Trek Bicycle: Great Bikes and Environmentally Conscious

The fact is you can recycle pretty much everything. From appliances to eyeglasses, almost everything can find second life as a new material or be reused as something similar.

Trek Bicycle announced in April that it will start full-scale scrap carbon fiber recycling at its Waterloo, Wisc. manufacturing facility, giving new life to a material that was once just discarded.

Carbon fiber is used frequently for frames because it’s affordable, lightweight and strong, but many other components are carbon fiber-based as well.

Trimmings from parts as well as accepted warranty frames are collected and shipped to Material Innovations Technologies in South Carolina. The carbon fiber is then reclaimed and used for a wide range of new applications in recreation, automotive, medical and aerospace.

Trek already partners with Alchemy Goods to recycle tire tubes, which are one of the most commonly replaced bike parts. Trek dealer stores send tire tubes to Alchemy, which uses the material to make Bontrager bags.

Specialized Updates its Saphire Womens Bike in 2011

Specialized has had an extensive women's range for several years, and there are several developments for 2011. First, there's an all-new Safire full-suspension bike. To improve performance, the Safire has moved to the shock position found on the Epic and Stumpjumper FSR, with the shock oriented in line with the seatstays.

That presented a conflict with a desire for lower standover height, but one that was neatly solved by mounting the shock in a forged pocket midway along the top tube. By tucking the shock up inside the top tube, standover height is claimed to be the lowest of any 120mm bike. The revised rear suspension is optimized for the lower shock pressures used by typically lighter women riders, with different rate curves compared to Specialized's men's bikes.

The Safire's cunning top tube construction is also found on the 100mm-travel Myka FSR. Specialized's ever-expanding 29er range extends to women's bikes too, with a 29er Myka hardtail that, impressively, comes in a range of sizes to fit riders from just 5ft tall.

2011 Specialized Allez Comp Gets a Makeover

One of the most exciting bikes shown at Keystone this year was the well-known Allez. which has been completely redesigned for 2011.

Like the Secteur aligns to the Roubaix, the aluminum Allez now aligns to the Tarmac. The geometry is identical to the Tarmac, which makes it an ideal entry level race bike.

Stiffness has been emphasized on the Allez so it should tackle road races and criteriums with equal aplomb. Its stiffness to weight ratio has been increased by 20% compared to the current model Allez, and while it's not at the level of the Tarmac SL3, it's not far off.

There are two versions of the frame: the top level E5 and the A1, which is 75g heavier than the E5.
The E5 features a 1 1/8" to 1 1/2" tapered head tube, while the A1 has a straight 1 1/8". Both frames have the Tarmac-like triangular seat stays, raised bearing placement in the fork, oversized chain stays and a braze-on rather than clamp-on front derailleur to help increase bottom bracket stiffness.

Most importantly, it's been ridden to victory in Specialized's famous Friday afternoon lunch ride, a world championship for those who take part.

Article Originally Published @ BikeRadar