private industry bicycles founded 1976 headquarters waterloo wisconsin usa key people john burke president products bicycle and related components revenue us 900 000 000 est. 2013 1 number of employees 1 800 1 parent intrepid corporation subsidiaries fahrradhandel gesellschaft gmbh austria bikeurope bv netherlands trek denmark trek bicycle gmbh germany trek japan bike usa s.l. spain trek fahrrad ag switzerland trek uk trek korea electra bicycle company . website www.trekbikes.com trek bicycle corporation is a major bicycle and cycling product manufacturer and distributor under brand names trek electra bicycle company gary fisher bontrager diamant bikes villiger bikes and until 2008 lemond racing cycles and klein . with its headquarters in waterloo wisconsin trek bicycles are marketed through 1 700 dealers across north america subsidiaries in europe and asia as well as distributors in 90 countries worldwide . contents 1 history 1.1 1975 1979 the early years 1.2 1980 1984 trek becomes a business 1.3 1985 1991 technology frontier 1.4 1992 1996 oclv and acquisitions 1.5 1997 2005 the armstrong years and further expansion 1.6 2006 present 2 2014 unified hour record 3 products 3.1 eco friendly products 3.2 bontrager 3.3 lemond brand 4 brands 5 models 6 notes and references 7 external links history edit 1975 1979 the early years edit in december 1975 richard dick burke and bevil hogg established trek bicycle as a wholly owned subsidiary of roth corporation a milwaukee based appliance distributor . in early 1976 with a payroll of five trek started manufacturing steel touring frames in waterloo wisconsin taking aim at the mid to high end market dominated by japanese and italian made models . trek built nearly 900 custom hand brazed framesets that first year each selling for just under 200 . later that same year trek bicycle was incorporated . in 1977 penn cycle in richfield minnesota became the first trek dealer in the world . within three years trek sales approached 2 000 000 . 1980 1984 trek becomes a business edit hampered without additional manufacturing capacity trek sales plateaued in the late 1970s . in just a few years trek had outgrown its original red barn manufacturing facility a former carpet warehouse . recognizing the need for expansion in 1980 trek broke ground on a new 26 000 sq ft 2 400 m2 corporate headquarters on the outskirts of waterloo . company co founder dick burke would later recall that it wasn t until we built the new factory that we became a business . with more factory space available trek expanded its manufacturing to include complete bikes . in 1981 trek entered the steel road racing bike market introducing the pro line including the 750 and 950 models and in 1983 trek built its first mountain bike the 850 . in 1984 trek ventured into the aftermarket parts and accessories business launching its trek components group tcg department . 1985 1991 technology frontier edit in 1985 borrowing technology from the aerospace industry and bike companies such as alan and vitus trek introduced its first bonded aluminum bike frame the 2000 . the introduction of bonded aluminum to trek s production line proved very problematic for a company that had built itself on hand brazed steel frames . manufacturing ground to a halt as trek worked to figure out how to build bonded frames in a production environment . a year later trek followed up the success of the 2000 with a 3 tube carbon composite model the 2500 . thus began trek s foray into carbon fiber . that same year to keep up with rapidly growing sales trek added another 75 000 sq ft 7 000 m2 of manufacturing space to its waterloo headquarters . in 1988 trek introduced trek wear marking the company s entry into the cycling apparel business . a year later trek expanded into foreign markets opening subsidiary offices in the uk and in germany . that same year trek introduced its jazz brand of bicycles a collection of entry level and kids bikes designed by trek but manufactured in taiwan . jazz bicycles were discontinued in 1993 . 1989 was a pivotal year for trek marking the year that the company unveiled its first molded carbon fiber frame the trek 5000 . the 5000 frameset monocoque carbon frame plus bonded aluminum fork had an advertised weight of 3.3 lb 1.5 kg . designed by trek but built by brent trimble an outside manufacturer the 5000 suffered enough quality problems that it was discontinued after just one year . but the lessons learned from the 5000 would prove to be instrumental in driving trek to develop its own carbon manufacturing capabilities in the coming years . a trek 7200 hybrid bicycle in 1990 trek developed a new category of bicycle that combined the comfort features of a mountain bike with the quick ride of a road bike multitracks trek s first line of hybrid bikes were born . that same year trek also introduced its first line of kids bikes . in 1991 trek opened its first company owned retail store in nearby madison wisconsin . in addition to showcasing a full line of trek products the trek store served as a hands on sales training center for employees from trek s headquarters who lacked retail experience . the store also provided an outlet for trek to test merchandising and marketing ideas before expanding them to its network of independent bicycle dealers . 1992 1996 oclv and acquisitions edit in the early 1990s trek s director of technology bob read attended an aerospace industry trade show in salt lake city utah eventually meeting up with a closed mold tooling company called radius engineering . that visit convinced read that trek s future success depended on building frames from carbon fiber a material he envisioned could be used to make light strong frames . having lived through the troubled introduction of the 5000 trek invested heavily in in house carbon fiber manufacturing capabilities . in 1992 trek unveiled its first home grown full carbon framed bicycles the 5500 and 5200 featuring oclv carbon frames . oclv stands for optimum compaction low void and refers to trek s proprietary process for creating carbon structures that exceed aerospace standards . weighing only 2.44 lb 1.11 kg the 5500 frame was the world s lightest production road frame . to make room for its new oclv manufacturing facility trek expanded its waterloo headquarters again to a total of 140 000 sq ft 13 000 m2 . 1992 marked another first for trek its first full suspension mountain bike the 9000 series which featured trek s t3c travel is three times compression suspension system . in 1993 trek introduced its first oclv carbon mountain bike frames the 9800 and the 9900 which at 2.84 lb 1.29 kg was the world s lightest production mountain bike frame . in 1993 trek also acquired gary fisher mountain bikes named after gary fisher one of the inventors of the mountain bike and one of the most popular names in off road cycling . fisher had founded gary fisher mountain bikes in 1983 and sold his company in 1991 to taiwan s anlen company remaining on as president . in 1992 howie cohen who had previously imported nishiki azuki and kuwahara bicycles assisted gary fisher with his brand 2 18 months later brokering the acquisition of fisher by trek in 1993 . 2 in 1994 trek entered the growing home fitness arena introducing trek fitness exercycles . in 1996 trek discontinued the exercycle line spinning off its fitness division into an independently owned company renamed vision fitness . in 1995 trek introduced its full suspension y bike a departure from traditional bike design . the y bike sold well and won an outstanding design and engineering award from popular mechanics magazine . also in 1995 trek made a number of business moves in order to diversify its product offering and gain market share acquiring klein bicycles a chehalis wa manufacturer of premium aluminum framed bicycles as well as bontrager cycles a santa cruz ca based manufacturer of bicycle components and hand built steel frames . trek also signed a long term licensing agreement with greg lemond the 3 time tour de france champion and the first american to win the tour to design build and distribute lemond racing cycles . 1995 was also the year trek opened a state of the art assembly facility in whitewater wisconsin leaving the waterloo location free to focus solely on frame production . 1997 2005 the armstrong years and further expansion edit lance armstrong in the prologue of the tour de france in july 2004 in liege belgium a steel framed 2002 trek 800 sport mountain bike a aluminum framed 2012 trek 1.1 road bike a carbon fiber y foil from the late 1990s in 1997 trek helped sign former world road race champion 1993 lance armstrong to the trek sponsored united states postal service pro cycling team . armstrong won his first tour de france in 1999 aboard a trek 5500 becoming the first american to win the tour on an american team riding an american made bicycle . armstrong went on to win a record setting seven consecutive tours de france all of them aboard trek bicycles . he did at some points ride a litespeed bike painted and badged as a trek . in 2012 all of armstrong s tour victories were rescinded after armstrong was found to have violated anti doping regulations . 3 in 1998 trek established its advanced concepts group acg a collection of engineers and technicians dedicated to technologies development . the leading edge of trek s design and engineering efforts acg is perhaps best known for a number of products introduced and used by lance armstrong during his historic tour de france wins including the original trek madone 2003 named for the col de la madone a 12k climb that starts in the french town of menton and used by armstrong to test his fitness and ttx time trial bike 2005 . that same year trek opened its first european manufacturing facility a frame and wheel assembly plant in carlow ireland . the carlow facility stayed open until late 2004 at which time trek transferred its european production to a manufacturing facility in hartmannsdorf germany . responding to the unique needs of female cyclists in 2000 trek introduced women s specific design wsd bicycle and accessories . wsd products are designed to fit female riders and feature sizing and proportions appropriate for women . in october 2001 trek introduced a custom bike program named project one which gave customers the opportunity to customize their trek bike by selecting the bike s paint scheme and component mix . hoping to expand into a new market segment trek introduced trek travel in december 2002 a provider of luxury and performance cycling vacations in europe and north america . trek travel operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of trek bicycle until january 2007 when trek spun off its interests in the company . despite the split trek and trek travel enjoy a close working relationship . in 2003 trek acquired villiger a swiss bicycle company and diamant the oldest bicycle company in germany . the acquisition gave trek a foothold in the active leisure bicycle market an important segment in europe . as part of the acquisition trek took over ownership of the villiger diamant production facility in hartmannsdorf germany . trek s global expansion continued in 2005 when trek expanded into the chinese market by opening two stores in beijing and signing deals with 20 chinese distributors . for the third time in its history in 2005 trek again expanded its worldwide headquarters in waterloo adding another 43 000 sq ft 4 000 m2 to house its burgeoning engineering r & d and marketing departments . as part of the expansion trek included an atrium exhibit to display a number of