What is Trek going to do?

Last I heard Hustler Magazine was very interested in sponsoring a team and Lance was set to go along with it but his mom put her foot down citing the Rev. Fallwell mock-advertisement.

Bolter03 said:

Were there any other UCI teams besides Discovery running Treks? Is there a chance someone else will come in with a sponsorship for an American based team? As far as I know we don't have one now and what could be the reciprical effects on the Tour of Missouri, etc.?

Seeing as how le Tour has stated 2008 is an open field how would it look if we had Australia, the Carib, and/or Mexico with a representation and not the US?

My suggestion...Trek and Lance need to get together and look for a sponsor. AT&T might be a good start. Any other ideas of companies with International presence that could benefit?

For our part perhaps some e-mails to Trek and Lance to get the ball rolling might be in order. At least get the discussion going.

Thoughts?😕

BALCO has suffered a lot of bad press. Sponsoring a cycling team may be just the thing to turn it all around. Armstrong and BALCO share so much in common, I'm sure he could talk them into it.

Trek have got the distribution network well developed and the association w Armstrong. Protour means zilch for most Americans going to an lbs to buy a bike. Those that know about the Protour, more likely will be buying exotica and bike [censored], no Treks. They are not interested in those customers. They just want turnover, and they have locked in their distribution. Chances are, if they suffer any loss of market share, they might bring out a new label. Armstrong has part ownership over the company now, so he will not be taking his name elsewhere.

Bro Deal said:

BALCO has suffered a lot of bad press. Sponsoring a cycling team may be just the thing to turn it all around. Armstrong and BALCO share so much in common, I'm sure he could talk them into it.

Is there something else associating Armstrong with BALCO that isn't in the Wiki? en.wikipedia.orgBALCOOpen ↗.

I am attempting a serious discussion on the topic. To just blast Armstrong is not enough. If not him then who would you suggest, if not Trek who would you suggest?

Are you implying that it would be impossible to assemble a team or you just don't care or it doesn't matter?

thunder said:

Trek have got the distribution network well developed and the association w Armstrong. Protour means zilch for most Americans going to an lbs to buy a bike. Those that know about the Protour, more likely will be buying exotica and bike [censored], no Treks. They are not interested in those customers. They just want turnover, and they have locked in their distribution. Chances are, if they suffer any loss of market share, they might bring out a new label. Armstrong has part ownership over the company now, so he will not be taking his name elsewhere.

I would contend that part of the reason for Trek's success is their participation in the UCI, le Tour. They may not need it but it certainly can't hurt.

PS what are your referring to as Bike [censored]? I think I get what you are referring to as Exotica (Cervelo, Scott?).

Trek was very strong before Armstrong......The money in cycling is not in the high end stuff, it is the recreational market where the money is made.
Since the demise of Schwinn, Trek has taken over being the #1 name in America. They have a strong distribution network, backed by a bicycle in every dollor market.
Armstrongs endorsement may have helped in the Euro market. I don't know. [I remember BIG Mig having to turn all his bikes in after his retirement. He then spent his own money on a Cannondale.]
I never heard that LAnce had a share of ownership of Trek........ He must not command too much authority because Lemond is sold there. Even though Lemond sold his rights to his name, [I'm not sure if he ever cut a new deal] I find it hard to believe that LAnce would allow the name be on the scorecard.
Racing is a very poor investment for a equipment company. And race sponsors. That's why when at a crit or a road race, look to see who the local sponsors are , and make a grand effort to use their services while in town.

wolfix said:

Trek was very strong before Armstrong......The money in cycling is not in the high end stuff, it is the recreational market where the money is made.
Since the demise of Schwinn, Trek has taken over being the #1 name in America. They have a strong distribution network, backed by a bicycle in every dollor market.
Armstrongs endorsement may have helped in the Euro market. I don't know. [I remember BIG Mig having to turn all his bikes in after his retirement. He then spent his own money on a Cannondale.]
I never heard that LAnce had a share of ownership of Trek........ He must not command too much authority because Lemond is sold there. Even though Lemond sold his rights to his name, [I'm not sure if he ever cut a new deal] I find it hard to believe that LAnce would allow the name be on the scorecard.
Racing is a very poor investment for a equipment company. And race sponsors. That's why when at a crit or a road race, look to see who the local sponsors are , and make a grand effort to use their services while in town.

Lemond got his name for the Walmart or Target deal, when Trek found it had little currency in branding kit and associated products.

Lemond then stiched up Walmart.

Armstrong has co-opted cancer tho, and the yellow band/collar/ribbon, is worth a mint in brand equity terms.

It is only worth one dollar a product to the LAF, but to Lance and Nike, the yellow hue is a veritable GOLD mine.

Can you buy any other bike in the US other than Trek ?

wolfix said:

Trek was very strong before Armstrong......The money in cycling is not in the high end stuff, it is the recreational market where the money is made.
Since the demise of Schwinn, Trek has taken over being the #1 name in America. They have a strong distribution network, backed by a bicycle in every dollor market.

What is defined as the "recreational market?"

Not knowing much about the bicycle industry, it would seem to me that the low end market is made up of companies like Pacific, which now owns Schwinn, and sold via super markets like Walmart. It's cheap, low, low quality stuff, and although the total revenue from that section of the market may be considerable, I can't see there woud be much of a profit margin for anyone other than Walmart itself. The Walmartization of that end of the market seems to have destroyed a lot of bike shops that used to rely on low end sales, which makes me suspect there is little money to be made there.

The high end market may be small, but there are a surprising number of people who get into the sport by buying a five thousand dollar bike before they even know whether they like riding or not. The bigger bike companies are selling way overpriced bikes with frames made in China (Last I checked minimum wage per month in Beijing is $102. It falls to $34 in poorer provinces) to the clueless that cost more than my current ride's frame, which was hand made out of titanium in Colorado by people paid a livable wage in the U.S. Someone is macking it hard in this end of the market. Adding to my suspician is that the bike shops that stay in business seem to cater to the high end.

That leaves the middle of the market, perhaps with prices in the $800 to $2000. Competition via price may be fierce in this section. Maybe there is a lot of money here because there seems to be a lot of "fake" bicycle companies that take Asian made frames, sometimes generic ones, and slap their own graphics on them and sell into this price range; literally the only thing of value these companies seem to add is a cool name. Downside is that many, maybe most, introductory riders will not stay with the sport long and will not end up purchasing many accessories.

Talking about assessories, especially soft goods but it also applies to selling two dollars of styrofoam, plastic, and nylon (helmets) for $200, this is where I suspect the real money is to be made; and it would mostly be made at the highish end of the market. I would not be surprised that in the right location you could do well by opening a bike shop that did not sell bikes at all and instead sold mostly clothing and other assessories.

Bro Deal said:

What is defined as the "recreational market?"

Not knowing much about the bicycle industry, it would seem to me that the low end market is made up of companies like Pacific, which now owns Schwinn, and sold via super markets like Walmart. It's cheap, low, low quality stuff, and although the total revenue from that section of the market may be considerable, I can't see there woud be much of a profit margin for anyone other than Walmart itself. The Walmartization of that end of the market seems to have destroyed a lot of bike shops that used to rely on low end sales, which makes me suspect there is little money to be made there.

The high end market may be small, but there are a surprising number of people who get into the sport by buying a five thousand dollar bike before they even know whether they like riding or not. The bigger bike companies are selling way overpriced bikes with frames made in China (Last I checked minimum wage per month in Beijing is $102. It falls to $34 in poorer provinces) to the clueless that cost more than my current ride's frame, which was hand made out of titanium in Colorado by people paid a livable wage in the U.S. Someone is macking it hard in this end of the market. Adding to my suspician is that the bike shops that stay in business seem to cater to the high end.

That leaves the middle of the market, perhaps with prices in the $800 to $2000. Competition via price may be fierce in this section. Maybe there is a lot of money here because there seems to be a lot of "fake" bicycle companies that take Asian made frames, sometimes generic ones, and slap their own graphics on them and sell into this price range; literally the only thing of value these companies seem to add is a cool name. Downside is that many, maybe most, introductory riders will not stay with the sport long and will not end up purchasing many accessories.

Talking about assessories, especially soft goods but it also applies to selling two dollars of styrofoam, plastic, and nylon (helmets) for $200, this is where I suspect the real money is to be made; and it would mostly be made at the highish end of the market. I would not be surprised that in the right location you could do well by opening a bike shop that did not sell bikes at all and instead sold mostly clothing and other assessories.

I would consider the average rider who rides with clips/clipless pedals and may own a jersey or so a recreational rider. He may ride a occasional century/charity ride.
The low end of the recreational rider is the guy/gal who rides trails on a bike from $250-------- $800 [?]
The high end guy is a guy who can name the component group of Campagnolo and Shimano...... he rides some custom or carbon fiber frames.
You are right bro deal.....accessories are the mainstay of the bike industry along with the service department. New bikes are a low markup item that takes tremendous cash flow to fill the showroom floor.
Out on our trails we see a few guys high ending it on graphite bikes who are lucky to ride 1000 miles year. I know many riders cringe when they see this, but to be honest, I look at it differently. When I see that I know some bike shop made a buck.And the bucks come hard today in the shops with EBay.

The guys of my past I ride with spend little money in bike shops. We all ride our wool jerseys and our old steel lugged bikes that never wear out. EBay is my friend. We do buy tubes/tires and small stuff, but I would like to think we help out when we recommend the shop to our friends who are just looking for a bike.

Trek like other bike manufacturers will evolve a new marketing plan.

I'd cite Pinarello as an example : they got great coverage during the Indurain/Banesto era.
Indurain/Banesto used only Pinarello/campy products and Pinarello used this prominence to market their product more widely.
What happened to Pinarello when Indurain/Banesto ceased to be top of the pile?
Pinarello - through smart marketing - had already established relationships with Telekom (now known as T-Mobile) and in 1997, the Pinarello brand was once again top of the "constructors" with Telekom dominating the 1997 season..

So if Trek have a good marketing department and have a good strategy... they can ensure that their brand is with a high profile rider/team.

whiteboytrash said:

Can you buy any other bike in the US other than Trek ?

Yeah. Its a very small world these days. You can get any ProTour bike except Canyon and LaPierre. In fact, at least here in Philly, Trek is one of the least common brands amoung serious cyclists although their distributer network is impressive and they probably dominate the market amoung first time buyers.

Probably the most common bikes among the serious riders are Cannondale, Litespeed, Scott, Cervelo, Colnago, Pinerello and Bianchi . Sorry. The British bikes have not gained much popularity this side if the pond.

"Seeing as how le Tour has stated 2008 is an open field how would it look if we had Australia, the Carib, and/or Mexico with a representation and not the US?"

It'd look great who cares if the us isn't there.

limerickman said:

Trek like other bike manufacturers will evolve a new marketing plan.

I'd cite Pinarello as an example : they got great coverage during the Indurain/Banesto era.
Indurain/Banesto used only Pinarello/campy products and Pinarello used this prominence to market their product more widely.
What happened to Pinarello when Indurain/Banesto ceased to be top of the pile?
Pinarello - through smart marketing - had already established relationships with Telekom (now known as T-Mobile) and in 1997, the Pinarello brand was once again top of the "constructors" with Telekom dominating the 1997 season..

So if Trek have a good marketing department and have a good strategy... they can ensure that their brand is with a high profile rider/team.

no, I would say, if they have the money to buy the rights to provide the bike, and livery.

I do not think it is marketing etc.

There are only a few options for the teams the size of Telekom, to sell a 2 million bike sponsorship to. Giant are the most profitable company, and largest industry company. Trek and Merida/Specialized are a fraction of the size Giant is.

The Colnago and Pinarello, no doubt a profitable business, but putting out 2 million for a TMobile sponsorship, means they need to write alot of business to get a net profit out of that sponsorship.

Anyone can sponsor an AG2R of Saunier tho, they come at cut price 😄

BRODEAL said:

Talking about assessories, especially soft goods but it also applies to selling two dollars of styrofoam, plastic, and nylon (helmets) for $200, this is where I suspect the real money is to be made; and it would mostly be made at the highish end of the market. I would not be surprised that in the right location you could do well by opening a bike shop that did not sell bikes at all and instead sold mostly clothing and other assessories.

There is a store in Toronto that does just that. No bikes, just bike accessories.

velotique.comstorey.htmOpen ↗

I'm not entirely convinced that a company has to realize direct profit from sponsorship. Marketing and name recognition are considerable factors.

Frame, component, clothing and accessory, manufacturers should be getting off 'on the cheap'. Cost of production is rather low compared to actual cash outlay. In other words, the teams should be happy to get this stuff free. Why should they have to contribute additonal dollars to be considered a sponsor when larger multi-national corporations can more easily absorb the bill?

AT&T sponsors a team to compete against T-Mobile for example. They come in with the condition to the ProTour that in return for sponsoring a team that the Tour of Georgia and/or Missouri become a part of the circuit. It appears that the Tour Downunder will now become part of the UCI. Tour Downunder seems to sponsor a bunch of cycling activities focused around the ProTour including a Tour de Cure (Diabetes). AT&T already sponsors a team to take part in the Tour de Cure. Armstrong signs on to be a spokesman for Cancer related events to accompany other tours, etc. and everybody wins.

So I think the team has the obligation to work with all the parties to make it appealing to be a sponsor and to let equipment suppliers off by giving them the tools to work.

The appeal and the 'hook' to bring in major sponsors is the fact that they get a huge International exposure. Tying together some of the races to charitable activities and novice events gives another dimension to bridge a gap.

As far as doping...the pros that are out there need to get together and decide that there is too much on the line to screw around any more. It is their continued livelihood and the livelihood of their sport on the line. They need to willing embrace a no-doping stand and stick by it. By associating pro events with charity and novices they can repair the damage if they want to.

whiteboytrash said:

Can you buy any other bike in the US other than Trek ?

Yes ,but you need a "special needs certificate" signed by Greg Lemond.

Trek,as I recall, was the leading seller in the mid 80's and Lance was about 12 years old at the time.
As long as bike shops offer them for sale people will buy them to lean against the wall in their garage while they watch weight loss product commericals on TV.

whiteboytrash said:

Can you buy any other bike in the US other than Trek ?

Yes. My Orbea Orca is just delightful.

jhuskey said:

Yes ,but you need a "special needs certificate" signed by Greg Lemond.

Trek,as I recall, was the leading seller in the mid 80's and Lance was about 12 years old at the time.
As long as bike shops offer them for sale people will buy them to lean against the wall in their garage while they watch weight loss product commericals on TV.

Love it and have seen it.

My early 80's vintage is sitting in the garage while I ride my Bianchi. Still a nice bike but a little large for MY older frame. If you know of anybody looking for 26" Ishiwata CrMO frame have them give me a holler. It's still in good shape and has Cinelli bars, Superbe drivetrain, Mavic wheels. Would make a nice commuter bike for someone who's like 6'2".