On Saturday, April 6, 2019 at 3:57:47 AM UTC+1, jbeattie wrote:

What Trek doesn't have is sex appeal and European cachet.

Rubbish. My Smover, with a fully automatic gearbox and electronic active suspension, is a Trek, engineered by Trek's Benelux Division. It is not only technically advanced but very elegant too; the local cafe racers drooled over it. Trek has plenty of European cachet and sex appeal; they just don't bother trying to sell it to Americans because the American market is -- how to put this politely? -- stuck in the Peugeot ten-speed era.

BTW, when I reengineered my Smover to better fit a hedonist's priorities, Trek's European office gave me their enthusiastic support, advice and components; it was a very happy purchase of a bike so rare and wonderful it could easily have become an inoperable waste of money. I conclude that the legendary Trek service applies to Europe no less than to the States.

Andre Jute
Credit where it is due