From: CigTech

Ok, I want to know if I live in the USA MO. And I buy a Trek madone 6.9 from a overseas supplier will the One year Warranty be good in the USA. The suppliers said that it comes with a 1 year International Warranty?

Also I would like to know if a USA bike shop or reseller sales a madone 6.9 from a Overseas supplier, to someone in the USA is the warranty still good?


So there you have it.

From personal experience, Trek's international warranty is top notch.

On a side note, I recommend next time using English when corresponding with Trek; it's their working language.

Get your business license, and start selling bikes. You don't need anyone on bike forums to tell you whether or not this will work. I hope it does, as we'll all have access to less expensive bikes.

I have my reservations about the efficacy of this approach, but I'll be the 1st to say "way to go!" if this all works out.

Cigtech,

The key question is still: If you resell a bike to someone else, will it be covered by the international warranty?

This is not answered in your corresondance. It states if you buy.

It also doesn't deal with what approach trek would take to a business model of reselling from other than standard distribution channels. And I would not be surprised if they don't have people who look for this stuff. Legally part of defending/maintaining a brand is having an active program to do so.

Please note: my take is not to be dismissive of you ideas but to identify some practial issues that you would have to solve if your plan was to be succesful.

In the same vein, selling bikes as a business would probably require an incorporation or LLC, liability insurance etc to protect you personally

Nothing says "take me seriously" like a string of grammatical errors and the misspelling of every other word. I'm surprised they even responded.

That, and I never even get to see his original posts. He edits them before I read them.

+1 to both of these.

Hi Squirdad,

I have also talked to the support tech on the phone. They said that there would prefer it if I or any reseller did not ship the bikes to buyers. They want a Trek certified Bike Mechanic to assemble them. This way they know it's done right. I agreed to that totally. If you break the bike during assembly it will void the Warranty. But if a bike mechanic breaks it then it’s is covered by the LSB. This is why they make the dealers agree to not ship them. But as a reseller you can ship them and if the person buying the bike has their LSB that’s a Trek Dealer assemble the bike it will have the full warranty sold with the bike.

So bottom line if you want a Trek for half price with a full warranty then get it, but have a Trek Dealer LBS assemble it. If not then you will not have a warranty.

That’s from TREK. Any more question?

Trek's warranty clearly states original buyer. I don't know for sure, but if someone shows up for a warranty claim with a reciept from an "unauthorized" Trek dealer, my guess is that it would be the same as buying the product used.

At some point however if the price of a spanking new, name brand bike (such as Trek) is attractive enough, I'm sure there are people who would gamble. For example, if the price of one of these bikes is roughly half the MSRP, you'd probably still be money ahead as a consumer by purchasing a "crash replacement" frame in the unlikely event that they ever have an issue with the original. The Trek website doesn't clearly state whether or not you need to be the original owner for this program.

Beyond the warranty issues, I tend to agree with Squirtdad. Trek will absolutely have employess whose job it is to identify non-authorized distribution/retail outlets and shut them down. Maintaining the value of their brand depends on this.

But, I hate to be a nay-sayer, or a "nan-sayer", and thus I say; Go forth Cig-Tech and start your venture! I'll be there to light your cigar if you are wildly successful.

Thanks Kojak,

See the first thought I had when I found out I could get these bikes was "Man I bet the Bike Forums guys would want in on this." But then the attack started and it just got to me. So I deleted the post. Bad move with these guys LOL. But that’s why I love them all, they make me work at everything I do and post. Any ways I hope we can all get along and maybe get these guys the bikes they want. It's a win/win for evey one here.

(sic)

Honestly Cig, if you think you can get this to work, do it. Do your research first and be truly honest with the folks that you are dealing with when asking questions. You won't get "real" answers if you don't ask "real" questions. Had you disclosed your entire idea to Trek, including how you planned on sourcing your bikes, you might have gotten different answers.

All this aside, there are tons of success stories to be told about someone starting a business venture where others said it couldn't be done. 40 years ago everyone would have laughed at the notion that an overnight package company could charge ridiculous rates so that someone could get a package delivered in one day. Today millions of dollars get spent on such shipping every single day.

After you've done your research and it still pans out, go for it.

From a devil's advocate postion...... (part of what I do at work.....my wife would say it's just me...):

I would question how many Trek dealers, who would be the prime source of Trek certified mechanics, would even for a fee, step up to the responsiblity and hassle of assembling a bike that they did not sell and having to deal with any warranty issues from assembly.

I am sure there would be a ton of people who would go for a low price, but many of these people would be the same one coming back to you is there were any issues, no matter what disclaimers or condition you put on the sale.. The key for you would bes to estimate how many of these your business model could tolerate.

It feels, a bit like trek's response was slick... sure go ahead, without saying don't be surprised if the LBS doesn't cooperate.

Direct from the Trek website:

Internet Sales. An important note about our dealers:
Trek Bicycle Corporation does not authorize our retailers to sell new or used Trek product over the Internet or by mail order. Delivery should only be made to you at an authorized Trek retail location. This is for your safety. We want to make sure that your bicycle is properly assembled, properly adjusted, and is the right size for you. We also want to make sure that you receive your owner's manual and consumer literature. Your Dealer will also explain how to properly use your bike and answer any questions or concerns you might have.


Having missed out on the original post before it was edited, I'm not familiar with how the business plan was supposed to work or what the origin of these bikes is. But it sounds to me (from the above statement) that Trek doesn't ship direct to consumers, and if a dealer is reselling their bikes unassembled they're risking their status as an Authorized Dealer.
Or, at the very worst (since I didn't see the original post) someone didn't get their hands on these half price machines in a legitimate manner and is looking to unload them.

You might also want to make sure these aren't counterfeits. Specialized discovered some counterfeit Tarmac frames showing up on Ebay and other places a few years ago.

I suspected this as well. There are areas of the world where trademarks and patents mean little. It wouldn't be that difficult for a low price frame maker to lay out a mold that looked like a Madone, and certainly wouldn't be difficult to match the paint/decals. If I were contemplating this venture, I'd have to get some sort of comfort that I was buying "legitimate" merchandise, and not knock-offs. These fall into my "do your research" caveat.

One problem that people who have goods made in factories they don't control is that the counterfeit goods are made in the same molds, with the same materials, by the same people who make the original. (Not just frames; happens with many goods. Very common in sewn products.)

Which raises the question, where are Trek frames manufactured? I thought they were all still made in the US, but perhaps I'm ill informed on this?..... Or naive.

[rant]I'm not sure I understand what you think you've contributed to this thread with this post, besides attempting to derail the thread and dismiss the OP. I understand that CigTech seems to have drawn the ire of many forum regulars, and I haven't been around here long enough to know why. Regardless, as far as I'm concerned, nothing says "I've got too much spare on my hands" as openly criticizing the grammar and spelling of posts on a web forum. I'm certain that I could get a book editor friend of mine to carefully look over the posts of almost any user on almost any forum, and she would rip them to shreds.

Furthermore, a little bit of perspective is sometimes in order. My sister-in-law is moderately dyslexic (and for clarity, I'm not suggesting that is the situation with CigTech, I'm just using this as an example) and she has a great deal of difficulty with proper grammar and spelling; however, she's extremely bright, among the hardest working people I know, and has a heart of gold. I realize that this is an open web forum, and as such posters open themselves up to all sorts of criticisms (reasonable or otherwise) when they post. Regardless, I think that this post says a lot more about you than the poor grammar and spelling says about the OP.[/rant]

I think OCLV frames like the Madones are still made in Wisconsin so that's not a worry in this case. On the other hand, getting a knock-off that's made in the same factory might be better than getting one that just looks like the real deal.

I could be way off but if I remember right cigTech uses dictation software which is of course imperfect.

Waterloo Wisconsin.. in the US.

I'm thinking these are knockoffs or poor CigTechs getting scammed, but we'll see. If this flies and takes off Trek will just buy one to get the serial # from where it was sold and his supplier wont be getting any new Treks

I have the email of Treks Product support VP , easy enough to ask. Way I see the warranty question posed was "if I buy" not "If I buy and resell to someone else will they"

I'm pretty much with Squirtdad on this one, but at least willing to play wait and see

I'd be surprised if they're making many Treks in the US now, maybe the high-end models? My wife's 3 year old Trek MTB was made in China, as were most of the others in the dealer's showroom at the time.

Chris, he's referencing Madones from a previous thread, so yeah, it's Treks top end.

Ah, I was under the assumption that those were Chinese-made also, my mistake...