These are the pictures from a tour though the Trek Waterloo plant. Pictures were not allowed in some of the CF areas and we were not allowed in the carbon lay up area where they actually make the lugs and Madone tubes. The explanations are from memory and as I understood what was said and happening.

1 – Just so you know where we are.

2 – The bike that Lance did the little CX run with after Beloki’s crash.

3 – The crash bike with the broken chain stay.

4 - Guess

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4a – Aluminum tubing headed for recycle.

5 – Frames in the warehouse. The guide said they only inventory enough to meet special needs such as customer warrantee or a Project One. These are non-CF.

6 – Some in-process aluminum “pilot” frames. These are test frames for the new Fuel. The are the first to be produced on the “line” and will be tested to destruction to make sure the process is acceptable.

7 – Some specialty machinery. The upright one on the left is the hydraulic former that puts the buldge in the top tube of Kleins for the internal cable routing.

8 – This is the laser tubing cutter used for the aluminum tubing. Every tube used in an aluminum bike from Waterloo goes through this one machine. There is another next to it for the steel and titanium tubing.

9, 10, 11 – These three guys do the steel and ti welding and brazing. There is very little of either done at Waterloo. It may be just the Trek touring bike (560?) and the Lemond ti bikes. All BMX, comfort and hybrids come from overseas.

12 – This is a quality control area for frame testing.

13 – Non-CF frames in process.

14 – The aluminum welding area. There are several (10-12?) of these booths welding up the aluminum frames. They run one shift, 5 days per week on Al, steel and ti. The CF line runs three shifts, 5 days plus some weekends to keep up.

15 – Some CF tubes. I don’t know what for. MTB, I think.

16, 17 – CF in-process frames. Some painted and some with the “carbon finish’ which is added to make it look like people think carbon fiber is suppose to look.

17a – Some frames being processed special for some reason. Most are factory paint or decal defects. Some are customer repairs and warrantee work. Just to the right is a rack with about six unpainted Project Ones that are also handled special.

18 – This is the CF frame jig. Every CF frame is assembled, glue added to each joint and press fit in this jig. In the picture he is installing the drying jig (the flat bar in front) which holds it together while the joint glue dries.