Are all Trek Bikes made in the USA?
06-17-04 | 08:33 AM
#4
Senior Member
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 4,056
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From: Mountain Brook. AL
Price pressure in the sub $1500 category is intense, and when you drop below
$1000 for a bike it gets really hard to make a frame in the US. Cannondale is
probably the largest US based company with a high percentage of US made
frames. Trek has outsourced most of their aluminum and steel frames to Taiwan
or other east Asian sources, reserving carbon to the US. Carbon forks are more
and more commodity items out of Taiwan or China. The basic cost of a 6061 frame
is not so much in materials, but in the jigs and machines to make frames. If done
semi automated you are going to get killed, if you fully automate you can compete
but the costs are so large you have make a huge number of frames to pay it off.
The capital investments can sink the company if something goes wrong, hence the
push to outsource. Cannondale blew $100M trying to break into motorcycles and
barely survived. Steve
$1000 for a bike it gets really hard to make a frame in the US. Cannondale is
probably the largest US based company with a high percentage of US made
frames. Trek has outsourced most of their aluminum and steel frames to Taiwan
or other east Asian sources, reserving carbon to the US. Carbon forks are more
and more commodity items out of Taiwan or China. The basic cost of a 6061 frame
is not so much in materials, but in the jigs and machines to make frames. If done
semi automated you are going to get killed, if you fully automate you can compete
but the costs are so large you have make a huge number of frames to pay it off.
The capital investments can sink the company if something goes wrong, hence the
push to outsource. Cannondale blew $100M trying to break into motorcycles and
barely survived. Steve
06-17-04 | 08:34 AM
#5
Superman With Silver Guns
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 220
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From: Knoxville, TN
Bikes: Trek 2100, Cannondale MTB, Fetish SS
With the road bikes only the 1000 is Taiwanese. All the otheres are US. I emailed Trek so I could here it from them. I did not ask about the MTBs.
06-17-04 | 02:04 PM
#11
I drink your MILKSHAKE
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From: St. Petersburg, FL
Bikes: 2003 Specialized Rockhopper FSR Comp, 1999 Specialized Hardrock Comp FS, 1971 Schwinn Varsity
Originally Posted by Pessi
The best bikes are still made in France.
. The correct answer is "The best bikes are still made in Italy"France makes some great bikes don't get me wrong, but the Italians those are some bikes.
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06-17-04 | 02:18 PM
#12
DEADBEEF
Joined: Aug 2002
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From: Catching his breath alongside a road near Seattle, WA USA
Bikes: 1999 K2 OzM, 2001 Aegis Aro Svelte
Originally Posted by Raiyn
The correct answer is "The best bikes are still made in Italy"
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1999 K2 OzM
2001 Aegis Aro Svelte
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1999 K2 OzM
2001 Aegis Aro Svelte"Be liberal in what you accept, and conservative in what you send." -- Jon Postel, RFC1122
06-17-04 | 02:20 PM
#13
I drink your MILKSHAKE
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From: St. Petersburg, FL
Bikes: 2003 Specialized Rockhopper FSR Comp, 1999 Specialized Hardrock Comp FS, 1971 Schwinn Varsity
Originally Posted by khuon
I'm not so sure I entirely agree with that. Italy makes some fine bikes. And actually you can probably find fine bike manufacturers in just about every first-world country. But I have a whole list of US frame makers which I would have to place before the Italians.
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06-18-04 | 08:03 PM
#20
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 4,617
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From: Ohio's Cycling Capital, America's North Coast.
Originally Posted by bandaidman
cannondale filed early in 2003
i heard it recently completed a sale of its assets to a new ownership group and was exiting chapter 11
is there something new???
i heard it recently completed a sale of its assets to a new ownership group and was exiting chapter 11
is there something new???
06-19-04 | 12:14 AM
#21
Footballus vita est
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From: Portland, OR
Bikes: Trek 4500, Kona Dawg
Klein has a factory about 20 minutes from my house. I didn't even know it until after I went of to school.
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03-25-18 | 11:09 AM
#22
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From: Driftless
Bikes: Caad8, Mukluk 3, Trek Superfly, Gary Fisher Irwin.
From the looks of it, the top models are no longer made in USA from 2017 up. and it looks as though project ones are just painted in USA nowadays.
03-25-18 | 11:49 AM
#23
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From: NW,Oregon Coast
Bikes: 8
Trek is one of the companies using the OEM capabilities that made Giant the Huge company it is,
Giant is also the Go To OEM source for other Brands..
Merida is another Huge Taiwan Company , Specialized has been Using Them, They own a share of their client company , now
Lots of Steel frames come out of Maxway, for brands around the globe.
Surly the Beer is made in Minnesota , Surly the bikes are Not..
they do good work and cost less, than trying to make things in the US, and lots of component companies are also supplying
the OEM companies, with disposable packaging free transportation, of large numbers of parts to build up the bikes..
...
Giant is also the Go To OEM source for other Brands..
Merida is another Huge Taiwan Company , Specialized has been Using Them, They own a share of their client company , now
Lots of Steel frames come out of Maxway, for brands around the globe.
Surly the Beer is made in Minnesota , Surly the bikes are Not..
they do good work and cost less, than trying to make things in the US, and lots of component companies are also supplying
the OEM companies, with disposable packaging free transportation, of large numbers of parts to build up the bikes..
...
Last edited by fietsbob; 03-25-18 at 11:54 AM.
03-25-18 | 12:13 PM
#24
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Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 780
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From: Allentown, Pennsylvania
Bikes: 2018 Lynskey Cooper CX; 2007 Cannondale F4
The topic was posted back in mid-2004.
A lot of bike brands have outsourced frame production overseas in the past 14 years, in addition to the ones that were already being made there back then.
A lot of bike brands have outsourced frame production overseas in the past 14 years, in addition to the ones that were already being made there back then.