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The Best Trek Bikes You Can Buy Right Now

The Wisconsin-headquartered company has local values and a global impact.

Trek’s founding story is out of a Hollywood director’s mind and a non-fiction writer’s wish list: In 1976, Bevill Hogg and Dick Burke drank beers at the Pine Knoll Supper Club in Lake Mills, Wisconsin, and debated over the name of their would-be cycling company. They settled on Trek and soon went to work in a barn between Madison and Milwaukee, where a total of five employees built the brand’s first bikes out of steel. The company is still based near the barn that facilitated its first years—its modern headquarters are in Waterloo, Wisconsin.

Fat and grippy tires mated to a light aluminum frame

Émonda ALR 5 Disc

A smooth-riding frame paired with Shimano’s terrific 105 group

Sturdy steel in an approachable package

Madone SLR 9

Every feature imaginable and a slippery aero frame

Top Fuel 9.9 X01

A super-efficient bike that shreds down hills

“We’re a uniquely American success story from small-town USA,” said brand manager Eric Bjorling. “So many of the values that have led to Trek’s success—hard work, craftsmanship, responsibility, commitment to our customers—are Wisconsin values.”

Its values may be hyper-local and American, but it’s now a company at the center of a globalized cycling market that has made industry-leading technological advances.

A recent example of Trek’s “industry-leading technological advances” mentioned above is IsoSpeed, which is available at the front and rear on certain Trek models. The rear decoupler is at the junction of the seat and top tube, and the front decoupler is located at the top of the headset.

The front IsoSpeed decoupler allows the fork steerer tube to flex more than it would with a fixed upper headset cup, which helps damp some impacts. The rear IsoSpeed decoupler provides increased vertical seat tube deflection (compared to a traditional fixed seat tube design) for a smoother ride. The rear IsoSpeed system is adjustable on the latest Madone and Domane models, which lets the rider adjust the compliance level for terrain and or personal preference. You might not even need to adjust the rear slider to experience the road-smoothing effects of the two decouplers—our test team found that the all-over effect was fast and smooth performance equally suited to asphalt and cobbles.

Famed Classics specialist Fabian Cancellara, who retired from racing as a member of World Tour team Trek-Segafredo, worked with Trek engineers to develop the final version of IsoSpeed, which is especially useful on the cobbles and other rough surfaces that riders encounter on most Classics courses. Since the tech’s 2012 release on the Domane, Trek has claimed that IsoSpeed doesn’t sacrifice power transfer at the cost of more compliance.

Along with bolstering its ride-smoothing technologies, Trek has also begun implementing internal-storage compartments in the downtube of some of its road and mountain bikes. These handy “trap doors” debuted in the new Domane and Fuel EX, where an included organizer roll has pockets for a tube, CO2 cartridge, inflator head, and tire lever.

Trek has also started moving away from women’s specific bikes and adopting a “more bikes for everyone” ethos, where all bikes are offered in unisex sizing. The idea is that this will ensure that no matter your gender, you’ll have access to the full array of paint colors, build kits, and sizes.

And of course, Trek continues to roll out exciting new bikes. This year’s slate includes the third generation of the popular Domane roadster (now with even more ride-smoothing technology) and fully revamped versions of the Fuel EX and Top Fuel mountain bikes, which are both more capable than ever.

If you’re in the market for a road, mountain, or city bike (or any other style), Trek likely has something made for you.

How We Chose

Trek is among the most popular bike brands and has one of the most extensive bike lines in the world. Because it makes a lot of bikes—and a lot of bikes that our readers want to know about—our test team evaluates, rides, and reviews many Trek models throughout the year. This is not a complete overview of all of Trek’s models, but a focused list of the best. These are the Trek bikes that offer exceptional performance, value, technology, or features (or some combination of all four).

.css-1hhr1pq{text-align:center;font-size:1.1875rem;line-height:1.6;font-family:Charter,Charter-roboto,Charter-local,Georgia,Times,Serif;}.css-1hhr1pq em{font-style:italic;font-family:Charter,Charter-styleitalic-roboto,Charter-styleitalic-local,Georgia,Times,Serif;}.css-1hhr1pq strong{font-family:Charter,Charter-weightbold-roboto,Charter-weightbold-local,Georgia,Times,Serif;font-weight:bold;} —BEST ALL-AROUND ROAD BIKE—

Domane slr 7, trek domane slr 7.

The third-generation of the Domane isn’t just the best Domane; it’s Trek’s best-ever road bike. And it’s one of the best road bikes on the market right now thanks to an equal blend of performance, comfort, practicality, and versatility. The Domane got more aerodynamic than the previous iteration (saving 12 watts at 40Kph), it takes at least a 38mm tire, and has hidden fender mounts and sleek internal storage. It also features compliance-enhancing decouplers front and rear that improve rider comfort and control without detracting from the bike’s pedaling efficiency or handling. The Domane’s steering is light and its handling precise, but with a mellower edge and more stability than a traditional road racing bike.

READ FULL REVIEW VIEW 23 IMAGES

―best new road bike―, émonda slr 9 etap, trek émonda slr 9 etap.

READ FULL REVIEW VIEW 35 IMAGES

―best women’s trail bike―, $1,259.99 trek roscoe 7.

There’s so much to love about this bike. The SRAM SX Eagle drivetrain, with a 30t chainring and 10-50t cassette, gives a massive range of gears and plenty of low-range options for easing the pain of climbing steep hills. Its 27.5-inch wheels are maneuverable in tight, technical terrain, and the 2.8-inch tubeless-ready tires offer great traction and a plush ride. The RockShox Judy Silver fork has plenty of travel for getting rowdy (1oomm for size the extra-small frame size, 120mm for small through large) and can be locked out for more efficient off-trail riding. And speaking of rowdy, a 100mm dropper post is a very cool addition to a bike at this price.

—BEST FIRST “REAL” MOUNTAIN BIKE―

Trek marlin 7.

The Marlin 7, which also comes in a women’s version , is ideal for aspiring racers, everyday trail riders, and casual commuters alike. Riders who like to pedal fast will appreciate its steep, aggressive head and seat angles, and a high bottom bracket that offers decent pedal clearance on the trail. Its cables are internally routed, too, which isn’t common on bikes at this price. It has a 2x9-speed Shimano drivetrain, which strays from the single-chainring trend that’s popular on off-road bikes at the moment but also provides plenty of gearing options. And even though the RockShox XC30 100mm coil-spring fork is heavier than some comparable air-spring models, it does a surprisingly good job on super-rocky trails. Add to that the 2.2-inch-wide Bontrager tires on 29-inch Bontrager Connection rims, which never squirmed too much on sketchy terrain, and you have a bike that not only looks fast but offers the kind of sharp handling and precise steering you’d expect from higher-priced racing models.

READ FULL REVIEW VIEW 27 IMAGES

―BEST ELECTRIC ROAD BIKE―

Trek domane+ hp.

The Domane+ e-road bike is the electric version of, naturally, the popular Domane. It’s designed for riders who appreciate that bike’s reliable comfort and IsoSpeed technology but want the added fun and function of e-assist. It’s also the ideal companion for anyone coming back from injury, slower riders who want to mix it up with a speedy group, and couples with different fitness levels. A Bosch Performance Speed motor provides a very welcome 28 mph of pedal assist, and the 500Wh Powertube battery sleekly integrates into the down tube. You also get massive tire clearance, fender and rack compatibility, and Trek’s Blendr stem for cleanly mounting accessories such as lights and computers to your handlebar.

―BEST NEW XC BIKE―

Supercaliber 9.9, trek supercaliber 9.9 xx1 axs.

The new Supercaliber is the brand’s latest attempt to create the ultimate XC race bike by merging the best attributes of a hardtail (stiffness, low weight) and full-suspension (traction, comfort, control) frame into one. And based on our rides, it’s the closest yet to that best-of-both-worlds machine with 60mm of rear travel. Trek’s IsoStrut design places a Fox Float shock into a tube—both ends of that tube are bolted to the underside of the SuperCal’s top tube. At the top of the seat stays is a sleeve (Trek calls it a carriage) that slides over the bolted-in tube. Cutouts in the tube allow a cross bolt to pass through the sleeve, the tube, and the rear shock eyelet. Trek says this design eliminates rotation around the shock shaft and prevents side-loading the shaft so the bike has the stiffness and feel of a hardtail, but with real full suspension for better comfort and control. And based on back to back testing with a hardail, the Supercaliber is everything it was designed to be.

READ FULL REVIEW VIEW 48 IMAGES

―BEST VALUE HARDTAIL―

Procaliber 9.7, trek procaliber 9.7.

Trek did a masterful job with this bike, skimping in the right places to save money and splurging in the areas that count for performance. The carbon frame is extremely lightweight; our size XL test bike weighed in at only 21.6 pounds. The IsoSpeed decoupler at the junction of the seat tube and top tube offers so much vertical compliance you can actually see the seat tube moving if you bounce on the saddle. Tubeless-ready Bontrager Kovee Elite 23 carbon wheels also keep weight in check and roll very quickly when wrapped in (stock) 2.2-inch Bontrager XR2 Team Issue tires. Be warned, though, these are race-day tires for dry conditions and not well suited to daily trail riding or muddy courses. SRAM’s GX Eagle drivetrain and alloy SRAM X1 Eagle crank keep cost in check and can stand up to plenty of hard riding and abuse. They do add significant weight, though, which makes this bike’s overall lightness all the more impressive. Our tester was surprised, however, to find a narrow 720mm handlebar. He said it felt strange at first but didn’t notice it anymore after a few minutes of riding.

―BEST ENTRY-LEVEL RACER―

Domane al 2, trek domane al 2 disc.

The good looks of the Domane AL 2 are the first indication that Trek didn’t mess around with this bike. Start digging deeper and you’ll find even more to like. The shaped aluminum frame is nicely made and has a vibration-damping carbon fork. The rims are tubeless-ready so you can upgrade to smoother-rolling tires filled with puncture sealant. And new for 2021, the Domane AL 2 is outfitted with disc brakes. That does come with a bump in price—the previous version with rim brakes was only $860. But if you ride in variable weather conditions, the more reliable performance from disc brakes may save your bacon. The shifters snick-snick the drivetrain through the gears lightly and crisply. There are other little surprising nuggets, like the pocket in the frame for a speed sensor and the included light and computer mount that cleanly integrates into the stem. Best of all, the bike is a joy to ride. Handling is stable, precise, and attentive to pedal strokes so you feel like you’re flying over the road, not pushing across it.

—BEST MARATHON BIKE—

Top fuel 9.9, trek top fuel 9.9 x01.

While the 2019 Top Fuel featured 100mm of travel in the front and back, the new top-of-the-line Top Fuel 9.9 has 120mm of front suspension and 115mm in the rear. Trek also did away with the floating mount that compressed the shock from both ends. Instead, the lower eyelet is fixed to the downtube, a change that reduces weight and improves stiffness. Tires are also beefed up. Instead of skinny race-oriented ones, this model comes with 29x2.40-inch Bontrager XR3 Team Issue rubber designed for a variety of riding conditions. Gnar capability is further enhanced thanks to a frame that’s slacker and longer. And it’s spec’d with a shorter stem and wider bars.

READ FULL REVIEW VIEW 47 IMAGES

—BEST ROAD RACE BIKE—

Madone slr 9 disc, trek madone slr 9.

It’s no longer debatable that “disc brakes aren’t aero enough to race on.” Tell that to the now numerous Tour de France stage winners who’ve won highly contested sprints on disc-brake-equipped bikes. And try telling that to Mads Pedersen , who rode to the World Championship title on this bike. The Madone SLR 9 Disc is the premier aerodynamic offering from Trek. The SLR 9 Disc’s frame is made from 700 Series OCLV carbon and features an adjustable IsoSpeed, which can be set to create more or less frame compliance. This technology gives the bike versatility to suit the rider and the route. Pro-level components include a full Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset (50/34 crankset, 11-28 cassette), flat-mount hydraulic disc brakes, Bontrager Aeolus XXX 6 carbon wheels (tubeless-ready), and a Madone-specific seatpost, headset, and handlebar. Models range from $6,000 to $12,000.

—BEST FOR GETTING AWAY FROM IT ALL—

The 1120 is a bikepacking beast, ready for your next days-long adventure as soon as you leave the shop. Complete with an aluminum frame, carbon fork, 1x11-speed Shimano SLX groupset, and bulbous Bontrager Chupacabra 29x3-inch tires, the bike’s components are capable of helping you ride through challenging terrain deep in the backcountry. What’s more, the 1120 comes stock with front and rear racks that will hold plenty of gear.

—BEST KID’S MOUNTAIN BIKE—

Trek roscoe 24.

The Roscoe 24 is a great bike for older children who want to take their riding skills off road. Designed to accommodate riders between 4-foot-2 and 5-foot-3, this bike comes with 24-inch wheels, 2.8-inch tires, a 1x8-speed Shimano groupset, and Tektro mechanical disc brakes, making it a well-equipped bike for younger riders as they learn how to navigate trails.

—BEST COLLEGE BIKE—

The 820 is Trek’s answer to people who just a want solid, reliable, and affordable bike to ride. With a steel frame, a fork with 75mm of travel, and 26 by 2-inch-wide tires, the 820 is labeled as an entry-level hardtail mountain bike. This steed would be great for college students looking for a reliable commuter and way to explore local trails or a family looking to buy a bike that can be used by several people for a variety of purposes. A 7-speed Shimano Tourney groupset, with a 42/34/24 crank and a 14-28 cassette, will enable almost any level of rider to get where they’re going.

—BEST FITNESS BIKE—

Trek fx 3 disc.

The name “ hybrid bike ” mean different things to different people. To some, it indicates a ride good as both a way to habitually exercise and explore. To others, it may only be a tool for good-weather fun. With an aluminum frame, carbon fork, and 32mm Bontrager H2 Hard-Case Lite tires, the Trek FX 3 Disc can be enjoyed by, and comfortable for, almost any sort of rider. The 9-speed Shimano Acera groupset features a 46/30 crank, 11-36 cassette, and Shimano hydraulic disc brakes.

—BEST BUDGET ROAD RACER—

Emonda alr 5 disc, trek émonda alr 5.

You’d be forgiven for thinking the new Émonda ALR 5 Disc is full carbon. But it’s not. It’s an aluminum race bike with the same geometry as Trek’s carbon Émonda frames. The ALR 5 Disc comes stock with a full Shimano 105 drivetrain, a compact 50/34 crankset, an 11-28 cassette, and hydraulic flat-mount disc brakes.

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You are here, taipei cycle attendees share opinions on trek's impending cuts.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (BRAIN) — Crazy. The right thing to do. A reckoning.

Those were some of the initial feelings from industry professionals — all but one off the record —  who spoke to BRAIN at Taipei Cycle  on Wednesday local time about  Trek Bicycle's decision to "right size"  the company by 10% because of declining sales and bulging inventory.

"I might be going totally against the grain what I'm going to tell you, but I think it's the right thing to do, and actually if I was in charge, I'd be doing it on a much bigger scale," said Steve Fenton, owner of Pro-Lite Manufacturing. "My opinion is that all (the big brands) have to do it."

BRAIN reported Tuesday that Trek President John Burke informed company leaders in an internal memo that in addition to the spending cuts, SKUs by 2026 model year will be 40% lower than 2024 model year.

"That's crazy," said one supplier at the show. "I mean, of course, I've heard from many customers that things are not good industry-wide. But this comes as a serious surprise, and I have contacts there (at Trek) and haven't heard this. Crazy."

That supplier said he has heard from his customers loud and clear. "The inventory channels are still full. I mean, still full. I've got customers that have just too much inventory still."

Burke's comment about the global bike market being "in chaos" with high wholesale and retail inventory levels resonated with Fenton.

"I agree, and that's because the industry is run by enthusiasts and not business people. There's too many monkeys and not enough organ grinders in this business," Fenton said. "I think I do speak from experience. And you've always got to face reality. You guys created this situation and you're going to have a helluva job sorting it out. Arrogance is one of the biggest killers in business."

High wholesale and retail inventory levels have led to "significant and continued" discounting, Burke wrote, something another supplier said is painful.

"I think it's the continuation of the reckoning. It's going to probably have some kind of negative effect on their retail community and their staffing. But I don't think that Trek is necessarily alone," said the supplier who asked to remain anonymous. "I think you'll see measures being taken across most brands on some level, trying to sort it out and picking up the pieces after COVID. I think a lot of people found themselves super exposed. And so they're trying to overcorrect to put together more of a conservative portfolio to mitigate against that happening again.

"There's various forms of chaos going on. And it really is unprecedented. It's like nothing I've ever seen in my 30 years."

Another supplier called the industry's current situation "a clearing of the deck, and some people who probably weren't financially stable in the first place hit it big and now all of a sudden can't figure out how to improve their business. I think that Trek and Specialized and Giant and Pon owning stores really affects us as a small brand to try and be in a lot of places, but I gotta tell you, our direct business has never been bigger."

Hard times will continue because discounting is not working, another supplier said. Burke cited  “significant and continued” discounting across the industry as a contributor to the decisions.

"Kona 2-for-1? Specialized 40% off? It's wild. Everybody has to have a conservative posture. We think the world of those guys at Trek. We don't want to see our competitors struggle."

Those companies that can diversify their portfolio are the ones who will be in the best position to survive, according to two suppliers.

"I think for us, because we have portfolio diversity, like in terms of the categories we sell, and they're the things that generally wear out, and then we have diverse sales channels like consumer direct, retail direct, distributors, so we've got a lot of different things in play. If we were just a tire brand, just selling to a distributor, man, that would be different. So going back to the economic principle of portfolio diversification has served us well."

Pro-Lite, which started as a wheel manufacturer, now manufactures frames, an indoor smart bike, precision tools — including levels for Greenlee — and even a pool cleaner for a company in Spain, said Fenton, who said he had an awakening following COVID.

"We've done really well in this business because we don't just make bike stuff. Now, as long as we're making stuff, we're making money and having fun," Fenton said.

"Specialized, Trek, Giant, all these guys, they have to stop kidding themselves. We're going to pick this up and get back to where we were before? Ain't gonna happen. Because what they've done is they've flooded the market with so many bikes at the lower price points that it's going to take generations for that to filter through. So, I personally believe that in the next five to 10 years, the industry is going to be totally different. And we know what we're good at. What we're not good at is grabbing big orders and high-volume stuff. That's never going to work for us."

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‘The market is in chaos’ - Trek set to make cuts amid high industry stock levels

I n the face of high inventory levels and reduced consumer demand, bike manufacturer Trek is looking to streamline its business model, a leaked memo from the company president suggests. 

As reported by Bicycle Retailer last week, Trek is planning cuts in spending of 10% to "right size" the company, as well as a reduction in its number of product models by 40% by 2026. The measures come in what John Burke, the brand’s president, describes in a message to executives as "turbulent times in our business". 

"The market is in chaos," he wrote. 

Trek's model streamlining is planned as a reduction in its stock-keeping units (SKUs), the specific codes linked to products. Every bike and piece of equipment is filed under a different SKU for each size and colour it is available in, meaning there are likely thousands of unique codes at Trek, which the company will now look to almost half.  

"I think a lot of this makes sense," Ian Whittingham, founder of retailer Sigma Sports, told Road.cc . "I think it’s a good time to reset and have a look at what you're offering, to consider whether you really need that many colour options or model options within each range.

"It’s probably quite a sensible move by Trek for their size business. It’s certainly something we've done in the last couple of years post-COVID. We’ve been trying to curate our ranges a bit better than we might have done before to make sure we were in stock with the right stuff rather than big, broad ranges of products."

After the cycling boom of the Covid pandemic, the industry experienced a significant dip in trade that still persists today. Some brands reacted to high inventory levels with fire sales, slashing prices on products and bikes. 

For German manufacturer Canyon , heavy discounting led to a 23% increase in sales volume, but also contributed to financial losses . 

"We saw most companies in the bicycle industry responding to inventory challenges with large discount campaigns in 2023," said Canyon CEO Nicholas De Ros Wallace in a statement to Cycling Weekly . 

"When we also decided to do so, it not only led to increased sales, but also inspired new and existing customers to interact and engage with Canyon, and ultimately to enlarging the cycling community."

De Ros Wallace added that the "inventory and supply chain situation" has since improved. Still, Trek’s woes indicate that their impact is still being felt, compounded by high stock levels, particularly for brands operating on a larger scale. 

Speaking to Cycling Weekly last year, David Ward of Giant UK said his company had no plans to release any new aluminium road bikes in 2024, save for updates to its Contend and Avail models. 

"Sales are down on aluminium bikes," Ward said, "and I don’t think anybody in the industry is going to tell you anything different. 

"We’re not necessarily getting any new people in [to buying bikes] at the moment. That’s down to interest rates, fuel, the cost of living. Something’s got to give." 

Still, Ward added, Giant has been able to keep on top of its inventory levels. "Everything that we build is built to order. There isn’t a warehouse full of bikes waiting for different countries," he explained. 

"I don’t think we reduced any of our carbon bike orders when we saw this dip happening. We’re not overstocked, we’ve got the right amount of stock, from a carbon road bike point of view. Some models we’ve got a couple too many, some are already sold out, and we’re struggling to get more of."

Trek president Burke was expected to provide a second update to his initial memo last Friday, but nothing has since come to light. Cycling Weekly has contacted Trek for a response, and will update this article if and when the company responds. 

Trek is slashing the number of bikes it offers by 40%. This is what that means for your favorite brands in the future

This week's Bespoken Word is a part one of a ‘What Happens Next?’ series. In it, Guy Kesteven has some dark warnings about what’s going to happen to a lot of bike brands in the next few years

The Taipei show is the biggest trade bike show in the world. You can go there as a punter but its primary purpose is for far eastern vendors to sell their stuff to the biggest bike brands . Unsurprisingly, given that anyone who is anyone is probably there, it’s also the biggest place for bike industry gossip. 

'Right sizing'

Right now, what everyone is talking about is Trek reporting that they’ll be reducing their bike range by 40 percent and the size of their overall business by 10 percent going forward. Yes, that Trek! The solid, dependable, privately owned Wisconsin-based brand has been rock solid since it started selling touring bikes in the 1970s. The Trek who most industry people were saying pulled a blinder by allegedly using their scale and cash reserves to guarantee the supply of parts when production and delivery choked during Covid. That meant Trek was the first to get big shipments of bikes after everyone had sold out and the sheer amount of Marlin hardtails they dropped into dealers has achieved mythical status.

Unfortunately, while they sold a huge amount of bikes to people wearing face masks, there are still a lot of Marlins in shops – and there are probably more in warehouses all over the world. So Trek is doing the smart thing and making fewer bikes going forward. Because otherwise that backlog of Marlins is never going to get sold and Trek will hemorrhage even more money storing them or selling them for less than a profit. And while their use of the phrase ‘Right sizing’ is definitely corporate ‘posi–speak’, the decision to downsize even based on pre-Covid levels is almost certainly correct.

The news that old dependable Trek is making big changes to stop future oversupply is a big deal, but they are far from being alone in this. From the sound of the rumor drums there are other very big companies, as well as many mid-sized and mini brands that are totally constipated with stock. And in many cases that’s not just because they ordered too much, but because they have a whole ton of very closely spaced products. Orange's multitude of visually near-identical, single pivot hand-made monocoque bikes made it hard for customers to pick an obvious winner and nearly put them out of business. I can’t help wondering if the reason Santa Cruz are running very big discounts on some bikes right now is because there are so many to choose from the confusion is enough to put people off. 

In contrast, Yeti has a pretty clear and clean product lineup and is still currently selling bikes full price. Other brands like Whyte and Norco have also massively reduced their product portfolio to help them leapfrog ahead of brands buried in out-of-date stock. In the case of Whyte, it has even sidelined projects they’ve been working on for years to put nearly all their eggs in the E-Lyte basket. After speaking to Jason Schiers and Clive Gosling from GT at Core bike show , it’s clear they’ve done the same. Canceling whole bike lines just before launch so they can concentrate on a few really strong new offerings.

Brands on the run

While figures like a 40 percent reduction in bike range sound dramatic, it doesn’t have to mean a loss of family favorites. Trek in particular produces a huge size range of bikes and generally makes each model in multiple colors. So it could be that every bike stays, but only in the best-selling color or with fewer options spanning the sizing spread. Not great if you're an odd size or like a choice of aesthetic, but not a disaster.

But for brands that have already slimmed downsizing and hacked the options back to a minimum, things will be a lot harder in the months and years ahead. There’s less room to maneuver too as geometry is now basically all the same and while internal storage is a nice feature, I’ve never heard anyone chopping in their perfectly good old bike just to get a snack hatch on the new one. Unless you’ve got a genuinely different suspension technology that people actually want (buyers are traditionally very averse to new tech until it’s multi-proven), then realistically how many almost identical 4-bar or twin-link carbon bikes with a 64 to 66-degree head tube do we need to choose from?

And while brand loyalty or re-polishing faded memories of past glory days will work with us old gits who’ve been hanging around the sport for decades, we aren’t the people brands need to attract to stay alive.

Power rangers

The people brands need to attract are the new mountain bikers, who may have dusted off an old bike during Covid or who just found MTB from fresh and are now encouraging their mates to join them. These riders are a very different breed with different brand and buying values. While old schoolers are used to glitches and bodges being part of biking and were prepared to put up with random customer service and extensive research to find the right next bike, the new breed isn’t. They don’t want a confusing sea, as far as they can tell, of identical bikes. They want stuff that works rather than needing to be nursed and they want it presented, sold and serviced professionally. And we might kid ourselves that this is the case in the bike industry, we all know that for every slick showroom and logo polo shirt, there’s a bargain bin in the corner and an ordering process that’s still based on paper stuck on spikes. But the whole chat about retail is for another time.  

The big thing that these new buyers mean is a total change in brand recognition and that’s also tied very heavily into the rise of the e-bike. 

E-bikes are not the miracle cure

What I mean is that while some of these new buyers might recognize the big brands like Specialized , Santa Cruz, Canyon , Shimano , or Trek, they’ll definitely spot Bosch as a brand name to go towards because their power tools, domestic appliances, auto parts, etc. are recognized as costing a bit more but return great reliability. Some outsiders might know Giant bikes, but the smartest move of the world’s largest bicycle manufacturer is to team up with Yamaha for their motors. With a lot of e-MTBers coming from an off-road motorbike background, brands like GasGas and Husqvarna are going to stand out a lot more than Haibike or Cube . Even if you get a better spec for a lower price by going for the latter. I can’t help feeling that brands like Bosch and Yamaha are going to get sick of having to deal with hundreds of relatively tiny bike company intermediaries to access the cycling market and will just make their own bikes.

There are other big players poised too. As soon as Porsche is confident that their investment in Fazua motors is a sound one, why wouldn’t they go direct through their existing dealers with all the upsell and aspirations they bring? Honda is already starting to show concept bikes again too and it’s clear that this personal mobility part of the market is becoming increasingly interesting to the auto industry. Hell, why wouldn’t Apple go for a quick positive spin on their entry to personal urban mobility by following up their failed ‘self-driving car’ project with an ‘Apple Bike’? They recently added a ton of cycling-friendly features to their Apple Watch and regardless of its actual performance, you can guarantee it would sync with all your other devices instantly and look brilliant. Not something you can say about every e-bike from current manufacturers. 

But then maybe that’s a good thing. Talking to managers at bike brands, they’re certainly beginning to realize that as the e-bike market matures, it’s not the fairy tale, fortune-creating cash cow it looked like at the start. Whatever the brand or design, e-bikes have a far higher return/warranty rate, up to 100 percent in some instances. Nobody ever had their house or warehousing destroyed and insurance companies get startled by a conventional bike catching fire either. 

They also require far more parts to order, stock, integrate, and wait for delivery on. That's after going through a whole extra level of explosive category shipping headaches and costs and being hamstrung if they don’t turn up. While it’s a pain if SRAM changes its transmission and makes your existing stock look dated overnight, if a motor brand makes your entire inventory electrically extinct that’s a huge issue. Because while the higher ticket price of an e-bike is a win at the till, when those units aren’t shifting then they’re sucking up a whole lot more cash. Which is of course the whole issue we started with in the first place.

Know your business

Finally, what the pandemic and subsequent sh*t show have clearly demonstrated is that bike and component brands know as much about their customers, demand and sales trends as a triathlete knows about suspension setup. In fact, the spike, rebound and sag in sales we’ve seen recently is almost certainly worse than the back-end performance of a bike set up by someone in Speedos.

While the amount of talk around inclusivity, diversity and lowering entry barriers is definitely increasing and that’s a brilliant thing, I can’t help feeling it’s not really gaining traction yet either. That losing a hundred grams, changing head angle by a degree, or increasing tire space still gets more high fives in boardrooms and marketing agencies than something that will engage with hundreds of thousands of new riders, change their headspace, or genuinely open up cycling to whole new communities and demographics. 

And these topics of advocacy, retail, racing, riding and media are all things I’m going to dig deeper into in this series. So for now, go enjoy the fact that there are way more bikes and brands than we need, and often being sold at bargain prices. Because one thing I’m sure of is that the situation isn’t going to last forever and if you end up buying bikes from the same place as your washing machine, then don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Guy has been working on Bike Perfect since we launched in 2019. Hatched in Yorkshire he's been hardened by riding round it in all weathers since he was a kid. He spent a few years working in bike shops and warehouses before starting writing and testing for bike mags in 1996. Since then he’s written several million words about several thousand test bikes and a ridiculous amount of riding gear. To make sure he rarely sleeps and to fund his custom tandem habit, he’s also penned a handful of bike-related books and talks to a GoPro for YouTube, too.

Current rides: Cervelo ZFS-5, Forbidden Druid V2, Specialized Chisel, custom Nicolai enduro tandem, Landescape/Swallow custom gravel tandem

Height: 180cm

Weight: 69kg

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Why the guy who helped take Trek Bicycle from a Wisconsin barn to a billion-dollar company says he never sweats over sales figures or competitors

Pedaling a bike is one of John Burke 's favorite things to do, and it plays an important role in creating "the world's best bikes and cycling gear," which is how his company, Trek Bicycle , brands itself.

Richard Burke, John's father, cofounded Trek in 1976 in a barn in Waterloo, Wisconsin. John Burke joined his father's company in 1984 and became president of the privately owned corporation in 1997.

Today, Trek is a billion-dollar company with 2,000 employees, half of whom work in Wisconsin, and it still makes custom road bikes by hand in the US. Trek owns several brands , and it sponsors or owns eight racing programs, including the Trek-Segafredo team, which competes in the Tour de France . Trek is also an industry leader in bicycling advocacy.

The company has racked up many awards over the years. Recently VeloNews and Cycling Weekly called the company's top bike, the Tour-proven Madone , the king of race bikes.

Things haven't always been so rosy. Lance Armstrong made Trek a richer company in the 2000s, but Trek officially terminated its relationship with the disgraced sports icon in 2012 after it was found that he had doped during his Tour victories . Around that time there was also a bitter legal dispute between Trek and partner Greg LeMond , the former American cycling champion, but that was eventually resolved. The company has moved on, and it appears to be at the top of its game again with renewed energy and purpose.

In a Business Insider interview at Trek headquarters in Waterloo — " the Silicon Valley of high-end and custom-built bicycles " — Burke talked about Steve Jobs' influence on Trek, " the Lance effect ," making bicycling safer, and President Trump 's tax plan.

Daniel McMahon: Trek started back in '76 in a barn with five people. Today it's a billion-dollar company with 2,000 employees. Did you ever imagine it would grow this big?

John Burke: My dad was always focused on the sales number and I never really was, even though I was the sales guy. To me the size doesn't matter. What matters is your body of work. How good are the products? How incredible is the service? How are we taking care of our customers? If we do an amazing job on the product side and we do an amazing job taking care of our customers, the business will grow, and that's what I like to focus on.

McMahon: Does that become more challenging as you grow bigger and bigger?

Burke: It becomes more interesting.

In one way it becomes more challenging because there's so much turmoil in the market. And as companies get bigger, the natural tendency is to become slower and to not change. And in other ways it's incredibly interesting because we've never had more opportunities and we've never moved faster as a company. There isn't a day that I don't get up and I'm not fired up to come to work. There's a lot going on here.

McMahon: So getting better is what motivates you?

Burke: Somebody once said that a successful life is living up to your potential and giving back to others, and I think that from a business standpoint, I always want us to live up to our potential. And you're always chasing your potential. The more you improve, the more potential there is. It's just a game. And we have a massive amount of potential.

McMahon: Trek has been around for about 40 years now. What does success look like for Trek today?

Burke: I would define success for Trek as living up to its potential and giving back to others. One of the things we do at Trek that I'm really proud of is how we use the bicycle company for other people. My mother and my father were huge believers in "To whom much is given, much is required," and neither one of them started off with a lot of money. We've been able to take that philosophy and move it into the business.

Take a look at Dream Bikes , which we've had for 10 years now. We did that in Madison and it became successful, and then added a second location there. We've got one in Milwaukee. We just added one in New Orleans and two or three others, including one in Chicago . That's a big thing for us. Look at NICA [National Interscholastic Cycling Association]. They got 7,000 kids and it's been growing like a weed. We got a guy here, Aaron Mock, and his wife, and they do an amazing job volunteering for NICA, and they really made the Wisconsin NICA happen. There are 450 kids in Wisconsin in NICA, and so I became more interested in this, and we said, "We're going to put the full force of Trek behind NICA." Last year we gave them a million dollars , and we're giving them our time and energy.

We did research. We asked, "How many golfers are there in the United States?" Well, there are 400,000 golfers in the United States. Mountain biking should be able to exceed golf by 2030. Get your kid outside, get your kid exercise. The family can get involved, and it's a no-drop sport. There's a high school in Utah that has 300 kids in high-school mountain biking.

Another program we're working on is PlacesForBikes . In June we're having a conference here in Madison, and we're going to take leaders in bicycle advocacy and say, "How can we move faster to make America more bicycle-friendly in cities?" And the only way that program could happen is because of Trek. We put a bunch of resources in it, we worked with a bunch of companies, and now we're getting our competitors involved in supporting that program. We love to do great things with the bike company.

McMahon: Do you ever feel as if Trek is growing too fast and going in too many directions? You talk about focusing on making great products and providing great customer service, and you've spoken elsewhere about how you admired Steve Jobs and his passion for quality.

Burke: I tell you, one of our failings is that we do too many things. And you're right, I'm a huge fan of Steve Jobs and what he did at Apple , and we've used those lessons very well here. But we do bite off a lot of different things. We have an appetite for change and we want to play. There are a lot of companies who've seen this advocacy stuff, and most of the bike industry sees it and they go, "That's not me — somebody else does that." And we see that and we say, "No, that's part of our reason for being." And so we do that kind of stuff. We do a lot of different things.

McMahon: Describe your decision-making process. You come off as a no-nonsense guy who makes decisions quickly.

Burke: Yeah. [Laughs] You know, my decision-making process happens in this room. There are these two whiteboards, and the reason there are two is that one usually gets filled up and we go on to the other. But my decision-making process is really simple: I get the best people in the room, I get a whiteboard and a bunch of markers, and I listen to what everybody has to say, and I write it all up on the board, and then we figure it out, and we go. I love getting people's input — that's why you have people. And we have so many smart people around here.

We have an appetite for change and we want to play.

When you can put stuff up on a board you can visualize it; it just helps me think the problem through and it becomes clearer. I thought I was weird that I always had to have this whiteboard. Then I Googled "Steve Jobs whiteboard" and he was a huge fan of it. So in all the Trek offices around the world there's a big whiteboard.

McMahon: How do you pick the right people? And what's an "awesome bus"?

Burke: We have this thing where we say, "Get the right people, in the right seats, in the awesome bus." The whole philosophy of the awesome bus is a great place to work. We do everything we can to make Trek a great place to work.

If you look outside the door here, we've got the best 15 miles of mountain-bike trails. They're not in Whistler, they're not in Colorado — they're right across the street here in Waterloo. And you see people go over by the hundreds every day to go ride their mountain bikes. We have this amazing café — it's frickin phenomenal. And the largest ESOP [employee stock ownership plan] in the state of Wisconsin is Trek. Employees own a good piece of the business here. And if you take a look at our health program, we do everything to make this a great awesome bus.

So what we look for and who that's up to are our great individual leaders who are tasked with hiring their teams. I hire my team, but those people go and hire their teams.

If you take a look at the guy in charge of legal at Trek, he's been here for 22 years. The guy in charge of our international business, he's been here 28 years. Guy in charge of product, 29 years. Guy in charge of US sales, 31 years. If you take the woman in charge of global customer service, she's been here 28 years. The woman in charge of the international distributor market, 28 years. We've got a core group of people who have been here a long time.

And when you go down in the organization, people spend a lot of time here, and they do so for a good reason. I always thought, if you take a look at the ballplayer who plays for the same team his whole career, that's something special. People move around in companies more today than they ever have, but when you just take a look at some of these people who have worked at Trek for a long time, I look at that and I say, that's really cool. And you won't find that anywhere else in the bike business.

McMahon: How do you feel these days about Specialized , one of your fiercest rivals?

Burke: I think Specialized is a great competitor. They make us better.

McMahon: You've been candid about wanting to beat them.

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Burke: I respect all the brands we compete with. Specialized does some good stuff. We have a great competition with Specialized and with other companies. The one thing I like the most about Trek is we're not focused on Specialized; we're focused on Trek. If we do what Trek needs to do, we're doing great. We have so many great plans on the drawing board; we have so many platforms to execute on.

Let's focus on what we're doing. That was one of the keys at Apple: They stopped focusing on Microsoft and they did their deal. What Trek needs to do is focus on Trek.

McMahon: It's been over decade since the beginning of the end of " the Lance effect ." Armstrong's influence was clearly a critical chapter of Trek's business and history. Now that you've had that distance, how do you look back on the Lance effect today?

Burke: The best thing about the Lance effect is probably two things. One, it got a lot of people riding their bikes. Not just riding around the neighborhood — I mean, it got a lot of people into serious riding. Marathon riders picked up cycling. It got a lot of people into the serious side of the sport. That had a huge impact, not just on the business but on the sport itself.

And then what he did for the Tour de France and the way that brought bike racing to the masses. I mean, I frickin love bike racing. Bike racing is an amazing sport. People would not have seen as much bike racing if Lance wouldn't have raced in the Tour de France. He got a lot of people to tune in and see what racing was about.

McMahon: There are many examples of successful and unsuccessful business relationships — Armstrong and Tiger Woods spring to mind. What business lessons did you learn after working with Armstrong ?

Burke: Lance did for cycling what Tiger Woods did for golf. When the sea rises so do all the boats. That's what Lance did. And it wasn't just Trek: It was anybody who was doing road bikes. Before Lance started riding there were really only two companies selling road bikes — Trek and Cannondale . Then all of a sudden everybody and their brother was selling road bikes in the United States. So it definitely grew the market and brought a lot people into the game.

The thing that excites me is, I've been lucky enough to ride my bike in some amazing places and to really enjoy cycling. It got people into the sport who I thought would never ride.

McMahon: Last year, your second book, " 12 Simple Solutions to Save America ," was well received. It "challenges Americans to resist the status quo and change what elected officials are unwilling or unable to change." Trump is now president , and he promised to bring about great change. What do you think so far?

Burke: We're 100 days in and he finally comes out with a tax plan — and it was 250 words? And there was no bad news. Here's this huge opportunity to simplify everything and to have massive change, and you get 250 words. Look, I don't need a tax break — Trek doesn't need a tax break. We're going to succeed and fail in the market based on how good our products are and how good our services are. But as a member of the community, we have a moral duty to be a good corporate citizen, and one way you're a good corporate citizen is you pay your taxes.

You have General Electric, a great American company, which made a profit of $12 billion. They filed a 57,000-page tax return and paid zero in taxes. So if you want to reduce corporate taxes, that's fine, reduce them, but Trump wants to reduce them from 35% to 15%, and I think that's too big a decline. But then he doesn't want to get rid of any of the deductions? Why do oil companies get deductions and bicycle companies don't? Why do certain industries get deductions and shoemakers don't? The brewer doesn't get a deduction. It doesn't make sense. You're leaving in place this super-complicated tax system.

So it's treats for everybody. For corporate America, you get a lower rate, and you get to keep your deductions. And for all the individual taxpayers, you get a lower rate. We're 19 trillion frickin dollars in debt and everybody got a treat. And I just go, "You're kidding me." You call that leadership? I don't.

When you're the president of the United States and you come out with this "American First" theory, what are you saying to the rest of the world? I've been so fortunate here in growing the business. When I started here, we were doing $16 million and now we do over a billion dollars, and I've worked with an incredible team to do that. We took the business from just being in the US to right now — 60% of our business is around the world.

And one of the reasons why American is as strong as it is, is there are a lot of great American companies who have access to markets all around the world — General Electric, Coca-Cola, Apple, Trek, Harley-Davidson. The whole American First thing ... I just don't find that conducive to America's future or anyone else in the world.

The best definition I ever heard of leadership is, leadership is the ability to make the dream a reality at the grassroots level. But leadership is also, "Here's the vision, and I'm going to convince people where we need to go." And what we've come to in American politics is saying, "Well, I need to get elected, so I'm going to tell all these people whatever they want to hear." If you're the richest person on the playground and you're the biggest person on the playground ... we usually lead like, "Talk softly and carry a big stick," and when we're walking around with a blow horn, that's not the way we roll.

We're a leader in the world, but to maintain that status over the long haul, you actually need a leader who can look at the people and say, "You know, we've got problems here," and whether your talking about tax codes, gun control, nuclear proliferation, big issues, "Here are the problems, and here are the solutions, and this is why we need to do it." And more than just a sound bite, we've got to educate people and say, "This is why we need to move here." And I think we lack that right now, and I think we've lacked it for a while.

McMahon: Going back to advocacy, it's obviously good for business, but what specifically got you interested in it?

Burke: I got involved when [Minnesota congressman] Jim Oberstar called me in 1997. There was a transportation bill and they said they needed some industry help. And I was like, "What?!" He said, "I really want you to come down to Washington." So I went down there and he's like, "You need to get involved." I had been to Europe, and I had seen what cycling could do — it's amazing. And the more I got into it, I'm like, "This just makes sense for the country — it makes sense for the people." And it's not going to happen unless you get people involved.

When you have good bike infrastructure, people ride their bikes.

So I got involved in advocacy and I got other people involved. You went from the federal government spending $20 million a year to spending over a billion dollars a year on cycling infrastructure. And it happened because of Oberstar and the support he got, and it's made an incredible difference. That goes back to the bicycle's been really good to me, and it's like, what can I do? I can do many things. There's NICA, for example. We're doing PlacesForBikes, and that stems from the advocacy.

McMahon: One product I really like is the Flare R taillight . How did it come about?

Burke: I was out in San Diego about five years ago, and I was driving along Highway 1. There was a guy riding a road bike and he had a light on the back of his bike, and it was the first light I'd ever seen on the back of a road bike. And yet you really couldn't see it at all — the light it was emitting, you just couldn't see it. And I go, "That's a great idea."

I came back and I said to the guys, "We need light on the back of road bikes that do this." So we came up with the Flare R. I think that is the most awesome product. I have a sketchy stretch on my way to work here, and as soon as I put that thing one, I could tell that I was getting more space. Whenever I have to drive my car in to work here, I have so much pride when, all of a sudden, you can see, from a mile and a half away, this lineup of lights going into Trek.

McMahon: How optimistic are you for the future of bicycling? There's lots of hype about autonomous cars, ride-sharing, and the rest. You once talked about how in the US only something like 1% or so of all trips are made by bicycle, and that the goal should be 5% by 2025.

Burke: I'm still optimistic . You see this in places like New York, where they put in the infrastructure and a ton of people ride their bikes. You see it in DC. Whoever thought there would be a bike lane from the Capitol down Pennsylvania Avenue? If you would've told people that 10 years ago they would have said you're crazy, and that happened. You see places like Portland and here in Madison. When you have good bike infrastructure, people ride their bikes.

I just take a look at the bike's impact on the environment — people just don't understand how big a problem we have with the environment. It's a really big deal. And the No. 1 choice a consumer can make is what kind of gas mileage their car gets. I ride my bike to work and back every day in the summer. That's what kind of gas mileage my car gets in the summer. And you look at 40% of car trips being less than 2 miles, and you just go — bikes can have a huge impact. And I still think all of that can happen.

The next 20 years are going to be really kind to the bicycle.

McMahon: What assumptions do people have about you or Trek?

Burke: One thing about Trek is, some people see it as this big bike company. I had an ex-competitor walk up to me last week, and he said, "John, you have the most amazing company." He goes, "The values you guys have are just unbelievable." And I was like, "Wow, that was really cool." This place has an amazing heart and an amazing soul.

So when you buy a Trek you get an owner's manual. If you open it up there's a note from me. Usually when you open up an owner's manual there's this sh-- you can't even understand, and ours used to be like that. I said, I want to write our owner's manual. You got all these legal people writing the frickin owner's manual, and I was like, I want to write it.

My manual says: Thank you for buying a Trek. Welcome to the Trek family. If you ever have a problem with your Trek, see your Trek retailer and they'll take care of you. And if they don't, call Trek and we'll take care of you. If Trek's not taking care of you, send me an email and I will take care of you. And I signed it.

So every year I can tell you when the bike season kind of kicks off because I start getting emails. I just think it's kind of interesting that you can send an email to the CEO of Trek and you'll get a response that day, that if you got a problem, you're always going to be taken care of — always.

I got an email from a guy last night, and he got a response in 30 seconds. I replied — I do that stuff all the time. One customer at a time, because that's how we roll. I don't care how big we are. I'm more concerned about how great our products are and how great our service is. If we nail that, we'll do really well.

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