Minus Ten Review -33

My old next door neighbor's chopper.

Ten years ago this week on the blog I reported on going to the Trek show in Madison, Wisconsin. This was back when Trek put on a typical "trade show" deal. They showed all of their latest wares and had a bit of a party atmosphere for the dealers that showed up. It was pretty cool to talk to the actual product managers, athletes, and luminaries like Gary Fisher.

Unfortunately that sort of thing is a bygone era now. "Trek World", as they call it now, is structured, educational seminars, where Trek gets to drill down their philosophy and business tactics. Oh sure, I bet they have a little fun too, but instead of this being free, you have to pay, and the atmosphere is completely businesslike. Not a good time for relationship building and brand building with lower tiered employees, such as myself. So, I haven't been to a Trek show in what? Almost ten years now. Trek relies on its outside rep for its only personal contact point now,otherwise it's all on their own web portal. Pretty soulless these days...........

I also made some pretty bold statements about where 29 inch wheels would be going. Although the burp in the timeline, which was the big push with 650B, interrupted what I thought was going to happen, the point is, it happened. That being long travel 29"ers which would dominate the trail market.

In 2008 people thought that was an absolutely crazy notion, but look at where we are at now. 29"er long travel bikes are everywhere. Sure, 650B is right there as well, but no one ever said that 650B wheels would never be a good fit for long travel full suspension bikes. They certainly said that about 29"ers though. Here is a bit of what I heard and posted back ten years ago regarding the possibility of long travel 29"ers: "No way, you will never see it. It doesn't make sense with big wheels. They are too flexy, there isn't a fork, there are no tires, the chain stays would be miles long. It is a ridiculous notion. Go back to your single speed wagon wheeler and be happy!" 

I wonder how that crow tastes in 2018?