Trek Racing Season So Far … Seven Wins and Counting!

(Waterloo, WI)

Trek’s racing programs and its flagship models, the Top Fuel and the Session 88, are having a bang-up season so far. Just six weeks since Rene Wildhaber took the Trek Remedy to a definitive win at the Urge Kenya enduro downhill, Trek has captured a U23 Pan-Am title, a stage win at Cape Epic, and two consecutive wins at the Maxxis Cup.

Mathias and Lukas Flückiger win Stage 7 photo: Gary Perkin

1st Place Absa Cape Epic Stage 7; 8th Overall
Trek World Racing’s cross country brothers Mathias and Lukas Flückiger rode their team-edition Top Fuel 9.9 SSLs to victory during Stage 7 of South Africa’s Cape Epic. After finishing second place in Stage 3, the Flu brothers rode hard despite mechanical setbacks to finish a respectable 8th place overall. Not bad for a first ride on not just the Top Fuel 9.9 SSL, but also their first full suspension experience, during a race that was deemed their “training ride” from the start.

Bart Brentjens and Chris Jongewaard take 2nd Overall

1st Place Absa Cape Epic Stage 6; 2nd Overall
Claiming what could be considered the “most consistent” ride of Cape Epic, the Trek – Bart Brentjens Mountain Bike Racing Team claimed second place overall aboard Trek’s OCLV Carbon Elite 9.9 hardtail. At a feathery 1100 grams, the frame with the world’s first no-cut seatmast was the right tool for Dutch marathon legend Bart Brentjens and Chris Jongewaard. Trek – Brentjens also claimed second place in Stage 5 and victory in Stage 6.

Emily Batty is U23 Pan-Am Champion

1st Place U23 Pan Am Games
Emily Batty can claim to be the most photographed athlete in Trek’s arsenal, but now the 21 year-old Canadian of the Trek Store Toronto Team also has a prestigious title — that of U23 Pan American Champion. Emily finished a solid seven minutes ahead of the competition aboard her Top Fuel WSD.

1st Place Maxxis Cup #1 and #2
Trek World Racing’s Tracy Moseley hasn’t missed a beat with her Session 88. Her pre-season race wins prove that aboard a new platform with world-class geometry and suspension, she will be the one to watch this coming season. In Vaigo and Gouveia, Tracy smashed the field and put in times that would put many an elite male rider to shame.

1st Place New Zealand National Championships
Trek World Racing’s Justin Leov nailed it on his home turf to overcome former teammate Sam Blenkinsop and claim the New Zealand National Champion title aboard his Session 88. In what is fast becoming a winter training grounds for the world’s fastest downhillers, Justin ruled the roost. Regarding his race bike — “My Session never missed a beat all weekend, and with the weight being so low, it helped me carry speed through the slower sections.”

René Wildhaber wins Urge Kenya

1st Place Urge Kenya
In the fast-evolving category of enduro downhill, Rene Wildhaber of the Trek Racing Cooperative took first place aboard his Remedy. Known as “Mr. Mega Avalanche” for his consistent and dominating performance in the popular mass-start European downhill events that often take hours to complete, Rene rocked the “ultimate gravity adventure” on an unknown course. Of his Remedy, “I am convinced of the high quality…”

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About Trek World Racing
Driven by the belief that the crucible of competition is the ultimate proving-ground for its bikes, Trek is proud to be the title-sponsor of the Trek World Racing team, helping fuel the team’s ambition as it pursues victory in both gravity and cross country events. Owned and managed by 23 Degrees Sports Management, the team and its six riders will be officially launched in South Africa on April 8th. At that time, a team website will go live.

About Trek – Brentjens
Trek and Bart Brentjens have had a long-standing relationship. When Team Dolphin dissolved at the end of 2008, Bart proved he’s not only one of the world’s most prominent marathon racers, but he’s also a great organizer. Consisting of five riders, the team will take its Elite 9.9 OCLV hardtails to World Cups and Benelux races.

About Trek Racing Cooperative
With support from JBL, Fox and Shimano, the Trek Racing Cooperative exists to focus individual athletes both international and domestic on their respective disciplines that don’t require a team structure. Also called the “Co-Op,” the program supports racers of all disciplines—from Enduro DH to Ultra Endurance. The roster consists of Rene Wildhaber, Chris Eatough, Jeff Schalk, Ross Schnell, Brian Smith and Jenny Smith, as well as a host of 25+ athletes who race at the top of their regional class across the United States.

About Trek Store Toronto
Team Director Steve Neal knows that Canada has immense talent when it comes to mountain biking. Together with Trek Store Toronto owner Barry Near, the two have pulled together a group of athletes that will race Trek Top Fuels across Canada and at World Cups. With Emily Batty posting the first win, expect more from teammates Pete Glassford, Mical Dyck, Eric Batty, and Adam Morka.

About Trek Bicycles:
Headquartered in Waterloo, Wisconsin, Trek Bicycle Corporation is a global leader in bicycle design and manufacturing. From its first mountain bike in 1983 to the introduction of the world’s first concentric-pivot full suspension system—the patent-pending ABP suspension design—Trek continues to pioneer mountain bike technology that is simple, robust, and efficient.

www.trekbikes.com

source: Michael Browne

Reviewer: Justin English
Date: 9-15-2008
Model: 2008 Trek Remedy 9
MSRP: $4729.99
Note: Justin would like to thank his awesome bike shop, Ray’s Cycle in Vacaville, CA

Trek makes a comeback? (skip lower for review)
Earlier this year Trek released a couple of new designs into the full suspension market. This was very much needed to revamp their mountain bike product line. Trek used to have a strong MTB market presence back in the days of OLCV and the Y bike. However, with so many companies coming out with new designs getting lighter and longer travel every year it seemed that Trek fell a little behind. After all they had Lance Armstrong racing their road bikes and creating a huge market known as the “Lance effect” for road bikes. Perhaps they forgot about us crusty mountain dudes? Now with Trek’s new efforts in technology it seems they are looking to recapture some of the magic they had back in the Y bike days.

ABP and Full Floater Marketing hype?

Ever since seeing the release of the Remedy 9, I was intrigued. Just take one look at that bike and you can see it has some nice lines. However, I was still hesitant to buy a bike based on looks and new marketing acronyms. I have been riding FSR’s ever since buying my first DH bike in 99 and haven’t ridden anything else since, so switching to the Trek was a somewhat scary idea. The idea behind the Active Braking Pivot is that it will act as a floating brake allowing the rear wheel to move independently of the braking forces reducing “brake jack”. This is better described here. Another concept that is included in this design is a full floating rear end. Instead of mounting the bottom of the rear shock to the frame, the Full Floater technology allows the rear shock to “float” between two independent linkages. This gives the Remedy a bottomless feel you normally only get with a coil shock. More on Full Floater here. The suspension in action:

What is a Remedy 9?
The Remedy line of bikes is the next generation of Mountain bikes commonly referred as “All Mountain” category, long travel for the super-gnar descents and light and nimble for huge climbs. Basically, it’s a do it all bike. I think it was Scott’s release of the Ransom which started this trend of light six inch travel bikes. Specialized jumped into the mix with the Enduro SL and now Canonndale has the Moto lineup. Unlike the Moto, Enduro or Ransom the Remedy is not currently offered in a carbon frame option. The Remedy 9 comes in an aluminum alloy frame. The first glance at the Remedy you notice the elegant shape of the main tubes. A couple taps on the frame and you can hear that the walls must be fairly thin. The fork is a Fox Float 36 RC2. The rear shock is a RP23 XV. More on the stock Remedy 9. A key feature of the Remedy is its slack head tube angle. 67 degrees is spec’d while still maintaining quick steering. Trek states that with the custom E2 Fox fork has a tapered steer tube that has a 1.5″ bottom diameter and a 1.125″ top diameter. This makes the steering noticeably stiffer since there is more material at the bottom of the steer tube where needed. The top of the headtube still uses the standard 1.125″ diameter to optimize for weight and component availability.

For my Remedy I changed the brakes to Avid Juicy Ultimate (about 50 grams lighter than thestock Juicy Carbon), tires to Kenda Nevegal 2.35 folding tires, the stem to a Point One, bars to carbon Easton Monkey Lite XC, and I slapped on a pair of Shimano XT clipless pedals. Total weight= 28.82lbs

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Read the rest of this entry �

The premiere cross-country racing mountain bike in the Trek line up has been updated. The primary goals were to reduce weight and increase stiffness. These are conflicting goals that have to be attacked with better Read the rest of this entry �

The 2008 Trek Fuel line of bikes was wildly successful. 2009 brings about the evolution and the optimization of the species. The two most compelling changes to the 2009 Trek Fuel carbon frame are:

• 212 grams lighter than 2008. New frame weight is 2238 grams or 4.92 lbs
• Frame is now 28% stiffer in an axle to axle torsion test.

These two goals of stiffer and lighter appear to be Read the rest of this entry �

Trek helps bring beer, bikes, and big wheels to Madison on August 24

LONGMONT, CO - April 10, 2008 - Adventure Fit Inc. is pleased to announce that Trek has signed on as the title sponsor of the Trek Urban Assault Ride in Madison, WI and presenting sponsor at the seven other Urban Assault Ride events.

The Urban Assault Ride is a funky bike scavenger hunt that sends two-person teams riding to checkpoints around town to complete crazy obstacle courses at each stop. Mental muscle is just as important as bike skills as teams of two choose their own course to checkpoints around the city. Obstacles are a surprise until participants arrive at the checkpoint and have included bike jousting, adult big wheel races, flying down an inflatable slip and slide, and much more. This pedal-powered urban adventure is an event that anyone can do.

Urban Assault founder Josh Kravetz is pleased with the partnership. “Trek is an ideal sponsor because they share our ideals and goals. Like us, they want to make the world a more bike-friendly place and show riders that it can be just as easy to grab your bike lock as your car keys when you’re running errands or going to work. Using a bike for transportation is the easiest way to improve the country’s lack of fitness, combat increasing traffic problems, and help fight global warming. And of course… it’s fun.”

A key goal of Trek’s One World, Two Wheels program is to increase the number of US trips by bicycle from one percent to five percent. According to their web site, with nearly 40% of car trips taken being under two miles, it’s an achievable goal. Kravetz agrees. “Participants in past Urban Assault events have told me that after experiencing how easy it is to bike around town, they are using their bikes more for transportation.”

The distance is around 25 miles and the ride takes two to three hours to complete. It is based at Olin Park and the ride is followed by a huge after party with Capital Brewery beer, live music, and plenty of two-wheeled shenanigans. Madison was chosen as a host city because of its bike-friendly community and an extensive cycling infrastructure.

The Madison event benefits Dream Bikes – a group that promotes bike advocacy as well as the Wisconsin Association for Blind Athletes. The Urban Assault Ride’s “green focus” extends beyond bike advocacy. The entire production powered with solar power, a bio-diesel truck delivers the gear to each city, and almost all event waste is composted or recycled. In addition, Urban Assault partners exclusively with companies that have sustainable business practices and promote bike advocacy. In addition to Trek, Urban Assault partners include New Belgium (which is title sponsor at six of the eight race series), Keen Footwear, Clif Bar, Sweet Leaf Tea, Swobo, Timbuk 2, Rudy Project and other local sustainability-focused partners.

Other bike-friendly cities selected to host this year’s event are Seattle (May 18), Portland (May 25), Austin (June 22), Fort Collins (July 20), Denver (July 27), Minneapolis (September 21) and Chicago (September 28).

Find out more at www.urbanassaultride.com

Trek Bicycle Corporation is in mourning after the loss of Richard ‘Dick’ Burke, the company’s co-founder and chairman, who died in a Milwaukee hospital late Monday night of complications from cardiac surgery. He was 73.

Born in Chicago in 1934, Burke attended Marquette University in Milwaukee, earning a bachelor’s degree from the College of Business Administration in 1956. After college Burke worked for a handful of companies before landing a job with Milwaukee-based appliance distributor Roth Distributing in 1960. With a knack for finance, Burke eventually became the company’s treasurer and a shareholder. In 1976, with $100,000 in seed money from Roth and a hunch that a high-quality American-made frame could fill the gap between Schwinn and the imported Japanese frame market, Burke started Trek Bicycle in a rented red pole barn in Waterloo, Wisconsin. With a payroll of five, Trek began handcrafting high-end steel touring frames. Under Burke’s leadership, Trek grew from those humble beginnings into what is today the United States’ largest bicycle manufacturer. In 1998 Burke stepped down as CEO of Trek, turning day-to-day operations over to his son John. He remained active in the family business until the time of his death, serving as chairman of the board.

A gifted and accomplished businessman, it’s Burke’s philanthropy and sense of social responsibility, not his business acumen, that will serve as his true legacy.

With a deep commitment to give back to the community and a strong affection for Marquette University, Burke established two programs for undergraduate and graduate students at Marquette—the Burke Scholars and Trinity Fellows. The Burke Scholarship program awards full-tuition scholarships to incoming Marquette freshmen from Wisconsin who have demonstrated leadership in service to others. With an emphasis on community service and social responsibility, Burke Scholars put into action Burke’s vision that one of the best ways to help students is to give them an opportunity to develop service and leadership alongside their academic education.

Through his Trinity Foundation, Burke has also contributed tens of millions of dollars to community organizations in the greater Milwaukee area, including a cooperative program between Mount Mary and Alverno Colleges for future urban teachers, as well as a program at Mount Mary for women from the inner city of Milwaukee who are working toward a college degree.

Thanks to a multi-year grant to the Urban Ecology Center from the Trinity Foundation, Milwaukee’s Riverside Park now bustles with educational and recreational activities for children and families. Hundreds of Milwaukee area youth are the beneficiaries of the Trinity Foundation’s multimillion dollar gift to the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, a joint venture of the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra and First Stage Children’s Theatre. The Trinity Foundation has also generously supported Nativity Jesuit Middle School and the YMCA’s “Sponsor a Scholar Program.” On average, each year Burke’s Trinity Foundation gives between $2.5 million to $3 million to the Milwaukee area.

A self-effacing man who eschewed the idea of having his name plastered on the side of a building, Burke had a clear vision for how his generosity could make a critical difference, focusing his Trinity Foundation on urban education, youth, and leadership development—areas where he said “he can and must make a difference.” As he put it, “If you are fortunate enough to gain resources in this world, you have a responsibility to give back to society.”

The embodiment of the Trek way, Burke’s leadership, generosity, sense of social responsibility, and warm smile will be sorely missed by all who knew him.

He is survived by his wife Camille, five children, and eleven grandchildren.

source: Trek.com