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Building Custom: Behind the scenes of Trek’s Project One

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Since Project One now includes select mountain bikes, it seems like a fitting time for Trek to put together this clip of the entire process at work. From layup of the carbon frame, to paint, decals, final assembly, and shipping out the door to you, your perfect bike awaits.

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MBro
MBro
10 years ago

Money can’t buy you the cure to colourblind-ness from the looks of things.

chris
chris
10 years ago

Awesome. Cool to see what goes into the building process and the behind-the-scenes of the Trek factory. Makes me want to order one up!

ApeEscape
ApeEscape
10 years ago

Hey look, the only bikes not made by Giant!

Cymacyma
Cymacyma
10 years ago

Trek, USA exclusive bicycle custom program!! I think this is the most fabulous thing in bicycle world xD

SteelClassics
10 years ago

That’s amazing! I even customized my own one to drool over!!!

Fittastic
Fittastic
10 years ago

Funny they are not actually custom geometry. The only custom thing about them is paint. Oh and a few items you camn get for any bike. Wish they had showcased a real custom shop. Love the paint options though.

riccardo
10 years ago

I wish the entusiast of this project one are just ironic..I don’t see nothing new or strange..here in Italy anyone could have custom bikes..just not the Cancellara’s one 🙁

Colin
Colin
10 years ago

Can we get a video tour of Specialized’s US production facility? LoL

andy
10 years ago

despite what trek’s marketing department would have you think, this is NOT custom! it isn’t even custom paint! custom is picking your own geometry, tubing and layup (in the case of carbon) custom is getting little drawings of lance armstrong shooting dope into his arm all over the bike if you want them. custom is getting blue nipples on one side and green nipples on the otherside just for the f$&! of it. custom is putting campy record eps on your bike with disc brakes despite the fact that trek doesn’t a campy equipped road bike and they don’t offer a disc brake road bike either. support made in america custom carbon builders like alchemy, calfee, predator, Independant fabrications, parlee, kirk lee, apleman, crumpton, seven, serotta, and argonaut (forgive me if I’ve forgotten others)

BikeFart
BikeFart
10 years ago

Needs more fire

biker
biker
10 years ago

Andy: My Trek came with Campy EPS. It is on the Project One website.

A.
A.
10 years ago

@Andy – I agree 100%.

For the price point of these Treks you can have some amazing, truly custom offerings from the guys that you listed.

max
max
10 years ago

@andy: nearly nobody does custom layups. They say they do, but mostly they are using standard tubing which is mass produced in the industry. There is no such thing like mass produced custom carbon tube…

But anyway, nowedays it’s custom to let choose the customer the color of one screw. So YEAH!

boroboonie
boroboonie
10 years ago

custom made by rednecks in Wisconsin

craig
craig
10 years ago

So people bash companies for not producing in the USA, and when the company that produces the most USA made bikes per year makes a clip that showcases what they can offer, people bash them anyway??? Seriously folks? Forget the technicalities of what is and isn’t custom. What ever country you live in, supporting local labour helps to keep the money at home.

Gravity
Gravity
10 years ago

@Andy – Most of the companies you listed either charge as much or more than Trek does (have you priced a Serotta), or have their own limitations on exactly what they can build you. This might be a strained analogy, but think of Trek like Richard Sachs: Sachs makes a Richard Sachs bike. You tell him what size you are, and he makes one of his bikes for you. You don’t get to add disc brakes, or a BB30 bottom bracket, or an oversized steerer. You get the bike that he makes in your size. It’s a phenomenal bike, but you leave many of the major decisions to him. In this way, a Project One Madone is very similar.

If you want 135 spacing and disc mounts, then no, go somewhere else. If you need custom geometry, then Trek’s probably not the company to do it for you (though they will often reluctantly do it). But if you fit within a pretty normal range of human beings, you want custom paint, custom carbon layup, an unmatched race pedigree (spare me the Lance BS), and a lifetime warranty, then Trek’s a very good option.

@ApeEscape – Humorously, the Domane, Top Fuel and Superfly are now all made by Giant in Taiwan. Unpainted frames are shipped from Taiwan to Wisconsin for Project One assembly.

andy
10 years ago

my issue has always been that they promote project one as CUSTOM!

Seriously
Seriously
10 years ago

I’ve heard it was Trek’s funding of Lance’s EPO program that doesn’t allow them the budget to make $20,000 worth of custom molds for every consumer at no extra cost.

Gravity
Gravity
10 years ago

@Andy – Semantics. Clearly your definition of custom differs from Trek’s, but one could easily argue that the ability to choose the layout, the headtube, and the paint constitutes a “custom” frame. Again to my analogy – would you say that his bikes are not custom because you cannot get anything you want?

David
David
10 years ago

This is partially a response to “craig” specifically, but further a response to this conversation in general.

Beside the frame which was made by, according to the video, mostly fat people in Wisconsin, what exactly was made by Trek? I would go so far as to say that every single other part on the bike was made in the Far East, with exceptions few and far in between.

Seeing the “Made in USA” or the even more rare and coveted “Made in Oregon” label on a bike which was made with imported tubing and hung with Taiwanese parts makes me dislike bicycle industry executives and smalltime custom builders all the same.

Will
Will
10 years ago

This is awesome. Haters gonna hate, but these are real Americans building the bike frame to your preferences, wish I had one.

Did someone say the Project One Domane’s are not made in Wisconsin? I was hoping they were.

MB
MB
10 years ago

@David – It’s pretty easy to find a builder using American made tubing and no shortage of companies making American made components. My last build was a Kish which was probably 90% American (incl tubing) without even trying. The other 10% was half German and half far east. I can’t think of where the nipples and bolts were made but every large part except the rear hub, saddle, and tires were made here in the lower 48.

Colin
Colin
10 years ago

@will

Sadly the only frames they MAKE in house are the pro Domane’s (read H1 geometry, not offered to the public), 6 and 7 series madones, and 9 series SC’s. The rest are made in Taiwan and shipped over, the Signature series paint jobs are then done in house at trek, boxed and shipped out.

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