Ultimate Bike Thread....

[NutmegCarrera]

Hello Curt.
Sorry. I’ve been on the struggle bus loading photos from my phone. Will need to do it from my computer apparently.
I was surprised to learn that a significant number of the higher end bikes are assembled there. Including aluminum frame full suspension bikes.
All of the “project one” line is assembled there.
Paint shop is awesome and I think most of what they do are the carbon bikes with more complicated paint schemes along with the project one.
From what I gather, all the frames come from offshore. I think the Asian factories are just that good - and the economics work that way.


There are over 800 employees in that building.
They really do a nice job.

[CurtEgerer]

Wow, had no idea there were that many employees there. I just watched an interesting video about the Chinese bicycle industry. There is no question that they can and do produce first rate frames for the name brands. There are many, many frame manufacturers there. They said that Specialized was one of the only brands to have their own facility set up inside the factory where the frames are made. The video went on to point out that production has been shifting to Vietnam as Chinese wages increase and the Chinese are highly concerned. Their bike industry is now producing their own branded group sets (L-Twoo, Sensah, etc.) and bicycle brands to stem the losses.

[CurtEgerer]

Bearclaw is a highly regarded manufacturer of gravel bikes and are located near St. Ignace, Mich. They mainly do titanium frames - all sourced from China - and they are said to be as good as it gets.

[CurtEgerer]

The Chinese groupsets are crazy cheap and get some pretty good reviews. I guess they've got electronic shifting out now. I'd still probably go with Shimano 105 (even used) if doing a budget build, rather than this stuff.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by CurtEgerer

I'm trying to imagine Pantani up against the new breed of TdF champions like Pogacar and Vingegaard.

[CurtEgerer]

^^^ Through the magic of AI, maybe we'll know in the near future. The current racers would be easy because we know their power numbers. We know the geographic data. We know the bike data. If there were a way to estimate power for el Pirati, LeMond, Merckx, etc. it would be very cool to have an all-time all-star virtual TdF

[NutmegCarrera]

So here are some pics from Trek.
The cows are all custom - and show up at many Trek sponsored events.
My son did around 24 races this year. All at the recreational level.
A good number were organized all, or in part by Trek.
The room where those pro ridden bikes are housed is the race department. Can't imagine what the budget is for equipment alone there

[NutmegCarrera]

These are a few from their design department
A couple of the product design guys gave a great discussion about that process.
The room was equipped with paint chips of all of their current shades, a lot of examples, a few one-off prototypes and some past examples on a magnetic display wall.
There was also an array of all the different shades on complete frames (arranged in the color spectrum).
You can purchase a "Project One Ultimate" where you meet with the designers one on one, and they work out your custom paint scheme.
The gravel bike is being used in their current ad campaign. I believe it's one of one. Really a neat job.
Even the 'production' cross bikes are hand painted.

[NutmegCarrera]

And here are some - including gratuitous photos of the kid on various podiums.

[Racerbvd]

[Racerbvd]

[Racerbvd]

[LEAKYSEALS951]

^ nice.



I'm about 8 bikes into this. Road, BMX, Gravel, FSmtb, pub bike, touring bike, shopping/commuting bike, TT. Lot's of overlap. Perhaps antique or fat tire bike.

That's about all I want (for now)

[David]

I came across this rain jacket while cleaning out my closet. From early 80’s:

[sc_rufctr]

^^^ Cool... Probably team issue.

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Before we knew better.

[Racerbvd]

[Racerbvd]

[Racerbvd]

[NutmegCarrera]

David-
That Campy windbreaker is super cool!!!

[Racerbvd]