# Is this 2011 Madone 6.5 "made in USA"?



## aclinjury (Sep 12, 2011)

2011 Trek Madone 6.5, 52cm carbon frame, ridden less than 100 miles! | eBay

I was looking at the above Ebay auction (has ended) for a Madone 6.5. While following the auction, I sent an email to the seller asking if on the frame it says "made in Waterloo, USA". The seller said it has "designed in Waterloo", and even the seller himself acknoledged that baffled him too since he himself said all Madone 6 series are made in USA.

So my question to all you Trek expert is, could it be possible that the frame is made in Taiwan?? If not Taiwan, then why does it say "designed in Waterloo". Very curious to know myself.


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## jmchapple (Feb 8, 2007)

the 6's are made in waterloo, all others have been outsourced too asia. at least that is my understanding.


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## mpower13 (Jun 10, 2011)

I suspect not as I have seen two 2011 Project One complete bike built locally and they all only have decals say that Designed in Waterloo USA and nothing Made in USA. Trek only says/write it but never put it in writing on the frame.


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## kookieCANADA (Jan 20, 2011)

I have the 2011 6.5 p1. It has decal on the chainstay "Handbuilt in the USA".

There is a decal on the down tube "designed in waterloo wi" oclv2

You might be able to see the chainstay in my user gallery picture. I think it depends on the paint scheme you pick in p1.

Designed/engineered and built are different things. A bike can be designed/engineered in usa but built in asia.


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## jtsk (Mar 6, 2002)

All Trek "OCLV" carbon bikes are made in the US. The reason for this is that Trek has contracts with the US military to produce OCLV carbon parts and the military will not let the proprietary technology/manufacturing process outside of the US. If Trek outsourced the manufacture of their OCLV frames (which they could do to lower costs), they would lose the military contracts.


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## Allez Rouge (Jan 1, 1970)

jtsk said:


> All Trek "OCLV" carbon bikes are made in the US.


Um, I don't think so, although that may have been the case at one time. Even the 3.x Madones are described as "OCLV" and they are no longer made in the USA. The 5.x series are also OCLV and the materials are described as "The best mix of materials available outside of North America. Light, strong, stiff, and perfectly suited to the sophisticated frame technologies that distinguish Trek frames."

The only frames I see on the Trek web site noted as being built in the USA are the 6.x Madones.


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## jtsk (Mar 6, 2002)

Allez Rouge said:


> The best mix of materials available outside of North America


You may be right....makes me wonder if the frames are actually built in the US with materials acquired from outside US?


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## jtsk (Mar 6, 2002)

Yeah, I stand corrected. I misunderstood. It's the SSL frames (some of the 6 series frames only) that are all made in the US because of the military restriction.

Sorry about that......


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## aclinjury (Sep 12, 2011)

Wait a minute, I didn't know that the military (an entity run on taxpayers money) is allowed to make a run a business making a profit? And I assume military making parts for Trek is for a profit. I have never heard of the military making parts for civilian companies for a profit, ever. It's usually the civilian contractors who leech the military.

And furthermore, if this OCLV is so secretive, what's to prevent an industrial spy getting hold of this material and analyzing it? Heck, what's to prevent Specialized or Cannondale from asking the military to make their carbon frames too? The military can't take sides can they? when they're using public money to do all this?

Formula1 carbon technology is probably more advanced than this OCLV, and you don't hear of F1 teams restricting their carbon technology.

Something is fishy on many levels regarding the military and OCLV! But personally me think Trek marketing department is at work overtime.

And to me, "designed in USA" is a euphorism for "cheap material". It's like China's campaign to change the motto "Made in China" to "Made with China". All word play.


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## jtsk (Mar 6, 2002)

No, no no......When I said Trek has contracts I meant that Trek is a contractor for the military. Wow

This is why I love forums.


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## aclinjury (Sep 12, 2011)

jtsk said:


> No, no no......When I said Trek has contracts I meant that Trek is a contractor for the military. Wow
> 
> This is why I love forums.


lol my bad. For some reason, I read your post as "..Trek has contracted the US miltary to produce OCLV.."!

Hmm I wonder if not for the military contract, would Trek move Madone 6 production to Taiwan too. I can't imagine Trek's carbon technology as anything ground breaking that nobody in the carbon fiber industry doesn't already know. Me think Trek got a fat military contract though, like all the fatcat defense contractors!


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## MerlinDS (May 21, 2004)

trek makes bikes, period.


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