By the way, Spesh not only still sponsors the Clenbuterol Kid, but they now have a special order Contador S-works frame. ;)

Yup, that was my point:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DYSSNL-vsF...0/IMG_6466.JPG

Not only does the UCI, et al let him race again, Spec actually sponsors him and gives him his own signature Tarmac frameset.

But Trek is somehow the bad guy??? I don't get it...

It's just haters hating. When a brand is so greatly associated with someone spectacular, and that someone is beloved by many novices, the elitists start to get annoyed and hate everything about him which includes the hardware. And when other novices are in the company of these elitists, they too start to follow the trend of hate. "Oh, you're wearing Jordans? Let's see if you can ball like him. Or, "You've got a Madone? So you think you're Lance Armstrong?"

It happens a lot. Shaun White Burton boards are clowned on by other wannabe pros just because they think it's cool to hate on him and so their small followers wouldn't get caught dead on a Shaun White board although the board itself is sick because it's made by Burton, probably one of the oldest and largest snowboard manufacturers out there. It's like hipster mentality of hating the mainstream. Pretty childish.

Personally, knowing what I know, I didn't give a crap and bought another Trek. Sure I could've bought something "cooler" but honestly, I find my bikes perfect for my needs. My newest addition is a Spesh but it's definitely not replacing my Trek.

Actually it was my feable attempt to infer the association of Lance and the U. S. postal team????

I have friends that I see when I go into the Local Post office, here. workers at the counter ..

You'd think that post-Lance, Trek would be a little shy about F. Schleck. I'm sure that Burke does novenas regularly hoping that Jens and Spartacus never get nailed. And, if you noticed, they're not really hyping Horner's Vuelta very much, nor are they giving him another contract.

Truth is, every brand has a doper attached to it. Eddy tested positive 3 times and he has a frame carrying his brand name. But, it's always all about Lance, Lance, Lance. So Trek gets the brunt of it.

+1

The song by the Kinks, “I’m not like everybody else” is playing in my head as I read this thread. Lol!


No Trek hate here.

I don't know what the problem is. I always loved Trek. Except, I never figured out why Uhuru was an officer when she was just a glorified telephone operator.

Watch the new movies and you'll understand...

^^^^^^^^^^^ neeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrds!^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I'm a lugged steel guy, hence not interested in Treks in general. No hate, just no interest. Ditto for Specialized, GT, and a bunch of others. CF and aluminum just don't float my boat, and I've never had to opportunity to try titanium. (I did get to do a short ride on a prototype berylium alloy bike once in the '90s. Stupid light, even by today's standards, and it seemed plenty stiff and responsive for the short time I was on it.)

The one exception is the 520 (TIG-welded steel) I bought in 1994 for loaded touring. At the time, it was the best bang for the touring bike buck around, and it did a great job hauling my rather large self and all the camping gear around. Nothing else from Trek, then or since, has appealed to me.

I own a Trek. I love it. I also like to make fun of Trek. At another forum I participate its a running joke to ask if Trek makes good bikes. Its all in fun.

Huh? I'm not understanding this sentence. Trek made very high quality lugged steel frames in the late 70s and early 80s, didn't they?

Yes, they did. And I suppose I should clarify. The short version is that I missed the days when Trek was primarily a builder of steel frames, which means I never developed the crush on them that I had for Paramounts, Cinellis, Ron Coopers, Eisentrauts and De Rosas. I guess the reality is that they were not part of the youth I am misguidely trying to recapture. :rolleyes:

Here's the long-winded version. During the time Trek was first doing their classic steel stuff, they weren't on my radar and then I was kind of off the cycling grid for a while (school, marriage, kid, trying to establish a career, mortgage - you know the drill). As a result, by the time I was really aware of Trek, they had few steel models (the 520, the tandems, and not much else, at least for road bikes - I've never gotten into mountain bikes) and aluminum (their main offereings by then) and carbon fiber (a growing segment for them by then) just have never floated my boat. So for my interests, based on my own indivdual circumstances, Trek has had precious few new bikes I was interested in.

Once I got back into riding, my tastes stayed with lugged steel and, like so many baby boomers, evolved into getting the frames I lusted after in my ill-spent youth, when I first got into cycling in high school (early to mid 70s). Thus what I now have is a small collection of frames that I wanted but couldn't afford back in the day, albeit from a slightly wider age range than the ones I saw in the 70s. The one exception is the 1961 Bianchi Competizione - that one was literally a barn find c.1974 that I Frankenbiked back to life and rattle-can painted. I only rode it a year or two and then stripped the parts to put on a much newer Bob Jackson (stolen in 1992 :notamused:) but always kept the frame down the years. I recently decided to get it repainted and collected a bunch of period appropriate parts and return it to something like its original glory. It's actually small for me, so it is more about the nostalgia than anything else, although it turned out to be very pretty.

Now aren't you sorry you asked?

I own a fuji, a raleigh ,a diamondback a shwinn ,and a trek roadbike, bought it in 03 it's got all ultegra components I've put plenty plenty miles on it ,, just riding around or training and in competion the bike has served me well I payed 1700.00 for it @ lbs in it's the US postal team colors ! silver and blue,,, I've been around a lot of other bikes , I've never felt any TREK HATE???? but that was before Lance took his FALL??

There may be a perception among Serious Riders that Trek is a brand for newbies who rush into the sport with lots of cash but no legs.

Now there may be a whole lot of truth in that statement,,,I've seen riders with expensive bikes with the best of shorts and helmets, shoes all clipped in,,, they've got all that!!! only thing they don't got is heart !! legs !! to push those pedals!!!

I used to be one of those riders. I bought a Trek 5200 in the fall of 2000, at the height of Lancemania. I thought I was a good rider, but in retrospect, I had no jump, no endurance, no climbing ability, no bike handling skills. BUT, I rode it a lot and upgraded the components to 9speed DA (LBS was making sweet deals on the old groupsets when DA went 10-speed). Got into racing. Started to learn how to ride my bike. It got me through the 5's, 4's and into the 3's. It's been crashed several times and the paint is all peeling off, but you can't kill it. Still have the frame hanging from a hook in the garage. I have a vague plan to build it back up as a winter training bike.

It's a good bike. There's no Trek hate from me.

Over the last 40 years I've owned 3 Treks, all from the old steel days, a TX900, 412, and a 660 which I still have. Today I wouldn't buy a Trek because I try, note the key word "try", to avoid stuff made in China. I bought a new bike this summer and the frame and fork were made in America, but I also bought my wife a new bike and since she doesn't really ride much I got her a inexpensive $800 bike and those are all made in China so there was no choice.

And hurt the workers if you bad mouth a brand? The workers are in China, what about our workers?

Our workers, as in American workers?

I know you specified the keyword "try," but it must be getting hard not to buy stuff made in China lately.

Its ,now a brand name, amongst many, And all follow the same business model..

believe that there is a drive to make things in the US as soon as the wages are suppressed, low enough

That nobody but the ruling classes are able to buy stuff.. "let them eat Cake".

Yes, I was referring to American workers.

No it's not getting hard to not buy stuff made in China, but rather it's impossible not to buy stuff made in China, and that's why I said "try". But if one reads labels a person can reduce the items one purchases that are made in China. Be careful of labeling though, some companies are recognizing that some Americans are indeed trying to avoid products made in China so these companies now make the labels to say "engineered in the USA" making you think it was made in the USA when in fact it was just the design and not the construction of the product.

I remember buying tools that were "Made in the USA from Imported Parts". Not great tools.

M.

Interesting you brought up tools, almost all tools now found in retail stores are made in China. Because of that I no longer buy chrome sockets, I now only buy air impact sockets because the newer chrome ones aren't lasting like they did 30 years ago.

I once owned a full set of made in usa tools before, and found them to be less useful or lasting than foreign ones.

M.