Trek Bicycle Corporation

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Trek Bicycle Corporation.
Type Private
Founded 1976
Headquarters Waterloo, Wisconsin
Key people John Burke, President
Industry Bicycles
Products Bicycle and Related Components
Revenue undisclosed
Employees undisclosed
Website www.trekbikes.com

The Trek Bicycle Corporation is a major American bicycle and bicycle component manufacturer. Trek's high-end bicycles (such as the Madone road bike, ridden in three of seven Tour de France victories by Lance Armstrong, and Fuel mountain bike) are built at Trek's world headquarters in the town of Waterloo, Wisconsin, while the price-competitive models are manufactured in Taiwan or mainland China. Trek is the largest US manufacturer of bicycles and related aftermarket products and is becoming a major industry player worldwide. Trek formerly supplied the bicycles for the US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team and Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team of the USA. On December 13, 2007 Trek announced that the Astana Team had chosen Trek to be the official team bike supplier for the upcoming 2008 season and beyond.

Trek owns several bicycle brand names in the U.S. including Klein and Gary Fisher, and until recently LeMond , many of which are produced domestically in Waterloo. In Europe, Trek manufactures the Villiger, Diamant and Arrow brands. Trek also owns Wrench Force, Bontrager--which was a well known and well regarded manufacturer of high-end bicycles in Santa Cruz, CA--and Icon aftermarket brands worldwide as well as being the exclusive supplier of Nike bicycling products. Bontrager bicycles were produced for a period of time following the purchase by Trek, however the nameplate Bontrager is no longer active following a decision by Trek to cease production. Bontrager is still making wheels, and other components.

At the 2005 Dauphiné Libéré Lance Armstrong unveiled the new Trek TTX time trial bike frame. Designed for maximum aerodynamic advantage and developed in just five weeks, the company used a cutting edge software program also used to design Ferrari racing cars. Trek also delivered a new Madone SSLx frame to Lance for use in the 2005 Tour de France. Its frame is 10% lighter than the current production Madone SSL, and boasts a 15% stiffer bottom bracket area due to the use of boron in combination with the carbon fiber.

Both bikes are the result of the "F-One" development team. Formed in 2003, the team consists of aerodynamic wheel guru Steve Hed of HED Cycling, Nike, Giro, AMD, and aerodynamicist Len Brownlie. The results of the F-One collaboration can be seen in the aforementioned TTX Time Trial frame, as well as in Giro's new Time Trial Helmets and Nike's Swift Spin time trial skin suits.

Trek recently introduced a new endeavour dubbed "Project One", a new process for purchasing Trek bicycles wherein the customer can choose from among various custom colors, paint scheme designs, and component options, much as a car can be customized at purchase.

On May 31, 2007, Trek introduced the second generation of its top of the line Madone series. Riders for the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team rode the new Madone 5.2 bike during the 2007 Tour de France.

[edit] Primary competitors in U.S. market

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Example Of A Trek Bike

Trek head badge (1984-1987)

Trek head badge (1988-1992)

older Trek head badge

newer Trek head badge

newer Trek head badge

Gary Fisher head badge

older LeMond head badge

older LeMond head badge

newer LeMond head badge