page_title: Trek Bicycle Corporation
section_title: 1997–2005 — The Armstrong years and further expansion
hierarchical_section_title: Trek Bicycle Corporation / History / 1997–2005 — The Armstrong years and further expansion
caption_attribution_description: English: Trek Y Foil
context_page_description: Trek Bicycle Corporation is a bicycle and cycling product manufacturer and distributor under brand names Trek, Electra Bicycle Company, Bontrager, and Diamant Bikes. The company has previously manufactured bikes under the Gary Fisher, LeMond Racing Cycles, Klein, and Villiger Bikes brand names. With its headquarters in Waterloo, Wisconsin, Trek bicycles are marketed through 1,700 independently owned bicycle shops across North America, subsidiaries in Europe, Asia, South Africa, as well as distributors in 90 countries worldwide. Most Trek bicycles are manufactured outside the United States, in countries including the Netherlands, Germany, Taiwan and China.
context_section_description: In 1997, Trek helped sign former world road race champion (1993) Lance Armstrong to the Trek-sponsored United States Postal Service Pro Cycling Team. Armstrong won his first Tour de France in 1999 aboard a Trek 5500, becoming the first American to win the Tour on an American team riding an American made bicycle. Armstrong went on to win a record-setting seven-consecutive Tours de France, all of them aboard Trek bicycles aside from a few early time trial stages that he rode aboard a Litespeed bike, painted and badged as a Trek. In 2012, all of Armstrong's Tour victories were rescinded after Armstrong was found to have violated anti-doping regulations.
  In 1998, Trek established its Advanced Concepts Group (ACG), a collection of engineers and technicians dedicated to technologies development. The leading edge of Trek's design and engineering efforts, ACG is perhaps best known for a number of products introduced and used by Lance Armstrong during his historic Tour de France wins, including the original Trek Madone (2003)—named for the Col de la Madone, a 12K climb that starts in the French town of Menton and used by Armstrong to test his fitness—and TTX time trial bike (2005). That same year Trek opened its first European manufacturing facility, a frame and wheel assembly plant in Carlow, Ireland. The Carlow facility stayed open until late 2004, at which time Trek transferred its European production to a manufacturing facility in Hartmannsdorf, Germany.
  Responding to the unique needs of female cyclists, in 2000 Trek introduced Women's Specific Design (WSD) bicycle and accessories. WSD products are designed to fit female riders, and feature sizing and proportions appropriate for women. In October 2001, Trek introduced a custom bike program named Project One, which gave customers the opportunity to customize their Trek bike by selecting the bike's paint scheme and component mix.
  Hoping to expand into a new market segment, Trek introduced Trek Travel in December 2002, a provider of luxury cycling vacations in Europe and North America. Trek Travel operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Trek Bicycle until January 2007, when Trek spun off its interests in the company. Despite the split, Trek and Trek Travel enjoy a close working relationship.
  In 2003, Trek acquired Villiger, a Swiss bicycle company, and Diamant, the oldest bicycle company in Germany. The acquisition gave Trek a foothold in the active-leisure bicycle market, an important segment in Europe. As part of the acquisition, Trek took over ownership of the Villiger-Diamant production facility in Hartmannsdorf, Germany. Trek's global expansion continued in 2005, when Trek expanded into the Chinese market by opening two stores in Beijing and signing deals with 20 Chinese distributors.
  For the third time in its history, in 2005 Trek again expanded its worldwide headquarters in Waterloo, adding another 43,000 sq ft (4,000 m²) to house its burgeoning engineering, R&D, and marketing departments. As part of the expansion, Trek included an atrium exhibit to display a number of historically significant bikes from Trek's family of brands, including one of the first mountain bikes ever built by Gary Fisher, and seven bikes used by Lance during his historic Tour de France run (one from each year, 1999–2005).
caption: A carbon fiber Y-foil from the late 1990s
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