Originally Posted by Bekologist
Yes,Trek perpetuating touring bikes in America was what I meant, thanks.
"Perpetuate- cause to endure"
I would NEVER overlook the constructuers. Rene Herse made some VERY NICE bikes. Trek perpetuated the touring bike movement in America.
Interesting bit of Trek allegiance I've had since they first came out in 76 and have owned 3 different ones...though I would not buy another Trek today. In 1976 in Santa Barbara California at Open Air Bicycles next to the Amtrak station, I bought Treks first highend racing bike which was just a frame and fork called the TX900 that used Columbus SLX tubing, and I had it outfitted with Campy Nuovo Record. But according to Trek History web site they evidently had problems with the fastback seatstay design in the durablity department, I didn't have the bike long enough for this problem to pop up. I did notice though on steep mountain climbs that I got quite a bit of side to side movement in the rear with brake rubbing, and bottom bracket flexing so the chain would rub both sides of the front derailleur with no trim possible to eliminate it. Looking back on that bike it probably wasn't a well engineered frame unlike their later models I owned.
That was my first racing bike and was an ok bike but I only had it for about 9 months when I sold it to help buy a fast car and to have girls admire the car...since there wasn't much to admire about me!!
Point was that when they came out in 76, again according to the Trek History site, that they had 3 other models besides mine that they came out with that first year, the TX300, 500, and 700. Not sure which model was the touring bike since at the time I was only interested in the racing bike. The reason I decided on Trek back then was the fact that it was built in America and it was way less expensive then the Italian jobs I looked at.