General Cycling Discussion - Treks, usa vs china made

Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.



PDA

View Full Version : Treks, usa vs china made

wobblybob
06-29-04, 08:00 PM
I'm returning to cycling and looking at Treks at my local bike shop. They have some older but still new usa made Trek 7300, 7600 & 7700 bikes that I'm considering buying. They also have 2004 Trek 7300 bikes. The older usa Treks are a little cheaper than the 2004 chineese made Treks. The 2004 Treks have more up to date components. Are usa made Treks any better than the 2004 chineese made ones? Is it better to get the latest technology? Any thoughts are appreciated.

slvoid
06-29-04, 08:50 PM
Well if it's the same Kariyormiu R-12 bike robot that builds the bikes, I can't see how 10 little hertz in the power supply can make much difference...

As far as the 7300 is concerned, from 2003->2004:
Forks are InSync Odessa -> RST CT.
The new saddle has "flashing lights".
The included bell is now a chainring guard.
Shifters are MRX plus -> ESP Pro.
Rear der is shimano deore -> sram x7.
Crankset is Shimano FC-T303 -> Bontrager Sport.
Cassette seems to be same sram 8 speed.
The reason I suspect why it's only slightly cheaper rather than a lot cheaper for last year's model is because last year's model has a MSRP of $550 while this year's MSRP is $470.

BTW: it's spelled "Chinese".
froze
06-29-04, 10:07 PM
The USA made Treks are far better, plus you keep Americans employed. If you notice, it's Treks lower mid range down costing bikes that are made in China.

khuon
06-29-04, 10:13 PM
Well if it's the same Kariyormiu R-12 bike robot that builds the bikes, I can't see how 10 little hertz in the power supply can make much difference...

Well, if you have to stare closely at the welds, you'll notice more flicker. :D
wobblybob
06-30-04, 07:22 PM
The USA made Treks are far better, plus you keep Americans employed. If you notice, it's Treks lower mid range down costing bikes that are made in China.
Are the USA made Trek frames actually better than the current Chinese manufactured Treks? I know that Chinese manufacturing technology is improving but is it up to par with the previous years USA made Treks? Does the newer components on the Chinese Treks outweigh the possibly lesser quality of tubes or manufacturing? The older USA made Trek 7300 is about $50 cheaper than the 2004 Chinese made Trek. They also have a USA made older 7600 Trek for about the same price as the current year Chinese made 7300. If I can get better quality (and USA made to boot) I would certainly buy one of the older models.