A Trek To World Domination?

 Until a certain manufacturer started fabricating its wares in Wisconsin, Schwinn was regarded as the best American bike brand.  In fact, many, including Sheldon Brown, argued that it was the only U.S. marque with even a pretense of quality.

That reputation among the few dedicated adult cyclists of the pre-Bike Boom era was based largely on the fact that it made the Paramount, which was constructed from Reynolds 531 tubing and Nervex lugs and ridden by the US Olympic Team. But Schwinn also had a high reputation among the general public—it was the first brand that came to most people’s minds—mainly because it was the first company to have a network of authorized dealers.  Those stores were usually spacious, clean and well-lit and resembled automobile showrooms more than the small, cluttered shops that usually catered to cyclists.

(Some would argue—with justification, I believe—that the network, which helped the company prosper for a couple of decades, ultimately factored in its undoing. That is the subject of another post or article.)

It looks like Trek—the Wisconsin-based company I mentioned at the beginning of this post—is trying to replicate that sort of network and, perhaps, to wield or share control of the quality  (i.e., not sold in Walmart-type stores) bike market.  

Last week, Trek announced it bought Race Pace’s seven Baltimore locations.  That is the latest in a string of acquisitions of other local and regional chains as well as independent shops that were Trek dealers.

Commenters on an industry chat group are, naturally, speculating on what Trek’s buying spree—which has also spread, if to a lesser degree, to UK shops—might mean. Some see it as a strategy for competing with Specialized, which has followed a similar strategy for about two decades.  Others see it as a bid to dominate the market.

But they would probably agree with the commenter who said, “I think if you are a Trek dealer and Trek is not actively trying to buy your store, then your store is not part of the long-term plan.”

Could we see a future in which most bike shops belong to one of the Big Three or Four—say, Trek and Specialized and, perhaps Cannondale and/or Giant, in much the same way that, during the 1980s and ‘90’s, most bookstores were part of Barnes & Noble, Waldenbooks or Borders?