khuon

Trek still makes frames the old way. It's called carbon fibre. If you think about it, the process of making CF frames and components is fairly analogous to baking a cake or making a loaf of bread.

zx108

this was discussed in the trek vs kona thread. i dont remember who came out on the top, think it was trek.

there is absoluatly nothing wrong with trek. they have been making quality bikes for a long time and i dont think they stopped. the thing i run into alot is people dont like trek using lance as their poster child. i could not care the least, a bike is a bike. the reason i am not buying a trek is becasue most of their components are bontrager. and i think that in a company like specialized/kona which dont really draw from one company give you a better deal.

your wife's trek is fine in my book.

KeatonR

Trek's are solid bikes. US company that makes stuff in the US. I'd buy one. Actually, maybe I did, since I own a LeMond.

khuon

Not all Treks are built in the US. Note that I don't necessarily find anything wrong with that in terms of bike quality.

jhota

i wanted one. bad. but i couldn't stretch to the price on a Fat City - they were way more than i could afford at 15. i saved for a year to buy my Trek, and bought the best frame i could get; i bought a 1990 930 - which had the same tubing and lug set as the more expensive 950 and 970, but SunTour X-1 components. it was the least expensive "good" Trek mountain bike at the time, with a minimum amount of house-brand components.

of course, what i really wanted at the time was a Stumpjumper - 'cause that's what Ned rode...

again, being 15 (and spending my own money), i didn't have the dough...

joelsp

using that logic, every bike made of carbon fiber = wonder bread.
I'm still not sure i get that comparison,
Wonder Bread is some damn good bread.

khuon

Exactly.


It's not about the quality. And I don't mean that CF is "generic"... quite the opposite really. It's about the process. Making a CF structure is like a combination of brewing, sewing and baking.

willtsmith_nwi

The other "old way" of building aluminum frames is to have Giant due it for them. Which is what most vendors do. If you're riding an aluminum mountain bike, the odds are strong that Giant built that frame.

Siu Blue Wind

Oooohhhhh! So is that why Gary Fisher calls his bike "Cake"? It's got CF seat stays...

1Fast4500

TREK = Microsoft of the bike world.

I love my 4500

serious

I happen to own a Trek, but I am not "in love" with Trek nor would I "only swear by Trek". I got my bike because it fit so well and the deal was great. I occasionally scratch my head about riding on CF, but so far so good.

CranxOC

Bottom line (and I'm not sure if anyone posted this before me because I didn't read through all of the posts so, if you did, sorry): Trek's the top bike manufacturer in the World right now and people love to trash the guy on top.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of Trek's FS design but they're still solid bikes and their road bikes are absolutely incredible (probably because they spend the majority of their R&D budget in that arena at the moment).

KleinRider

First of all, a $4K bike does not an "uber elite mtb'er" make! Second, his chipped teeth tell me he isn't *that* good....

As most of the others have said, ride what you like (or in this case, let your GF ride what she likes). Plain and simple!

go_lefty

I don't have anything against Trek (allthough their "freeride" bike (The Bruiser) is joke), but they're hardly a monopoly my friend

Maelstrom 

Based on? Its a solid freeride bike being offered cheap based on a proven (read: 0 r&d costs) suspension design (single pivots will ALWAYS have a place in this market). How is that a joke? I am the last one to defend Trek (I think 90% of what they produce are crap and look like crap) but this is a good move. Every company is offering a 'ghetto' fr bike for people that aren't rolling in the dough.

go_lefty

Welll, I guess for the price it's decent...but! It seems it's got the geometry of something you'd see more in a cross country frame, and if you -were- going to use the Bruiser for actual hardcore freeride, you'd need to upgrade most of the components.

rmwun54

There are a lot of interesting pro's and con's about Trek, which never seems to amaze me on how others consider what is good and what is not. Any bike is good if you can ride it the way you want to ride. I have a Trek 7000 and it rides pretty awesome, especially since I had the stock shock exchanged for a better one when I first purchase it. Just because there are those that think that one bike sucks because of it's popularity doesn't mean that the bike sucks. People are too in a hurry to critisize one brand because of it. And that is a bunch of you know. Main thing is the fit and the performance. If a bike does not have the right parts that you need then don't buy it. And if it is only missing a few parts to how you want it to perform then change them. I had a Gary Fisher, a Specialize, and a Giant MTB and they were alll good in their own way. It just about uniqueness that some are looking for and that's all. If a bike is light and have pretty decent parts and fit then its what you want. Any thing more exspensive is a poser thats all.

G-Unit

Your girlfriend works with an espresso sipping ******bag. All he needs now are gold caps for his chipped teeth.

Maelstrom 

If someone tried to use that for hardcore freeride (how ironic I really dislike both terms) that would be ridiculous. It serves the purpose of entry level. The frame could be fitted to higher end stuff and be used for mid range I suppose.

But yeah it is odd to see a 68 degree HA with a 6in travel fork. Really steep considering. My Kona Roast is slacker than that. And the ht's are 70 degrees. Thats nutty. Wonder what the heck trek was thinking. A bruiser3 with a 66 would be a sweet build though.

jcg878

Sounds to me that this snob was trying to show off for your lady. I'd dispense with him immediately

graham heaton

Trek have a good name, so every trek bike is way over priced, go for a giant and you will pay 15% less for same spec

buckydano

good point, but depends on your geographic location. when i was living in madison, wi (not too far from waterloo, where trek is based) i got a sweet deal on my 4500. if my memory serves me right, treks were cheaper and a lot easier to find than giant or specialized. here in jackson hole, giant and jamis are a better deal.

if you want a company to rip on, try schwinn and gt. they (pacific cycle) are now based or at least have some operations in madison. at least you can't find treks at wal-mart.

a little off topic, but did schwinn kill paramount? i haven't seen one in years

valbowski1980

re: What's so wrong with Trek?

Absolutely nothing at all. To each their own.

Raiyn

Schwinn didn't kill Paramount. Pacific killed Schwinn. Gunnar is what became of Paramount and is owned by Schwinn's grandson

va_cyclist

Your dentally challenged friend with the $4k bike feels the need to justify his extravagance by putting down other brands that offer solid value for a lot less $$$, such as Trek. Ignore his childish rant and enjoy whatever bike you choose.