Trek Bicycles and the many brands they dissolve 

Who should we dive into next? One of the brands mentioned above or something else?

Full transparency, I work for Trek. Previously I worked for a small, privately owned chain of local bike stores. Trek acquired the chain right as the “boom” was declining. Trek did some great things for us as staff including pay raise, real PTO & sick pay, better insurance, 401k, better discounts, etc. Say what you will about Trek but most of our staff stayed on and are far happier with being a Trek corporate store then we were before.

One of the reasons Trek acquired Klein, was to be able to use a patent that Klein owned at the time for a certain welding process. Before Klein, Trek use to bond their aluminum frames, which Trek used to say was a good way to do so. And they stood by it, until they took over Klein. After that, you never heard about bonded frames anymore. I had a Klein Rascal, at that time period, it was the best bike I had ever owned.

Fisher was broke more than once, sold the company to his largest creditor which made his bikes. Keith Bontrager was/is an innovative designer, couldn't keep up with alternative materials in frame building but his components were good. LeMond is infamously tough to get along with. Klein was a big talker and had a "grey area" around his tenure at MIT. Lots of personalities early in the MTB world and cycling grew up from mom and pop manufacturers to mass production.

I like how long the Gary Fisher legacy lasted under Trek and I still feel his spirit on the current Supercaliber

It's the killing off of private shops nowadays, where Trek and Specialized are the main protagonists, forcing everyone to join a chain under the umbrella of a producer or importer outside the US, that is really a concern. With that said, there are many reasons, such as the power of online brands for this occurence. The result is an ever more growing unified world of the shopping behemoths, or the boutique world of the super rich. The people working in many of these chains are still great, but the advance of the uninterested, unknowing, paid shit employee is coming closer. Yikes!

I wish Gary Fisher was still an independent brand because they made some innovative and super well riding bikes at the time.

Trek is simply doing what many companies in a huge variety of industries/enterprises do. The quickest and easiest way to get bigger is to just buy your competition. It doesn't mean they are the best or the most innovative. It just means they are in business to make money. Shut down who you buy and/or absorb their innovations into your own product and carry on. It's very sad but true.

I'm kind of old and from my perspective is that Armstrong pretty much helped build Trek. Very few serious cyclists seemed to actually want Treks until Armstrong. They were not dream bikes. They were more like first bikes for people getting into cycling. I think he also pushed for development of their bikes. Before Lance, it was kind of rare to see a Trek on a group ride or in a race. Post Lance, now it seems like nearly half the bikes are Treks. I could be very wrong about all of that. That is just my personal observations.

This case is much better than Specialized's in your other video because Trek paid for those businesses they acquired. They didn't sneakily steal someone else's design outright.

Get history review! Thanks! Right now in my garage is a 2007 Klein Attitude V, I just cant part with it.

@3:57 It was Gary Fisher's partner Charles Kelly who is ultimately credited with the term "Mountain Bike." They tried to get the term tradmarked, but the USPTO rejected it, due to Charles picking a really bad trademark lawyer. (I know, I was there, as Fisher's occasional roommate and photographer.)

Great video! Been cycling my whole life (67 years old) and never knew all that. I will look at my friends’ Klein’s, Gary Fisher and Lemond’s with more insight now. Thank you!

Hey, not a native english speaker but I believe I read somewhere that "prior art" doesn't mean something was a piece of art, but it's legalese term for something "not invented there", and has occurred before being patended or trademarked.

I didn't know the other brands and bike shops were forced to accept a buyout from Trek. We have a Trek and LBS a couple miles apart who comingle just fine. Both shops are extremely successful.

Like the content. Interesting to hear some background to the big bike brands.

Bontrager is on its way out. They have been slowly taking the name off new components

I own 3 Trek bikes from 1989 to 1992 and I still ride them today. But in my later years my last big bike company I bought from was Litespeed in 2003. After that I went with the smaller companies, like Velo Orange, Handsome and Black Mountain Cycles. The latter three gave me tons of joy on all of my rides, as much pleasure like the older Trek bikes. So with that I did not need to buy Trek bicycles in my later years of riding, there are others that can provide all that I want from my bikes without the drama.

What I find interesting is they took LeMond, a road cyclist, and made an anagram of last name for their road bikes. Emonda, Domane, and Madone. They just switched the L with an A and golden

Wow! Very cool history lesson. 👍👍

The Lance Armstrong thing with Lemond was just the nail in the coffin, if you’ve ever worked for Trek in any capacity there are lot of rumors about how terrible of a business partner Lemond was, so Trek just needed an excuse.

Very fair analysis, excellent video!

i've been riding treks for years, its the main brand i use mainly because my local bike shop is a trek shop and the guys there are great, i did not know anything about the companies they absorbed thanks for the history lesson.

Really like the hard looks at the bike industry. Interesting to see how we got to where we're at. As far as Trek goes--it's just business. I have a Fisher '08 Cronus and an '09 Hoo Koo E Koo, made some changes to them and I still ride them a lot. Six or seven other bikes have passed thru my garage but those are the two I've held on to, so the loss of Fisher cuts the deepest for me. It will be really interesting watching how all these ebike companies shake out over the next few years and see who's left standing and why and how.

I’ve owned Klein, Trek, Fisher and Lemond. I still ride the Lemond that I bought on sale in 2008 when Trek and Lemond were parting ways. The Lemond still has a lifetime frame warranty through Trek, but no problems after 15 years on the road.

I had a road and MTB Klein...they were amazing with amazing paint schemes.

Best mountain bikes are now made by Santa Cruz, Pivot, Ibis and other boutique brands. Trek can't buy them all

I know trek since 1992 when I was awed by their designs and the oclv carbon. Always loved their 9800 line.. Also loved Klein adroit ridden by the legend tinker juarez.. It was and still is the most radical looking bike!! Trek made beautiful bikes then and now I guess they are still pretty good today.

My wife rides an old school 1996 Gary Fisher Paragon. Awesome bike. At the time Gary Fisher had not yet been fully “Trek-ed”. It’s a shame that Trek has absorbed so many independent brands only to later dissolve them.

I still have my GF Aquila I bought in 1995. Needs a little TLC, but don't think I'll ever let it go. I wasn't aware that it was a Trek line when I bought it. Interesting video, thanks!

very intetesting video. Some of the Lemond frames ate very nice and great ride. I was nevever a big Lance fan but his foundation provided hope for many people with a serious health issue.Thr bikesTrek made for him sre pretty cool. Afterall the bike didn't dope

Never owned a Trek. Never will. Something about them makes my skin crawl and this video highlights some of the reasons why. I've never seen them as innovative nor interesting, just predatory.

I hate to put it this way, but it is what it is. Lance has millions more than I'll ever have. All his sponsors made a lot too. I worked in bike shops for 15 years and had to leave for a better living. That said, if you want run into any "characters" work with bicycles.

Interesting listen. I live in Wisconsin and have a few road bikes but have never owned a Trek. The bigger brands mentioned, I get for sure. For evidence, it would be worth identifying the many "so and so" companies you mention that got bought out.

My first modern mountain bike was a Gary Fisher. My first road bike was a Lemond. I preferred them over Trek's because they felt less corportate. Fast forward and I have both pre Trek Fisher's and Lemond's in my collection. Appreciate the video.

Trek actually disolved the Trek brand name as it's first victim. So this has been the operating model ever since. It's hard to pin point when this happened because it was little bits over time. So Trek ate it self well before then aquired any of these other brands. A sad but true story. I worked full time in a bicycle shop since 1985 but never had owned one and by the time we had actual Trek bicycles I felt that All four of these brands were far superior to the Trek branded bicycles we just picked up. I still have my 853 Lemond Zurich and none of the Trek bicycles handled or road anything like the Zurich. Or the rest of the Lemonds . So if I had a chance to I would send the new costumer out on a Lemond and it was often sold right after the test ride . Geometry was fantastic. I used to describe it as two pots of coffee stable with lightening quick reflex when needed. Gary Fisher Mountain bikes were easy to sell to because they road very nice on the road. Back then the mountain bike was used more as an urban assault bike far more often than an actual mountain bike. Once again far better than a Trek. Still see plenty of old Fishers operating as urban assault bikes . Both of those brands had an intuitive handling nature that they nearly piloted themselves. The Treks just didn't have that . They weren't bad just not remarkable. So I never really thought much of Trek as a brand and thought they were good at marketing and they experts an amazing marketing strategy. Fast forward into the beginning for Trek. Last year my brother purchased a mint condition Trek road bike built in 1977 .I was a made with Ishiwata double butted high carbon steel with matching taper guage stays (oval and) not dented) and fork blades all made in Waterloo Wisconsin. That bike also has high quality investment cast lugs and was Silver Brazed ( no that is not a typo I did alot of research and they actually did that for a few years in the beginning) and forged dropouts and fork tips . There was nothing on the market like that it wasn't even chrome molly and fairly entry-level second up from the bottom. I completely tore that bike down to a bare frame and rebuilt it...what a pleasure the torch work was first rate as good as the best in the world. That BB shell just couldn't ask for better. And the alignment dead on . I was able to rebuild without changing anything other than the original chain and and put the OEM Suntour free wheel back on ( the perk of a huge bicycle shop that doesn't throw much away even the ally Suntour spoke guard) .All new ball bearings too just can not reuse those so they are now grade 25 chrome steel the bike really deserved them anyway. Because this is the best part when I was finished rebuilding I got to finally ride a Real Trek and it was amazing I have never ever riden a carbon steel bike that felt anywhere that good and throw in thousands of of chrome moly mass production bicycles too. I road that bike for a month before I gave it back to my brother it was just to fun to part with. And the geometry for a sport touring bicycle was perfect. What happened?

Great video with excellent insights. This story is true in almost every ‘durable goods’ industry. Buy a company for its patents, distribution channels, plants and/or brands, and GROW. I miss brands like Fisher and Klein. But Trek continues to make great bikes at competitive prices and has a strong dealer network. If they ever buy PIVOT, I will change my tune 😂

Miss Klein bikes. They were way to far ahead of the times.

I think it was the mid to late 90's Trek did a thing with Volkswagen where they made a VW Jetta Trek edition. IIRC it was a sticker package, came with a bike roof rack and 2 Trek bikes. Enjoying your content, thanks for making it.

Wow, thanks for shedding some light on this. I always thought Trek was simply a manufacturer that produced many popular brands. And then one day started manufacturing their own bikes under their own brand. Boy was I wrong. 🙄

It takes a while in life, but when you get to the point when your just a little bit wise, you will come to the realization that a company’s only mission is to make as much money as possible. People always seem to think that a company is supposed to be charitable.

I'm a bike mech, nice video, well done! My first MTB was a Trek Antelope 820, bought by my Granny for me, 1991. The price we paid was 820 DM, Deutsch Mark. So in the US, it was something around 410 $. Exept the frame, every part got defekt, while in action, normal, at this time😁👍‼️ But, today, trek's price politics, is a bit too " high as the space"!! High tech, research, high end, Innovation, the newest technology, costs a lot, OK. But, the moment, the bike prices went over 10000 $, or since we've got extra light E-MTB's for 14500 $, Trek became a " rich people or totally crazy in Debts, Fans" company. Yeti, Specialized, Santa Cruz, pivot, and Scott as well. I like bike porn, but I'm more used to flat rate price policy 😁🤣😂👍👍‼️‼️

Had a friend back in late 90s work for Trek. He was getting and selling all kinds of really nice components and frames. Come to find out they were all stolen off the line. He had bontrager race frame, mantra pro and several other nice ones. Those early bontrage race lite rims with bontrager stamped king hubs were amazing.

I worked at Lemond and actually answered the phone when John Burke called. I was on unemployment in about a month.

I still have my 1998 Gary Fisher Joshua the yellow and red one. My girlfriend at the time had a hard tail (Paragon?). I wish the brand could have kept progressing. As for other brands, my original love was GT. I guess I loved the Garys. As a kid I got a 1982 GT PRO BMX frame for Xmas and transferred parts off my old Webco. I think we had to go to a bike shop in Orange County to get the frame & forks.

Yep I'm loving the history!

Haven't owned a Trek since the mid 1990's with a Mountain Track that I did really enjoy back then more as a hybrid rather than a mountain bike. The past 10 years that I have bought bikes for myself and my kids, I've always noticed that Trek is just overpriced compared to what I now own with Giant and Scott brands. Although, Scott is starting to get up there in price with the current MT bikes that have hidden shocks. Possibly looking at smaller brands as well in the future since I enjoy going to the local shops. I do see a Jamis Renegade in my future. While I understand the reasoning that Trek and Specialized is attempting to keep their business going and to grow by making a larger presence in certain markets, I've always enjoyed the smaller shops. A local shop I go to sells and services Giant amongst many other smaller brands like Jamis. I like how Giant is helping their dealer network, it's the services the smaller shops provide that really retains customers.

Consolidation is always the name of the corp game. Sad to see old names disappear! Being an owner of a Lemon, Gary Fisher, and a Trek.

Some further info: Trek is "partially" phasing out the use of the Bontrager brand when it comes to clothing, helmets and accessories. For example, all new clothing products and helmets products carry the Trek brand. I think they are keeping the Bontrager name around just for components

I have three Gary Fisher bikes one that a turned into a single speed. I just got them for cheap used I wished I could have had a Klein but they were too expensive at the time.

I'm for a bicycle company that manufactures a good bicycle in the United States. Time, Allied.... It's also time to ally more component companies in the U.S.😊

I still own 2 Kleins and a Fisher. And a Trek from 1992 before they went on a buying spree.

Trek made some of the best made in the U.S.A lugged steel framed mtbs of the late 80's early 90's.....as far as Bontrager even after selling to to trek in 95 all "Race and Race Lites" were still made in Keiths shop in Santa cruz up until 98....a 96/97 race lite is still every bit a real deal Bontager and, that comes directly from Keith himself.....the same scenario goes for the upper end Kleins as well..... unfortunately mountain bikings popularity at the time was also the nail in the coffin for most home grown brands as technolgy advanced so did the cost of keeping up and manufacturing bikes. This is why the that exciting era of the 90's era of mountain and aftermarket components are becoming collectable. I have a modern era mtb but I have just as much fun finding and restoring the bikes of this era.

loved my 1990 Klein Attitude. It was such an eye opener, and dramatically faster for XC racing when I got it new. My dad still has a nice Lemond road bike. But sure I guess Trek also kind of saved these brands from bankruptcy, gave them a second, if short, life. I still ride a Trek Domane ALR road bike, but it is hella boring to look at.

I have four Trek bikes and like the value and quality. I have a trek fuel (their low end full suspension) and 3 trek marlins.

Great history lesson. In the old days, instead of this video, I would have read this as a headline article in a magazine. Does a brand or name carry the DNA of the it's founder over generations? I would comment that manufacturing towns like Waterloo, and Waterford are just birthplaces for these brands.

Had a GF Hoo-Koo-E-Koo. Great butter steel bike. Still ride a Trek FS. It’s reliable. The Toyota of the bike industry. The Trek stores are very innovative. They can turn around a bike repair in 24 hours and are pretty competitive. I am really worried about Specialized right now and a few other manufacturers, but Trek will be around for a long time.

Yep. According to what I read lately, the bike industry is going through major (negative) changes. Will the day come when the only semi-domestic bike brands available are Giant/Specialized/Trek?

A sad story indeed for Greg Lemond, he truly is an athlete which broke into europ's best and won. I think his brand name can be restored by a talented individual underdog unlike a large corp. Another topic. A side note of American history: The original BMX racing athletes(pre freestyle) which grew into and influenced the boom of mountain biking is an interesting story , but keep in mind, a whole generation of fans were old school BMX ers now in the cycling industry knowing their god was influencing designs.. .. in my opinion, Tinker Juares is at the top for his long term cycling dedication. John Tomac is another to mention among others.

The parallel world of ski manufacturers (sorry, couldn't resist) is the counterexample to the brand absorption of bike manufacturers. A lot of the different ski brands are owned by the same corporations. Not sure how separate the brands are in design, manufacturing, or philosophy. Binding manufacturers appear to be happy to brand it however you want it. It can be argued that bike companies that put out a bunch of different brands are really misleading the customer into thinking they have something independent, while in fact they may have common designs, manufacturing, etc.

Is Lance running a 1x at 7:07 I've never seen something like this from that era

You've barely scratched the surface, not only has Trek purchased all of these companies (and others in Europe), but they also own a bicycle store specific point of sale and inventory system that is used across the bicycle industry which has caused a rift in the industry since Trek can see all of their competitors sales and they also bought some 400 bicycle stores across the U.S. Japan and Canada. They are also fazing out Bontrager right now. I know for a fact that Trek was right on the verge of going out of business and it weren't for the influx of sales that Armstrong drove to Trek, they would no longer exist. Amusingly, Trek won't acknowledge those bikes or that relationship at all anymore. There's so much more it's not even funny.

Always been a fan of Gary Fisher line. Big Sur was one of my 1st mtnbike, and then the Sugar, one of the best full suspension XC of its time. Last I check, it doesn't appear Gary Fisher ever parted ways with Trek like all the other lines, Lemonds/Klein. Gary Fisher, his spirit and innovation just sorta fused itself into the Trek lines, and you can see that in the Supercaliber, Procaliber line. He might've been a Trek spokes person for while as well.

Trek never tried to build a light weight Enduro Moto bike either. That motor cycle is what bankrupt Canndale...just a stupid venture way outside the capability of the entire company.

The most surprising thing to me is that they didn't buy Cannondale after the MX bike fiasco...

Similar example is Bikes Direct buying Mercier, right?

I STILL lament that I never got a chance to ride one of Greg's real bikes, before getting destroyed by Trek... Don't get me started about several of the others I never got to experience before they were euthanized by Trek

I had a Gary Fisher OCLV frame in the mid 90s which was 100% a Trek bike. It cracked in multiple spots within a year and was replaced by a gorgeous WTB chromoly frame.

Motobecane history please

I loved Gary Fisher bikes back in the day, but was never fond of Klein bikes.

Did Trek name the Emonda model sort of after Lemond??

There bikes are not bad but they are not much better than other dealer only brands. I just worry that there cooperate stores will hurt most small family shops like ours.

I love my Klein, but I do get why Trek eventually dropped both them and Gary Fisher. Both brands pioneered new geometries, materials, technology etc which would filter into the mainstream Trek line, but once there wasn't much new to add it became pointless running parallel models. Even without the politics the same would have happened with Lemond eventually too I'm sure. Weirdly enough the one line that would have made sense would have been Bontrager because in a world where all mass market bikes are aluminium or carbon his steel frames would have been something different.

One exec failing to pay taxes is not the same as an entire corporation failing to pay their taxes

I don’t believe that Le Mond logo and phont is the same one that Trek used during their partnership. It looks to me that the Lemond logo you’re using is of his current company and has nothing to do with Trek? Correct me if I’m wrong.

Lemond bikes were great but because of his stand against Lance Armstrong and his influence with Trek, they dumped Lemond.

Long time Trek fan, Wisconsin native. They suck 💯 Dissolved Klein Screwed LeMond and GF collection is a garbage tribute Gary, but he don't care.

I like their bikes...

Eliminate the competition and control the pricing.

Why does Gary Fischer have so much swag

I think trek bought company's to own the rights that the said company owned , Similar to Scott who bought bold cycles for the right's to an internal rear shock . Trek and Gary Fisher probably didn't go separate ways , Trek probably bought Gary Fisher , The marlin was Gary Fisher , .. it lives on through Trek and might be the biggest selling bike on the planet , .. So Gary Fisher's legacy lives on . Treks top alloy hardtail is priced nearly identical to specialized's top spec alloy hard tail . Is it over priced ? Ya likely , .. but they're competatively priced .

We need Klein back!

Would never, ever buy a Trek bike in the future and lucky I never bought one in the past! Back in the late 80's and early 90's, they looked great! But nowadays, Trek tries to set new standards for everything and they suck at doing it! It's like mountain bikes had good standards until Trek (and SRAM) decided to make their own standards - starting with axle lengths. Where are we today with those? It's so confusing, along with wheel sizes and plus sizing - it's almost like the overweight Americans going to McD's going for super-size meals and getting bigger everytime. Except, things are getting any cheaper like McD's super-size me deals! It's probably a way Trek and SRAM make their standards to make the mountain bike or biking as a whole a lot more expensive and make their stuff obsolete in a short period of time so that people will think of getting the latest and greatest year after year. Yet, the latest and greatest is a bunch of garbage that breaks down in less than a year! They pretty much took the pages out of Sony's marketing strategy book! It's a sad thing that Trek pretty much bought Klein and Gary Fisher brands. Those companies actually produced super nice aluminum hardtails. I actually own a Klein hardtail and it's one of the lightest aluminum frames ever made! It's a thing of beauty!

Trek makes sound bikes but the history you describe makes me reluctant to ride one dead or alive 😊

1st road bike Trek 420 1987 afterward never bought a trek again. KONA, fischer, Specialized Pinarello, All City. Trek decent bikes but arrogant and over priced

I see Trek as the Honda of bikes. They're just so common place here in the US. I don't like Trek but not because they don't make good bikes but simply because I hate the name haha I just wanna add "Star" in front of every Trek bike LOL Anywho, great video and yeah Lance Armstrong is THE biggest cycling douchebag ever.

It's called doing business. And for what its worth, I just bought a new Trek Domane AL4.

I always thought Trek had nice bikes and still do but never owned one. Maybe it’s because I had a bad taste in my mouth every time I saw, heard or said the word.

klein was way overpriced they were noisy too. trek is not the company it once was. Bontrager wheels are junk and have been since 90's. I have a trek bike 2200 miles wheels are cracking at the spokes same thing happened on last Bontrager wheels I owned. Mavic wheels here i come

Trek mate

I cant be the only one that sees specialized and trek as severely overrated? The iconic specialized stumpjumper was a copied Ritchey mtb. I'm also really snobby and stay away from big name brands that most common people buy, so that can also be it.

Not impressed with Bontrager wheels.

Great products made by a crappy company. I'm not so wild about Specialized either, but Trek is my most-disliked company.

Trek is no longer an bicycle Made in the U.S.A, unless it is one of the ultra expensive bicycles, that the average Joe cannot afford. I'd sooner buy a Fuji bicycle than a Trek.

I would never buy Trek.

Trek makes beautiful bikes, well they sell them, anyway treks rear drop outs SUCK!

Giant is one boring brand

Well - I'm beginning to wonder. Just how much is a name worth? There are a lot of bikes sold by Sporting Goods stores and Big Box stores. There are bicycles sold by Amazon. People will tell me that these bikes do not have the quality of a name brand bike sold by a bike shop. It seems like some of those less expensive bikes sold by Amazon have good reviews. Perhaps, the customers do not have excessive expectations. Is it better to get a bike from an established corporate entity like Trek or just get what you can use? I'm not sure why, but this excellent Trek history video kind of turned me off from getting a Trek

I Hate Trek from company down to their overrated Bikes

I was given a late 90’s trek it was ok but id never buy one their to much about their selves and they cheaters sponcer cheaters