The thing about Trek is, like most major bike companies, they make some crap, and they make some good stuff, and what you get will mostly be determined by the pricepoint of the bike, although there are some exceptions. B/c Trek has such a huge market presence, their cheapo-bikes will cost more than cheapo bikes of second- and third-tier makers. I predict that this "Moto", as a $500 disc-equipped Trek, will be built to a thin nickel, and the $500 could be far better spent elsewhere...
Similarly, China makes some good bikes, and they make some duds. I have no beef with Chinese ppl, but I do feel kind of bad supporting companies that use Chinese labor, as their regs are so lax over there.... kids work long hours, pay is pitiful, and ppl are actually conscripted to work specific jobs, against their will, and they have to "apply" to quit, if they don't like it. Even if a given frame is awesome, I don't want to buy it at any price if there is undue levels of human misery behind its manufacture.
My beef with Trek, vis-à-vis China, is that Trek started out as a small manufacturer of framesets in Wisconsin way back in the day, but quickly built a wildly successful bike company by offering high-quality American-made frames with nice imported components via reputable dealers. And, when they were basically at the height of their success, they sold out and moved the vast majority of their production overseas. This is one of US bicycling's "Big 3"; the other 2 are Giant (Taiwanese company, always been made in Taiwan--- got their start building frames under contract for other firms....good for them) and Specialized (always been more of a design/marketing firm; never made their own stuff--- built an empire by finding other ppl's good products and either buying them cheap to sell at a large profit, or stealing the design and having it made cheaper by other firms, eg Tom Richey's early mtbs were aped and sold as Stumpjumpers)... So, yeah, Spesh and Giant sells far-eastern imports.... like they always have. No shame in that game. Trek, however, began as something awesome and then decided that being profitable is better than being awesome, even though they were profitable during their awesome years. That's super disappointing.
Sorry to hear about your taco'd rim, Bob Gray. I think I recall you mentioning it on here a long ways back, when you first joined RRB, but the story is as disappointing now as it was then. I've never owned an Electra-- I may not be all that fashionable, but I do have a reputation to uphold. I can't be seen pedaling around on garbage like that.
I have had the "pleasure" of wrenching on a few Electras, and I wasn't impressed. They're pretty much generic new-school cruisers, but they command (commanded? do ppl still wanna buy them like they did ten years ago?) a premium price, I guess b/c they had a few geo gimmicks, a lot of advertising, and a decent dealer network. Overpriced, mediocre bikes, but NBD.... seatpost story is pretty shocking, though.Seriously, you bunny hopped a Electra beach cruiser and didn't expect the rim to bend, come on man, most beach cruisers can't take that, as they are built for cruising and staying on the ground. That's why I own beach cruisers, BMX cruisers, and mountain bikes....different tools for different jobs.....
Horses for courses, sure, and I have bikes of different styles, but I tend to equip my cruisers with DH/AM rims, and I bunny hop as much as I can on'm.
I'll be using a set of Electra Cruiser rims for my Klunker buildI'll report back maybe this weekend.
Yeah, when they fold, build yourself something sweet around a set of Sun-Ringle MTX-33 rims. They're absolutely Bomb-proof. I weigh 245lbs (down from 260) and I've got a lot of miles on several different MTX-based wheelsets.... Never had any issues; just periodic routine truing to keep them perfect. And, yes, I know that Sun used to be an American-made firm, but they outsourced production to Asia.... shortly after they bought Ringle, though, they were having trouble turning profits, so they did what they had to survive...Sun makes Wheelsmith spokes, too, and the spokes/nips are still made in USA....
