Vintage Klein/Cannondale/Trek-The Rise and Fall of Empires.

[sinnerman]

After posting this thread i realised they have had there fair share of Fame and Fortune, as well as rise and Falls,
Where you there for the highs, and the Lows of the brands, how did you see the brand names as end users and buyers of mountain bikes. Did you even have an preference or opinion...? Did you whimper when Trek bought Klein, Did you Wonder when Cannondale tried to reinvent the MotoCross Wheel, Or did you simply enjoy the hype behind your chioice of brand, or fall in love with the paintwork...?

From the bottom to the top, all vintage pre 97...?
Just thought it might be nice to see what all three were up too, and all in the same place.

Share pics, stories and thoughts.

 

[gradeAfailure]

Re:

Have you just acquired the 'Dale? I swear that's the one I restored and had up for sale but no one wanted..

 

[sinnerman]

Re: Re:

Have you just acquired the 'Dale? I swear that's the one I restored and had up for sale but no one wanted..

No i have had it a while, its been on here for a while to botm etc, i was working on another Cannondale yesterday and trying to strip a pair of RockShox RS1s on a Trek and wondered what othere where working on behind the scenes.

I appreciate there isnt much love on here for the Big three, but i thought it might be a thread that might be of interest. (or Not).

With so much stuff being imported from the far east bitd, i always admired the way these companies stayed manufacturing in the U.S A

 

[gradeAfailure]

Re:

Aren't Cannondale part of Dorel now? I won't have anything to do with anything Trek after they ruined Greg Lemond's career because he called out Armstrong.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=379675&hilit=Sm400

Twinsies!

 

[sinnerman]

Re: Vintage Klein + Cannondale +Trek

Not sure how i missed your thread...

The end for me was when the Cannondale Rep arrived, he walked in took out a tape measure and started measuring my window space. Admiring his his Volvo 850 T5 estate adorned with Cannondale Livery through the doorway on a hot summers day, i asked, "what are you doing", he replied, im just checking you have space for our new Moto X bike.

It was right then i knew, it was one step too far...., The rest was for told and now consigned to the history books.

A real shame.

 

[Rod_Saetan]

The only bike from these three brands I have ever owned:

I actually wouldn't mind another of these, it was quite nice (and it had the same Birthday as me too!)

 

[tintin40]

HATE TREK What they did to Klein was so wrong. Never like Dale. As for the rise and fall of Trimble. What a mare. The wrong people

 

[24pouces]

Re:

Why you don't add some other big empire brands as Specialized or Giant…
I always got an interest for Cannondale, since I discover that bike in 1988, something which was very different with big tubes, BMX geometry and that 24" rear wheel. The apex was that summer 1990 when I saw their EST prototype. In my mind, Cannondale wasn't a big empire but a small innovative brand… until the big Volvo Cannondale team.
In the same time, in 1990-91, I discovered Klein in magazine. but I fall in love the day I could touch one
Trek ? The first carbon fiber which landed in France (the yellow 8900 with Rock Shox and the orange 8700) were very amazing bikes. Trek was a big entreprise but they worked a lot for new materials like composites but they were able too to work steel or aluminum. Over than the brand name, it was those two bikes which gave me that fascination.
On other end, the main critic about Trek, saying that they eat everybody (Klein, Bontrager, Gary Fisher…) is a bit easy. Why did they sold to Trek ? Financial or economic reasons, keeping more time for creating and giving to Trek all the market work or perhaps a solution for not dying? I really don't know.
In 90ies, I remember that Trek was the main concurrent of Specialized. But I never like Specialized bikes. But I recognize it's only a subjective view.

I would more speak about the rise and fall of Mountain Bike than rise and fall of big empire. For me, a lot of things changed in the mid of 90ies when Big teams with big sponsors came. But I recognize too that it's only a subjective view

 

[paddlingpool]

Re:

Triplets :-

 

[sinnerman]

The only bike from these three brands I have ever owned:

I actually wouldn't mind another of these, it was quite nice (and it had the same Birthday as me too!)

THats looks cool Roly, I especially like them with the seatstay rollercam.U brake.