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Pintsized wrote:
Why are you so sure it would not be worth it to Trek (since 99 or so) to make an LA only bike mold and make 10 or 20 bikes with it? I should think the budget for a pro team, esp. one with the success USPS had since 99, would accomodate such a thing.

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Let me flip your question. Why wouldn't Trek use LA's mold (since it's already made) to make more bikes for the public?

But to answer you, I don't think it's good business. Lon thinks the molds cost >six figures. I don't believe they're that high. I'd guess from design to making the first frame might be $100k max. probably closer to the $65k-75k range. I guess this because I designed and machined molds for 7 years. I have a reasonable idea of what is involved. However, I have absolutely no idea what a Trek mold entails but can only take an educated/experienced guess.

So if the mold and related expenses cost $75k and they made 10 frames for LA, do the math. They then still need to make another <$75k mold in a size 58cm for the public if they didn't use LA's size mold. You need to sell a lot of frames to make any money at that rate. Remember there are still expenses besides the mold cost to build a frame. ...Trek is making a lot of money though. :-)

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Skuke
95 Carbonframes Tetra Pro
92 Bridgestone MB-1
90 Moser 51.151

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