# ahhhh Yes!



## CARBON110 (Apr 17, 2002)

In the begining Trek bicycle corp. created OCLV in the early 1980s between the heavens and the earth. Since its introduction and developement it has been a high standard of material. In 1999 Trek changed some of the fabrications in the OCLV carbon creating OCLV 150. Lance Armstrong consequently rode his red white and blue Trek OCLV carbon to be the second American and ONLY cancer survivor to win the Tour De France. 

In the year 2000 Trek again improved upon its ultimate high performance by creating OCLV 120. In addition to this Trek added an entire OCLV Time Trial bike to its vast closet of bicycle weaponry and stronger carbon forks. As is the the custom in the ranks of professional bike racing Lance Armstrong requested a super light super stiff bike to be built specifically for the mountain stages of the Tour. A bike that could hold up to thousands of miles of grueling punishment yet retain the comfort and versatility OCLV carbon offers. Trek responded. Hence CARBON110 was born. 

To this day Trek and Lance are covering the ranks of professional cycling and the roads of every hemisphere in the world. History as they say, is still being made

=P


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## torquecal (Nov 9, 2002)

*hmmm*

It's a proud history to follow the greatest European brands of the peloton's history. 



CARBON110 said:


> In the begining Trek bicycle corp. created OCLV in the early 1980s between the heavens and the earth. Since its introduction and developement it has been a high standard of material. In 1999 Trek changed some of the fabrications in the OCLV carbon creating OCLV 150. Lance Armstrong consequently rode his red white and blue Trek OCLV carbon to be the second American and ONLY cancer survivor to win the Tour De France.
> 
> In the year 2000 Trek again improved upon its ultimate high performance by creating OCLV 120. In addition to this Trek added an entire OCLV Time Trial bike to its vast closet of bicycle weaponry and stronger carbon forks. As is the the custom in the ranks of professional bike racing Lance Armstrong requested a super light super stiff bike to be built specifically for the mountain stages of the Tour. A bike that could hold up to thousands of miles of grueling punishment yet retain the comfort and versatility OCLV carbon offers. Trek responded. Hence CARBON110 was born.
> 
> ...


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## AllUpHill (Jan 1, 2002)

How could you gloss over the ground shaking importance of Trek steel like that? That's the last time we hire you to do a documentary


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## Drone 5200 (Mar 3, 2003)

*reminds me of another creation story . . .*

And Armstrong said, Let there be "lite," and there was CARBON 110.

And Armstong rode the CARBON 110, and it was good.


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## russw19 (Nov 27, 2002)

*A couple minor corrections, for accuracy's sake..*

The OCLV was introduced in 1992, not the 80's. Prior to 1992 Trek used woven carbon tubes and aluminium lugged frames. They had a 7 tube carbon frame (if I am correct, the head tube wasn't carbon, just aluminium) for 2 years (89 and 90), and 3 tube carbon frames for quite a few more (86-93). They abandoned the 7 tube carbon frames after 1990 and only put out the 3 tube frames because they were working on the OCLVs. Although I think they kept selling the lesser expensive 3 tube carbon frames thru the 1993 model year. The OCLV's first hit the market in 1992, although a prototype was shown at Interbike in Oct. of 1991. It was not a rideable bike though. The first OCLV's rolled out of production around mid-March of 1992. In 1993 the OCLV mountain bike was released.

Also, I am not quite sure which frame you are visualizing, Carbon 110, but USPS's team bikes in 1999 were the blue frames with red letters on white panels. I know that's still Red White and Blue, but I was actually wondering if you were thinking of the red and white frames with the blue forks... those were the 1998 team bike colors.

I used to own a 94 5900. It was the light purple frame that was built to be superlight. It didn't use STI shifters.... I wish I still had that frame! I sold it because at that time I was still racing and I was sponsored by another company, although I really liked my OCLV.

Russ


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## russw19 (Nov 27, 2002)

*re-reading...*

Now that I reread, I assume you knew the OCLV was early 90's and that "early 80's" was just a typo... oh well...

Russ


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## KC10Chief (Jan 29, 2004)

All I know is that I sure am in love with my brand new 04 Trek 5200! It's one bad bike!


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## CARBON110 (Apr 17, 2002)

*Russ check your info my man...*

Russ,
The 5900 was introduced in the year 2000 for the first time. So you may have had a 5000, 5020, 5200 or a 5500 but NOT a 5900 and NO CARBON110. The 5500 was available since at least 1994. Trek did make Carbon/aluminum frames in the 80s ( 2500 series ), 1986 I am pretty sure had full carbon frames available. They used carbon from Argon bike company amigo. OCLV hit the market in 1992 but they made changes in fabrication creating their own carbon process. In addition CARBON110 wasn't created until the year 2000 introduced (as I said) in the form of the 5900 Super Light. In 1998 Trek did make a red white and blue PAINTED frame however I WAS refering to Lance's 1999 Blue frame with red white and blue decals. Trek in 1999 changed a few things like stronger forks from Icon and new cable routes as well as OCLV 150, a lighter frame. In 2000 the lightened the frames again with 5200-5500 using OCLV 120 and the 5900 using CARBON110

The advent of the 9700-9.9 series Mtn bikes in the early 1990s ( concept to production 92-93 ) but was again improved upon in late 1999 with prototype late model 9.8 OCLV HC frames. The first full suspension Y-frames were created in 1994-1995 but discontinued. The Time Trial Carbon Bike was introduced in the year 2000 out of OCLV HC with a Time aero fork. In the year 2003 it was made of CARBON110 completely with a new fork and offered only to Lance to ride on in le TDF

Look it up or call the factory-I bet your 1994 5XXX series was the envy of many =)

Note To Readers: Never mix drinks with your medication =P


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## russw19 (Nov 27, 2002)

*Whoops... my own typo...*



CARBON110 said:


> Russ,
> The 5900 was introduced in the year 2000 for the first time. So you may have had a 5000, 5020, 5200 or a 5500 but NOT a 5900 and NO CARBON110. The 5500 was available since at least 1994. Trek did make Carbon/aluminum frames in the 80s ( 2500 series ), 1986 I am pretty sure had full carbon frames available. They used carbon from Argon bike company amigo. OCLV hit the market in 1992 but they made changes in fabrication creating their own carbon process. In addition CARBON110 wasn't created until the year 2000 introduced (as I said) in the form of the 5900 Super Light. In 1998 Trek did make a red white and blue PAINTED frame however I WAS refering to Lance's 1999 Blue frame with red white and blue decals. Trek in 1999 changed a few things like stronger forks from Icon and new cable routes as well as OCLV 150, a lighter frame. In 2000 the lightened the frames again with 5200-5500 using OCLV 120 and the 5900 using CARBON110
> 
> The advent of the 9700-9.9 series Mtn bikes in the early 1990s ( concept to production 92-93 ) but was again improved upon in late 1999 with prototype late model 9.8 OCLV HC frames. The first full suspension Y-frames were created in 1994-1995 but discontinued. The Time Trial Carbon Bike was introduced in the year 2000 out of OCLV HC with a Time aero fork. In the year 2003 it was made of CARBON110 completely with a new fork and offered only to Lance to ride on in le TDF
> ...



Whoops, my own typo... it was a 5700, not a 5900. went the wrong way on the numberpad. They only made the 5700 in limited amounts and only for one year. I am trying to find pics to post... it was pretty sweet. It was a light purple color, and only had a right side STI shifter. It used a Ti stem, a Ti syncros post, Flite seat (just when they were starting to become popular, and when Trek was using their own branded Vetta TT saddles...) White Industry hubs. It was not a different frame, just a different build, and was one of the first production bikes under 17 pounds. Mine, a 56, came in at 16.7 with Time Mag/Ti Pros on it. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of my actual bike, but I am still trying to find a picture of any of them, or a Trek catalog pic for you. 

Other than that small typo, I don't need to check any of my facts... they are all accurate, and they all say the same thing you just said in your above post. I never implied my frame was a Carbon 110 or 120 frame... I think the confusion was that I said it was built to be a limited superlight bike... meaning the build kit.... not the frame being any different. Double check my post...it's all correct. 

Anyways, I wish I still had that bike! And if I can find some pics, I will post them for you. You really seem to like the OCLVs so I bet you would get a kick out of that one. I will add them to this thread if I can find them.

Russ


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## 12x23 (Jan 28, 2004)

*Owned a 1992 5500*



russw19 said:


> Whoops, my own typo... it was a 5700, not a 5900. went the wrong way on the numberpad. They only made the 5700 in limited amounts and only for one year. I am trying to find pics to post... it was pretty sweet. It was a light purple color, and only had a right side STI shifter. It used a Ti stem, a Ti syncros post, Flite seat (just when they were starting to become popular, and when Trek was using their own branded Vetta TT saddles...) White Industry hubs. It was not a different frame, just a different build, and was one of the first production bikes under 17 pounds. Mine, a 56, came in at 16.7 with Time Mag/Ti Pros on it. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of my actual bike, but I am still trying to find a picture of any of them, or a Trek catalog pic for you.
> 
> Other than that small typo, I don't need to check any of my facts... they are all accurate, and they all say the same thing you just said in your above post. I never implied my frame was a Carbon 110 or 120 frame... I think the confusion was that I said it was built to be a limited superlight bike... meaning the build kit.... not the frame being any different. Double check my post...it's all correct.
> 
> ...


It was black with white decals (a little red somewhere in there, too). I also remember seeing the 5700 in the Trek catalog. Best I recall it was specd with Mavic GL330's and Conti tubbies. I must've been a little short on cash about that time (see below).

I suppose I've owned all the oclvs; had the 5500 in '92, sold it and built an ice-violet 5500 frameset in '94, a nude in '96, a blue Postal 150 in '99, white Postal 120 in '01, and nude Postal 110 in '01. Now I see the '04 5900 frameset is a couple hundred grams lighter than my '01, and with a conventional headtube to boot. 

The oclv in a 60cm just works for me.

I don't even want to start thinking Madone's.


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## DaveLobster (Feb 5, 2004)

*More useless information...*

I have had 4 Trek bikes since 84, 1 lugged steel, 3 carbon. Of the three carbons, one was a 3-tube 2500 model from 87, and the others were OCLV from 97 and 03 (the 03 being a warranty replacement for the 97). The steel bike was bought new in 84 and stolen in 99. 

This info came from the Aegis website, and provides some insight into Trek's early work with carbon:

_"Initially, our team was contracted by Trek to produce carbon fiber tubing (pre-OCLV) for their model 2500. The Trek 2500 was manufactured by bonding carbon fiber tubing to aluminum lugs. Even though the 2500 was a huge success and marked a key turning point in the bicycle industry, it still employed traditional construction processes - lugging. By joining carbon fiber tubing to aluminum lugs, we felt carbon's greatest inherent quality, shock absorption, was lost. While super-strong and light weight, these models suffered from a rough ride. Once again, improving on a good idea, our team set out to produce all carbon monocoque (one piece) frame in order to take full advantage of carbon fiber's shock absorption and strength qualities.
In 1986, our team manufactured the first monocoque bicycle frame manufactured in the USA. Confident with our technology, Trek, a traditional steel and aluminum manufacturer, strongly supported the project. As a result, the Trek model 5000 (also pre-OCLV) was introduced, the world's first mass production carbon fiber monocoque. Fortunately, for a variety of reasons, this relationship with Trek ended shortly thereafter."_

It then goes on to describe how their company split and became Aegis (east coast) and Kestrel (west coast):

_"With strongly opposed manufacturing philosophies, we parted ways with members intent on producing frames utilizing the monocoque/one piece construction technique. While the "other half" went West to establish Cycle Composites d/b/a Kestrel, we, here in Maine, applied for and were awarded another new patent for forming our frames utilizing our new, revolutionary three-piece concept." _ 

So both Aegis and Kestrel owe a lot of their early experience working with carbon to doing contract work for Trek. I have to admit I had never heard of that "pre-OCLV" 5000 model, although I remember that the base 105-equipped OCLV from the 90's was also called a 5000.

One other minor correction to the above thread - the 3-tube bikes (2500/2300/2100) were sold as a lower-priced alternative to the OCLV's up through 1998 (they're in my 98 brochure). They were replaced by the Aluminum 2500/2300 bikes in 1999. 
-Dave


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## mmoose (Apr 2, 2004)

*lost to the ages...*

both this old discussion and the first Major win, first Euro Pro milestone for Carbon....

Did everyone forget the 1989 RR World Championship? Greg LeMond won on the OCLV.

Between that and LA, OCLV has quite a pedigree.


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