That visit convinced Read that Trek's future success depended on building frames from carbon fiber, a material he envisioned could be used to make light, strong frames. In the early 1990s, Trek's director of technology, Bob Read, attended an aerospace industry trade show in Salt Lake City, Utah, eventually meeting up with a closed mold tooling company called Radius Engineering. The store also provided an outlet for Trek to test merchandising and marketing ideas before expanding them to its network of independent bicycle retailers.ġ992–1996 - OCLV and acquisitions In addition to showcasing a full line of Trek products, the Trek Store served as a hands-on sales training center for employees from Trek's headquarters who lacked retail experience. In 1991, Trek opened its first company-owned retail store in nearby Madison, Wisconsin. That same year, Trek also introduced its first line of kids’ bikes. In 1990, Trek developed a new category of bicycle that combined the comfort features of a mountain bike with the quick ride of a road bike: MultiTracks, Trek's first line of hybrid bikes, were born. But the lessons learned from the 5000 would prove to be instrumental in driving Trek to develop its own carbon manufacturing capabilities in the coming years. Designed by Trek but built by Brent Trimble, an outside manufacturer, the 5000 suffered enough quality problems that it was discontinued after just one year. The 5000 frameset ( monocoque carbon frame plus bonded aluminum fork) had an advertised weight of 3.3 lb (1.5 kg). Jazz bicycles were discontinued in 1993.ġ989 was a pivotal year for Trek, marking the year that the company unveiled its first molded carbon fiber frame, the Trek 5000. That same year, Trek introduced its Jazz brand of bicycles, a collection of entry-level and kids’ bikes designed by Trek but manufactured in Taiwan. A year later, Trek expanded into foreign markets, opening subsidiary offices in the UK and in Germany. In 1988, Trek introduced "Trek Wear," marking the company's entry into the cycling apparel business. That same year, to keep up with rapidly growing sales, Trek added another 75,000 sq ft (7,000 m 2) of manufacturing space to its Waterloo headquarters. Thus began Trek's foray into carbon fiber. A year later, Trek followed up the success of the 2000 with a 3-tube carbon composite model, the 2500. Manufacturing ground to a halt as Trek worked to figure out how to build bonded frames in a production environment. The introduction of bonded aluminum to Trek's production line proved very problematic for a company that had built itself on hand-brazed steel frames. In 1985, borrowing technology from the aerospace industry, (and bike companies such as Alan and Vitus), Trek introduced its first bonded aluminum bike frame, the 2000. In 1984, Trek ventured into the aftermarket parts and accessories business, launching its Trek Components Group (TCG) department.ġ985–1991 - Technology frontier A carbon fiber Y-foil from the late 1990s In 1981, Trek entered the steel road racing bike market, introducing the "Pro" line, including the 750 and 950 models, and in 1983, Trek built its first mountain bike, the 850. Company co-founder Dick Burke would later recall that "it wasn’t until we built the new factory that we became a business." With more factory space available, Trek expanded its manufacturing to include complete bikes. Recognizing the need for expansion, in 1980 Trek broke ground on a new 26,000 sq ft (2,400 m 2) corporate headquarters on the outskirts of Waterloo. In just a few years Trek had outgrown its original "red barn" manufacturing facility-a former carpet warehouse. Hampered without additional manufacturing capacity, Trek sales plateaued in the late 1970s. Within three years, Trek sales approached $2,000,000 in 1979.ġ980–1984 - Trek becomes a business In 1977, Penn Cycle in Richfield, Minnesota became the first Trek retailer in the world. Later that same year Trek Bicycle was incorporated. Trek built nearly 900 custom hand-brazed framesets that first year, each selling for just under $200. In early 1976, with a payroll of five, Trek started manufacturing steel touring frames in Waterloo, Wisconsin, taking aim at the mid to high-end market dominated by Japanese and Italian made models. In December, 1975, Dick Burke and Bevil Hogg established Trek Bicycle as a wholly owned subsidiary of Roth Corporation, a Milwaukee-based appliance distributor. JSTOR ( January 2023) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.įind sources: "Trek Bicycle Corporation" – news Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. This section needs additional citations for verification.
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