Trek Bikes headquarters tour

9 comments
By Matt Pacocha, US editor, in Waterloo, USA | Saturday, Feb 11, 2012 8.00am

Trek Bicycle Corporation’s HQ in Waterloo, Wisconsin is an impressive place to visit. The 205,000 sq ft facility houses 800 employees, and one of the only large-scale bicycle manufacturing factories left in the US.

The employee roster breaks down roughly 50/50 when comparing white to blue collar workers, illustrating that Trek's domestic production is more than a token effort. The 400-or-so-strong white collar workforce makes up the vast majority of Trek’s engineering, product management, graphic, marketing and business support staff. However, Trek also maintain a three-person suspension development lab in Southern California, run by Jose Gonzales.

At the heart of their Wisconsin headquarters is Trek's carbon manufacturing. All of their Madone 6 Series road bikes – 16 models, if you include framesets –are made in Waterloo, along with other top-tier models including Speed Concept 9 Series time trial bikes, and Top Fuel, Fuel EX 9.9, Remedy 9.9 and Superfly 100 full-suspension rigs, are made in Waterloo. Trek's US production amounts to roughly 25,000 bikes annually.

Trek’s top fuel is shown, partly because it helped usher in a new chapter of trek’s world cup cross-country racing endeavors with trek world racing team:

The Trek Top Fuel is one of the mountain bike models made in Waterloo, Wisconsin

Unfortunately when BikeRadar called on Trek, the production line was filled with 2013 bikes so our tour guide, mountain bike brand manager Travis Ott, wasn't allowed to show us the factory. Waterloo also serves as the base for Trek’s Project One program, which allows users to pick custom graphic and paint packages, as well as the sizing and specification of their new bike. 

Check out our image gallery for a photo tour of Trek’s facility.

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User Comments

There are 9 comments on this post

Showing 1 - 9 of 9 comments

  • I am Specialized

  • Pity the pictures are quite bad - taken using a mobile phone camera?

  • You must be desperate for news stories if you think this qualifies as a news story

  • Quite enjoyed looking through the photo gallery of the article personally. Interesting to see the bikes Lance used and the way they developed so dramatically from the 5500 so quickly. Nice to see the Clunker with the motobike brake lever too.

  • Yup, those are some genuinely lousy pictures. Interesting subject matter, but let down by some very, very ordinary (mobile phone?) photography.

  • Does anyone find it a bit strange that this is "one of the only large-scale bicycle manufacturing factories left in the US" when considering:

    1) Cafeteria / lounge ergonomics

    2) Media barred from looking at whatever production remains hidden in their "skunk verks"

    3) US market share in cycling products

    America has apparently scared herself outa business?

  • @rainwaters: A lot of our production has been moved to Asia, this is true. What remains in the US is high end carbon production. The basic way of making bikes out of carbon laminates is the same, at least in terms of raw material used. The key elements are pressure, temperature, and time. Because this information can be seen in the OCLV factory, it is for this reason that we don't allow media, and even many employees, into the carbon production area. It certainly isn't because we are only 'suggesting' that we still make bikes in the US. Not entirely sure what you mean in your reference to the cafeteria and lounge. Size vs. number of employees, perhaps?

  • Hello ,

    I would like to know if the Superfly hardtail frame is produced in Waterloo .

    Thank You!

  • Hello ,

    I would like to know if the Superfly hardtail frame is produced in Waterloo .

    Thank You!

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