Rumor has it that Trek is taking their older OCLV platform and moving it overseas, possibly to Taiwan or Germany. This new facility would allow them to produce a 105 10 speed bike in the $1700-1800 price point.
How many of you think that the Made in USA theme is getting blurred, and how many care. Any insider scoop on this bike? Anyone seen specs?
If they made their bikes in Taiwan would that be worse than Germany in your (consumers) eyes. What about China, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Pakistan?
Patriotism aside, I think that too many people naively equate “made in (insert country other than USA)” with inferior quality. No offense to the good folks in Wisconsin intended, but I think that a bike made in China or India or the Czech Republic or South Africa is just as likely to be better quality than a US-made bike, as it is to be inferior.
The rumor is true. For the money you probably can’t find a better bike. It is a trek and 10 spd 105 is great. As far as where this wonder deal is created, I don’t think that matters. You could build the TTX in Antartica if you had the materials, equipment, and trained staff. I wonder how much shipping would be…
I’ve worked in manufacturing for the last 15 years. I have been involved with factories in Canada, USA, Mexico, UK and all over Asia. My experience has consistantly been that there are smart, capable people all over the world so it is possible to have high quality goods made in any of these places.
For me the biggest risk is a company that blindly outsources manfacturing to a 3rd party and “trusts” that they will do as good a job as the “in-house” team because the 3rd party is a “leader” in that type of manufacturing. The only people who truely care about the quality of a product are the people where the name on the paycheque matches the name on the product. If you want someone else to make something for your brand you need to have a good process to stay on top of product quality esp. if you are making a premium product (like a carbon Trek) and it does not matter where in the world the factory is located.
…it’s not a good deal when you compare it to Giant bikes…you can get a DA mix for just about $2k without all the crappy in-house bontrager components…
trek’s a great company, but $1,800 for a 105 carbon bike from Taiwan? I’d go for a Felt or Giant long before I shelled out that kind of money for a 105 bike.
Dave,
It’s true. The Trek 5000 will be an asian made MONOCOQUE frame. It does not use Trek’s proprietary OCLV process. I believe it’s a Ultegra mix. I can’t remember, and it’s not in the catalog yet. FWIW, I don’t think I’ll be bringing any in. The F5C will be a better value.
As far as the “Made in the USA” label; It only seems to matter to a certain segment of my customers. You know, the ones that complain because “They ain’t gonna spend $200 on something made in China”.
From my days at retail I rememeber standing dumbfounded holding the handlebars of a NEW Raleigh kids bike as mom stormed out of the store, her son’s arm in her hand, screaming, “We aint buyin’ no bike made in China, they kill their babies there and my money aint goin’ to go where they kill their babies.”
Unless the guy who built it is gonna come out and push my fat ass up Hwy 9, he’s not of much use to me
I also can’t name or call the person that build my new television, car, or stove, but it doesn’t diminish my enjoyment of these products. What I don’t get it the romanticizing of custom, hand-built, finely crafted bikes. If the bike fits well and is high quality, I don’t particularly care where it was built, by whom, or if there are 2,000,000 more like it on the road.
Well, this in an inflammatory topic, but I am a great cheerleader of globalization.
If the bike can be made better, cheaper, faster off shore, then so be it. As a nation, it isup to us to adapt and move to more profitable industries.
That said, Cannondale still does a stellar job with their US made aluminum and carbon/aluminum composite bikes at a comparable price to some off shore brands. They have, however, gone off shore to source their new Synapse bike.
There is some inference with Trek that they are U.S. made. That doesn’t set well with me. If consumers only knew, they may felt mislead.
I totally get what you’re saying. It’s the difference between deriving enjoyment purely from the use of a product vs deriving enjoyment from the knowledge of the product’s uniqueness.
I didn’t say I don’t know where it was built, and I sure know who the manufacturer is. I just don’t particularly care where it was built, or the name of the individual that made my copy. In the end, the quality is defined (or should be) by the manufacturer’s process controls, not by whether Jim or Juan or Sanjeev or Xing built it.
From my experience everyone wants that made in the USA label, until it comes time to pay for it. When I first started selling bikes we sold a lot of Euro bikes. They were “better” than anything else you could get. The quality was spotty and the paint sucked, but someone “put their hands on it” and you could feel it in the ride.
Problem is, the quality of the bikes coming out of Asia is very good. And those Euro bikes are, for the most part, made in Asia with everything else.
There are still a number of people who want that connection with their bicycle. They want to know who built it. We used to talk about bikes have “soul”. Sadly, those times are (mostly) gone. Bikes are a commodity now.
I try not to think about too much.
I rememeber standing dumbfounded holding the handlebars of a NEW Raleigh kids bike as mom stormed out of the store, he son’d arm in her hand, screaming, “We aint buyin’ no bike made in China, they kill their babies there and my money aint goin’ to go where they kill their babies.”
Bloody right. Freakin baby killing Chinese SOB’s… They’re hiding Bin Laden and all the WMD’s, too. AND - they stole the Caramilk secret!
“There are still a number of people who want that connection with their bicycle. They want to know who built it. We used to talk about bikes have “soul”. Sadly, those times are (mostly) gone. Bikes are a commodity now.”
I ordered a Felt F24 for my son last week. I took him to the SF Grand Prix Saturday and Felt had a tent at the expo and Jim Felt was there. It was cool as hell to introduce my son to the man who’s name will be on his first race bike. I didn’t have the connection when I ordered the bike but now I do. Seeing how cool Jim Felt is made me feel even beter about their products.
I don’t know who made my QR Caliente and I never gave it much thought. In fact I have no idea where it was made.
Jim Felt is a great guy. So is Gary Fisher, Keith Bontrager and Gary Klein.
It’s nice when you can attach a personality with your purchase. The F24 is a great little bike. We sell a lot of them.
I am in a unique position. There has never been a time when there have been so many good bikes. I am fortunate because I can offer my customers great products at prices which have never been lower. The difference is, we used to look at Ugo DeRosa or Ernesto Colnago in the same way and know that they had a DIRECT influence on the products they made.
It doesn’t mean those bikes were better or worse. Times have just changed thats all.
I hope your son loves his new bike. I’m sure he will.
-But since you don’t know WHERE it was built and by WHOM, it seems illogical to claim that something is ‘high-quality’, since in fact you have no information on it’s origin.
That doesn’t seem illogical at all. That claim can be made based on a number of reasonings, all of them logical - known manufacturer (or labeler, if you want to be technical) quality control checks, independent or industry review of that bike, etc.
Origin is not the sole source of information. Finished product is probably a better determination of the quality of manufacture than simply knowing the guy that built it. And unless you were there to witness every weld or lug or however your bike is held together (or other hard-to-see quality issues), you’re taking a leap of faith similar to the guy buying the taiwanese wonder.
In general I don’t have a problem with US companies manufacturing abroad. The issue I have is that many of them go abroad to avoid EPA regulations. There aren’t many clean air laws in Mexico, Guam or Korea. I want my grandkids to be able to enjoy the outdoors too, and if we keep destoying the earth, there won’t be much left for them.
