Trek introduces belt drive bicycles

Trek World 2008: City bikes, belt drives, singlespeeds, and LeMond replacements

Mark Stevenson is spending the weekend in Madison Wisconsin for Trek World 2008 show, where Trek shows their dealers what they have coming up for the next year. He kindly sent me a lot of photos and information about the show.



According to Mark, "commuter oriented really were front and center this year with the star of the show being the Trek District." The District, a flat bar singlespeed bike featuring the Gates belt drive system, will be available in October for around $900. According to Trek, this aggressive road bike inspired design" produces an edgy ride with color matched Bontrager Inform saddle, orange rims, accents on the stem face plate, and even constrasting colored water bottle cage bolts. The Gates carbon belt drive shaves 280 grams from this urban bike while producing a "ninja quiet ride" with no lubrication.

Soho is another belt drive bike, which will retail for under $1000 in December. The existing 2008 Soho (chain drive) has an 8 speed Alfine hub. The 2009 model shows at Trek World included matching fenders and a minimal chainguard.

Trek Allant is a new offering that eschews the suspension bits of a common hybrid for a standard rigid steel fork and seatpost. Standard gear includes fenders and rack. The WSD version with a step through frame puts the rack on the front. Allant will be available beginning in November for $540.

Fisher road bikes revealed at the show includes the Presidio CX bicycle and the Triton, a fixed gear city bike. They twins to the LeMond Poprad an Filmore fill holes in Trek's product line that appeared with LeMond's vacancy.

According to Trek, the Fisher Simple City bicycles have been hugely successful, and dealers are looking forward to possible refinements and additions to this series in the future.

Thank you to Mark Stevenson and Arleigh Jenkins for the photos and details! See more of Mark's photos from Trek World 2008 at this photoset. You'll find more from Trek World 2008 at CommuteByBike and Twenty Nine Inches. I also just noticed that James beat me to posting information from the show at Bicycle Design, where he wrote about the District, Fisher El Ranchero, and the Soho. The El Ranchero is the anticipated longtail bike that will be offered by Trek dealers.