate treks just like many other brands better. as for north american brands i prefer specialized cervelo and scott there better performers at a similar price.

Yes, Please specify. Have you pushed on a Scott down tube? You can see it flex.

 

[El Oso]

When I was looking at buying my road bike (2003) I was about to get a Trek 5200 (had also tried a Lemond but the bike was very sluggish with accelerating) but then I tried a friend's Specialized and loved the stiffness of the Specialized aluminum. Have never looked back.

Trek seemed to get a huge ego with Lance, most likely because the new wave of cyclists brought in by Lance thought Trek must be the greatest bike ever made. IMO Trek seemed to thing their $h!t didn't stink. ... Unofortunately I see Specialized getting this same ego with S Works everything and concept stores.

Oh yeah, and this didn't help my view of Trek:

IMO Specialized and Cervelo make the best bikes

 

[BroDeal]

Why do people hate Trek ?

Forum members may not like to hear this ...... but hatred is hatred. No excuses. Look in the mirror and you'll get all your answers. It's ugly, brutal, horrifying ..... but honest.

Get real, dude. This is not the Ku Klux Klan hating on the minority family that moved in down the block. There are Chevy lovers who hate Ford, Ferrari fans who hate McLaren, and Bulls supporters who hate the Lakers.

99% of what is claimed as to why one bike is better than another is pure marketing bullsh!t. The biggest thing of value for a bike company is not its frame design or its manufacturing capability (most of which is outsourced to the same handful of Asian factories anyway) or its dubious advantages over other bike frames. The biggest thing of value is the company's brand.

Any brand will have lovers and haters. By building their brand around Armstrong, Trek attracts Armstrong fanboys. At the same time it creates a negative image with people who dislike Armstrong. Trek has made a business decision to do this. The pluses have been weighed against the negatives, and Trek has voluntarily decided to give up sales to customers who dislike Armstrong and what he stands for in exchange for the sales to people who don't know or don't care.

By expanding to become the dominant bike brand in the U.S. and saturate the market with their bikes, Trek decided to give up the exclusive cachet that goes with being a small, boutique brand in exchange for sales volume. For products like bikes, which at the high end are a luxury good, this ubiquity of their product makes their bikes less attractive. Basically, for luxury goods, it boils down to people do not want to to own what everyone and their dog owns; they want to own something that is seen as exclusive. A product that is too common loses its exclusivity by definition.

Offering a full price range of bikes also decreases the exclusivity of the brand. This is the reason why Toyota created Lexus instead of simply selling ever more expensive Toyotas.

While I would never buy one, Trek makes a good product. So do all the big bike makers. At least Trek still manufactures some of their frames in the U.S., which is something that cannot be said for the other large makers. I figure that if I were to buy from a large maker, I would rather not pay big bucks for a frame that was manufactured for less than $200 in China when I can pay the same amount of money for something that was made in a first world country. I feel that I am being ripped off when I can buy a custom frame made in the U.S. for the same money I am being charged by one of the big outsourced manufacting companies.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Why Not?

That's why not.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Personally, I don't like Trek because they, like Specialized, require dealers to keep such a large percentage of their showroom inventory stocked with their own brand. I'm not saying they don't have a right to do that, but I find it incredibly lame.

I think that orange Madone they had a couple years ago was pretty sweet looking though.

 

[LugHugger]

Trek bikes are no better or worse than any other successful brand. The points raised are ridiculous and childish. Its like saying you dont like Ferrari because you dont like Michael Schumacher. Everyone's anatomy is different and most weekend warriors will be buying a bike off the shop floor and certain brands will have a frame geometry to match and some won't. Its just a matter of finding the one that suits you. Pros have their frames custom made to suit their individual needs. Whether a bike performs or not really is only determined by who is powering it. Come on guys get real.

Sorry, but I'm afraid that most pro's ride-run-of-the-mill, off the shelf frames. And there are certainly better, and worse, frames than the best and worst Trek frames. However, you're right - a frame should fit most importantly. Most people are not sensitive/experienced/good enough to differentiate between an average to good frame (ie Madone/Tarmac/TCR/etc) and an exceptional frame.

 

[franciep10]

I don't like Trek bikes and I can say that because I own one and I personally prefer my cannondale and my Orbea orca road bike. Actually the trek is the worst bike I have after those two because nothing beats my 1995 litespeed

 

[MadonePro]

Trek bikes are no better or worse than any other successful brand. The points raised are ridiculous and childish. Its like saying you dont like Ferrari because you dont like Michael Schumacher. Everyone's anatomy is different and most weekend warriors will be buying a bike off the shop floor and certain brands will have a frame geometry to match and some won't. Its just a matter of finding the one that suits you. Pros have their frames custom made to suit their individual needs. Whether a bike performs or not really is only determined by who is powering it. Come on guys get real.

Finally someone comes out and say's it 'as it is', it's a bike, not a cause!

If you think the following: Winning is about what bike you ride, or how much you earn, which shares you buy, how big your (small) penis is, how the big bertha doesn't address the ball right, how lance is a cheat, contador is the hero, basso never called his dog that, bush was misquoted, thatcher had a lovely husband, then you all need to get a shot of reality. To quote a man, so often mis quoted 'winning a bike race is about hard work', not components, how big your **** is, how big your bank balance is etc.

If you think it is, **** off and find another sport, and leave this one to what it was, a true working class sport, golf is for pretenious losers... You hear me!

 

[kiwirider]

If you think the following: Winning is about what bike you ride, or how much you earn, which shares you buy, ...., then you all need to get a shot of reality. To quote a man, so often mis quoted 'winning a bike race is about hard work', not components, how big your **** is, how big your bank balance is etc.

If you think it is, **** off and find another sport, and leave this one to what it was, a true working class sport, golf is for pretenious losers... You hear me!

Quick question for your MadonePro ...

Can you explain to us all how your comments in this thread that I've quoted here line up with the other post of yours in the "Contador has learned a LOT" thread? In case you've forgotten what you posted there, it's:
I'd say between Johann and Lance, they'd be around 50 million US in the bank, Alberto... How much in your's?

Perhaps a case of taking your own advice is in order?

 

[usedtobefast]

my team bike. my team kicks booty on whatever bike we ride. trek are just fine.
that new dogma sure looks cool,eh?

 

[CentralCaliBike]

I have an old Schwinn that I still ride and enjoy. I have put a little over 9,000 miles on a 2006 Madone 5.2 (my first Carbon bike that I purchased in 2007). and Almost another 2,000 miles on a recently purchased 2010 Madone 5.2. In addition I a couple of mountain bikes (Gary Fisher / owned by Trek and a Santa Cruz).

I am sure that I would enjoy a Pinarello, Cervelo, Specialized and a number of other frames, however, I like the Trek bikes that I have, have not had frame problems, enjoy the ride, and most of all, the dealer sold them to me at a price that I could afford.