Walter

Well if anybody out here is old enough to remember pre-Lance Trek it would be you.

I was at the U of Central Florida when they cut their wrestling program. They kept the athletes on scholarship and one of them used to ride with the group I rode with. Very nice Trek with SunTour Superbe. Now, that dude was fast. The irritating kind of fast. Fast without really trying to be fast and, since he'd been a very good wrestler, more than a bit cocky about it. If you're in shape to wrestle at the collegiate level riding a bike fast isn't too hard.

I had been in shape to play football at the college level and riding a bike fast was damn hard.

venturi95

I wish you people who are new to the sport would quit ragging on Trek, you are flaunting your ignorance. Gary Fisher couldn't hang on to his company during the most prosperous time of rampant growth for mountain bikes of any stature, let alone for one of the most desireable names out there. If you figure out why, let me know. I am guessing that Bontrager got tired of the labor intensive nature of his business, and he could have easily told Trek to take a hike. OCLV carbon frames took the racing world by storm, the only other carbon frames made in any quantity were Calfee and Kestrel, and racers were slow to embrace them in enough number to be taken seriously. Trek made a huge investment in OCLV, and it paid off for them. Trek's biggest sin is being successful. They never did anything except throw tons of money at the competition for the rights to their name, none of whom objected .

venturi95

Also, the only people who rode Kleins never rode enough to realize their fat ***** aluminum frames were jackhammering their molars out of their heads.

Duke of Kent

My LBS is a "Platinum" level Trek dealer, and they sell, on average, 20 Treks per GF. This is straight from the horses mouth.

The horse being the store owner, whom I ride with on occasion.

LWaB

Before Trek got into carbon, they were the first (only?) American bike maker to bring silver-brazed lugged machine-built frames to the masses. That was cutting-edge technology at a time when everybody else was silver-brazing by hand or brazing with brass. Their early MTBs were boring, middle-of-the-road or misfires (e.g. early rear suspension) but their top-end road bikes have always been good.

The main problem is they seem to be ubiquitous nowadays.

C_Heath

my buddy has a klein and has 30k on it.,

bigtea

TREK is a great brand and they produce very good bikes. Honda is a great brand and they produce very good cars. Personally I didn't want a brand that I see by the dozens in a group ride. Hence, TREK, Specialized, Giant, and Cannondale were eliminated. Also, the Euro brands were off the table due to their pseudo-chic marketing. I bought a Litespeed; made in the USA by expert craftsmen. Of course I paid a premium, but don't regret it in the least.

GuitarWizard

I do, and I'm only 33

Retro Grouch 

Do you know this from personal experience or is that just what somebody else told you?

I've had a 2,000 Klein Quantum Race for 8 years. I like it fine and don't subjectively feel any ride difference from my Steel Bridgestone that I can't attribute to tires. If I were to buy myself a new road bike in that price range today, however, I don't think that I'd choose aluminum just because the the industry is changing.

I don't think that Trek is what killed Klein. I think that reduced demand for aluminum framed bikes is what killed Klein.

venturi95

Kleins always felt very harsh to me, but I never put any real time on them, just test rides for repairs. This was when I weighed 150 lbs. Other than my full suspension MTB, I haven't ridden any new aluminum bikes.

BikeWise1

I always viewed Kleins as being the ultimate in a smooth road crit bike. They took off when you got on the gas, but after spending a few hours on beat up farm roads in Indiana, I was ready to get back on my relatively plush Waterford R33!

FlashBazbo

Probably 65% MTBs (of all levels). Cervelo and Felt capture a lot more of the market (and of dealer stock) around here than Trek does. You can buy a Trek around here, but the selection is relatively poor.

bigec2002

Hi, Im a newbie and I owned a Quantum Race before Trek bought Klein. I had to sell it due to health issues which I have now alleviated, and I would like to re-adquire a Klein bike, provided the Q series frames (Elite) are made by Trek at their Wisconsin facility. Can someone confirm or deny this? Also, if you have a Klein with a carbon frame, can you comment on your reliability and experience? Thanks.
bigec2002

roy5000x2

Trek killed Klein. Gary Fisher now has road bikes that are basically repainted Lemonds.

bac

I still own a Klein Attitude hardtail circa 1998. Schweeeeeeeeeeeeet frame.

... Brad

roccobike

Interesting thread. I have to wonder what's better/worse, being bought out by Trek or Dorel/Pacific. It will be interesting to see what Dorel does with Cannondale. Will it become a Klein/Lemond (slowly fade away) or a Gary Fisher (in many ways seems to be a very strong brand). IMHO Mongoose suffered as a brand after being purchased by Dorel, GT I'm not sure if they're better or worse off.

Monument Man

good points, for sure. and by far the best post here so far!

but this exercise/discussion is actually about branding, and about the destruction of the klein name as a brand due to the mishandling by trek. you see, trek has a pretty crappy brand, and they just can't seem to shake the reputation of being mass-produced, non-innovative, bland design, etc etc. They are doing amazing things on the engineering front, but on the enthusiast side they are perceived as lacking soul.

it doesn't matter that mr. klein is still walking the halls. what matters is that people don't know that mr klein is walking the halls. trek buys klein. klein takes a HUGE hit in perceived value. trek does nothing to counter this perception, and the brand becomes less viable.

i still have an old klein in the garage, it's white with HUGE aluminum tubes and super cool 80s neonish coloring. it's incredibly stylized, and still speaks to me on a very personal level like a mass produced trek never could.

selling consumer products is actually selling a lifestyle. you are selling sex. you are selling inspiration. you are selling freedom, hope, or adventure. trek sells bikes with bad paint jobs, and that doesn't inspire people on a fundamental level. what does trek stand for? if trek was at a dinner party, what would he be wearing? would he get the girls? would he be cool? iconic? annoying? if trek lived on your street would he be a successful athlete or would he be an annoying accountant (nothing against CPAs )

in a crowded marketplace full of choices, consumers have many reasons to make buying decisions. i mean, how much difference is there? but what gets us to open our wallets is EXACTLY the thing that trek destroys when it buys the brand. and trek doesn't seem to understand this. we want to buy the bike made by the people who live their lives as passionately as we do. the trek guys might be the biggest cycling nerds in the industry, but the brand certainly doesn't reflect that.

halfspeed

You're mistaking the confused opinion of a small minority of bike weenies for popular perception. The popular perception is that Trek makes some of the world's best and most well-known bikes. That's why they sell so many and, quite frankly, it's why the grumpy minority doesn't like them. You'll never feel "special" on the same bike everyone else rides.

roadwarrior

Why?

skinny

Just a point of clarification, Trek's silver brazed frames were not machine built. They were hand brazed by frame builders.

pharding

Markets including bicycle markets are dynamic. Technology changes. One cannot blame a business for making business decisions if technology and/or demand for a given bike changes. All companies do that or they would not stay in business.

The Trek Madone is great bicycle using state of the art design and technology. The ride and performance of the bike is fantastic. I looked at a lot of bikes before I bought my Madone because as an architect I am analytical by nature. The Madone with its Dura-Ace components was a wonderfully performing bike and a great value. And the frame was built in the USA and the bike was assembled here. Trek also does not get enough recognition for its excellent customer service. Their customer service people are readily accessible, knowledgeable, and really helpful. In comparison, a friend of mine has Cervelo and they are impossible in terms of customer support. The Trek Madone is a great bicycle with world class carbon technology that other companies are scrambling to catch up with. As a company Trek has been very responsive to dealers and customers alike.

thewalrus

I don't know where you guys are, but in the pacific northwest Fisher is still very popular for XC mountain bikes. Less so in the freeride and downhill segment because of Trek's refusal to license any of the more modern, non-single-pivot rear suspension technologies (Horst link, Giant Maestro, etc). Take a look at the Santa Cruz Nomad, Specialized Demo7/8, Giant Reign X1 for example.

Fisher is far from dead. I met Gary at a trade show booth in 2005 where they were showing off the latest bikes, he's very much still involved in the company. This is the 2007 Ferrous I bought last year, same geometry and specs as a Paragon but in 853 steel with eccentric bottom bracket.

krazygluon

You guys are really forgetting the basic fact of business aquisitions: Klein, Lemond, Fisher and Bontrager weren't just bought, they also made decisions to SELL.

Hostile takeovers do happen, but since nobody has stories of ninjas on black madones firebombing a Klein warehouse, I think we can safely assume that all of the names absorbed into the Trek family did so of their own free will and at their own best judgement.

Maybe one or two of them sold out (giving up a dream in the name of absurd amounts of money) but you can't go thrashing trek for trying to make a buck without slinging a little vitriol at Klein, Fisher, LeMond and Bontrager themselves.

That said, I don't see any real synergy in my Pilot that makes me want to buy another pre-assembled multi-speed road bike. Track bikes OTOH, well I might just go back to Trek on that one. :grin:

Saddle Up

Trek IS the General Motors of the bicycle world. Gas prices too high?, time to sell Hummer. LeMond won't shut up?, time to drop him.

Steve530

I went on the Klein factory tour last week. The guide told the group that Trek killed Klein. They have removed all of the LeMond stuff because of ongoing litigation.