Folks back home (I graduated from UW-Whitewater) are pretty ticked off at
Trek, according to my family. Looks like Trek is laying off everyone at the
Whitewater facility, probably to ship the jobs overseas.

"Mike Jacoubowsky/Chain Reaction Bicycles" wrote
in message news
TREKs & Gary Fisher bicycles are made both here in the US and overseas.
It's difficult, if not impossible, to build lower-end frames here in the
US,
due to the astoundingly-cheap (yet increasingly-skilled) labor in China.
At
the higher price points, technology can keep the US production ahead of
the
game, and build a better frame for a similar price (but it's a moving
target, with the technology that TREK uses in a domestic frame today
likely
to become the standard way they're built in China two years down the
road).

In general, bikes below $700 will have frames produced overseas, although
final finishing, painting & assembly is usually done in the US. Above
$700,
nearly all frames are produced in TREK's Waterloo, WI facility. The plant
in Whitewater is primarily used for painting & assembly.

--Mike--
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com

For a given model, you need to look at the label on the chainstay. If it
says "Made in the USA"
wrote in message
. net...
I'm interested in getting a hybrid type bike and would prefer to buy an
American-made product, if possible (yeah, I know most of the components
are going to be imported). Have been told that Trek bikes are made in
the US and that Gary Fisher bikes are made by Trek (?). (Fisher bikes
I'm considering are the Utopia/Nirvana/Zebrano/Tibruon series.)

The websites of both companies are rather vague on the question, which
usually implies that many or most of their products maybe made elsewhere
(i.e., using terms like "Designed in America", etc.)

Is there an easy way to tell what bikes are US-made on the websites?

Are the bikes well-marked?

Any other suggestions?

(I'm not looking for reasons why I shouldn't buy American or why it
doesn't matter or trying to get political or jingoistic- just an
unemployed toolmaker who prefers his dollars go to US workers.)

Thanks a lot.