Trek District

Just because it only has one gear doesn’t mean that the District isn’t good on the hills. Above is a picture sent in by Chris. He snapped it during his 3.3 mile climb up a 7% grade road.  

Details are just rolling in, but it looks like the District line just got a whole lot bigger. It is now comprised of 4 different models, only two of which have belt drives. Here is the quick overview.

The District Carbon. Belt drive, OCLV Carbon, $3359.

1st District. Belt drive, with retro looks. This is really the true younger brother to the 2009 District. $1099.

2nd District. No belt drive here, although it looks like it will still have the split rear triangle. I think that this is the best looking of the bunch personally, and it would make an awesome fixed gear bike. $709.

3rd District. Again no belt drive, but still a really good looking bike. $709

Huge thanks to Jerrylikesbikes for the pictures!

One of our loyal readers Sander van der Vegte of http://www.coin-op.nl/ just got his Trek District last week. It’s currently the only District in Holland. He was kind enough to take some great pictures and write up his initial thoughts. If you are one of the lucky to own a District, drop us a line and share some photo’s, we’ll post them up for everyone to see. See Sanders full review below.

If there were something like drive-by burglaries, this would be the tool of choice.

The Trek District is quiet. You hear nothing but the tires or the hard-to-notice squeak of the belt when you push down hard. It’s a lovely experience, especially in parks and woods. I bought this bike at a Trek dealer called Top Bikes in The Hague, the Netherlands. Amongst many other bike stores they were one of the few that listed the District. I made reservations approximately three months upfront not knowing about the delays. When it finally arrived they informed me that only four (or maybe five) Districts were made, and only one was shipped to Holland. I consider myself very lucky.

This is my first Trek bike. I’m not an expert in biking, but in this country everyone rides bikes. It’s by far the best way to get around town (and I don’t even have a drivers license as result). This picture gives you a good idea of how common biking is here:  
I’ve owned many bikes. Some were stolen, some rusted away. But it wasn’t until a few years ago before I bought my first new bike. Eventually, I got fed up with having grease all over the place and looking like a clown stuffing my pants in my sock. The belt drive of the District is, together with its stunning looks, the reason why I wanted to have one. The bike doesn’t make you worry about things like grease or gears. Just get on and drive away. A lazy-men’s bike when it comes down to those things. And I find that positive. Before I left the store I asked if they could flip the stem. Apparently the stem is mounted upwards by factory default. With such a minimalistic design something trivial as a stem can change the look of the bike entirely. The mechanic flipped it for me without a problem.

My first trip was from The Hague to Rotterdam, which is (including some sight seeing) roughly 30 kilometers or 18.5 miles. The rock-hard tires in combination with brick roads made for an uncomfortable ride at first, but as soon as I hit tarmac all my worries were gone. The word ‘smooth’ couldn’t even cover it. The gear ratio is perfect, as is the grip on the pedals. The belt drive feels like a strong piece of fabric that doesn’t stretch. It’s hard to describe the difference between the belt and a normal chain, but you can certainly feel it. There is absolutely no slippage or jerky moves to be found. It really makes you wonder why this system hasn’t been applied to all bikes already.

There is a downside to the quiet ride though. For instance, with every odd sound the bike produces I find myself bending towards the frame listening carefully to learn what causes it, and it makes a bike bell a necessity which lessens the looks of this clean machine. I can’t recall how many times I had to brake or steer clear from unexpected bikers and pedestrians that simply didn’t hear me coming. The good looks of the bike is something we can all agree on. The minute the bike was outside the store it received its first bystander’s comment of approval. Kids shouting “cool bike!”, grown ups turning heads and elderly people stopping for a moment to study it. It all happened in a matter of hours. If I have to summarize my impressions, it would be that the Trek District is a great looking bike, a very good and silent ride that is ridiculously well priced for what it offers. That evening I couldn’t help myself and went for another 15km ride. I eventually stopped at a bench and took a closer look. Here are a few pictures of interesting things.

The District is being branded as a commuter bike, which it would be great as. The belt drive means that there is no greasy chain to eat your pants as you dodge traffic. The single speed makes it simple and reliable. But what about those that want to simplify it even more and go fixed gear? Fixie inc is the only fixed gear belt drive that I know of, but I have often wondered how easy it would be to make the District into a fixie. Here is the reply I got from Trek.

TD: I’m sure you already know that the style of the District appeals to the fixie crowd. How easy would it be to convert to a fixie?

TREK: Only factor limiting this is a compatible rear hub and cog. There are some companies out there that are working on this, including Trek. Currently, though, it’s not possible to convert to fixed gear with parts available through Trek. If other companies have them available already, then you could use their parts to switch over.

TD: It sounds like the rear cog just slips over a Shimano freehub body. If this is the case, could you just use the Surly Fixxer to convert it to a fixed gear?

TREK: Can’t guarantee that the Fixxer would work with the stock hub, as this isn’t a Shimano hub (it’s Formula). As long as the belt cog was compatible with the converter, it could work. There are some really cheep looking belt drive freewheels out there as well. There’s a folding bike company called Strida that has been using belt drive for years and has drive train parts available.

TD: What is the rear spacing?

TREK: Spacing is 135mm in the rear, 100mm front. (not 120mm track).

With that in mind, it seems like a simple conversion to a fixie may not exist. Of course you could always re-lace the rear wheel with a different hub and you would be in business. Any other ideas?

Something tells me that Trek will be working on solving the problem with some in house solution if the demand is high enough. I know I would love a flip flop belt drive hub.

Ninja quiet. That’s how Trek describes the District, thanks to it’s Gates Belt Drive. Here is a shot and descriptions from the new 2009 catalogue.

Official description after the jump.

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One of the most exciting and unique parts of the Trek District besides it’s amazing good looks is the fact that it features the Gates Belt Drive. There have been quite a few people, including myself, wondering just how you go about getting the tension and tracking set right and how it’s affected by having to take a wheel off. I had a chance to ask Trek some questions, and here is what I found out.

TD: I think the biggest question that people have is just how the belt tensioning and alignment work. I know that belt drives require a fair amount of tension to avoid slipping, and the alignment is pretty critical. Is it something that is easily done, does pulling the wheel off to fix a flat totally screw up the alignment?

TREK: The belt is tensioned at the rear dropouts, which attach to the frame via two bolts and slide horizontally. The drop outs are each one piece, but when the wheel is taken off and the drop outs are completely removed, the belt can be removed and replaced via a slit between the chain stay and seat stay on the drive side. There isn’t any lateral adjustment because the chain line is set by the BB spindle length and it’s nearly impossible to successfully have the wheel installed with the dropouts bolted in different positions, and since the drop outs themselves are not horizontal, the wheel is easy to install correctly. It’s not a quick release system, but installing and removing the wheel takes very little effort.

TD: As far as tensioning the belt, I was half expecting some sort of set screw like some of the horizon drop out bikes have. Without set screws, how do you have fine adjustment over the belt tracking and tension. It seems like it’s not a very refined method? Or am I just making it sound harder than it really is.

TREK: Since you’re actually moving the dropouts themselves, and not the wheel in the drop out, it’s much easier to set tension and position. I would say the sliding drop out system is easier to set than setting a wheel into the correct position of a traditional horizontal or semi-horizontal drop out. It is essentially impossible to set the wheel into the frame without the correct lateral spacing between the stays. All one has to do is pull back on the wheel till the belt is tight while the drop out retaining bolts are loose, tighten the bolts, then ride.

There are very few Districts available at this time, so not many people have actually ridden one. I know a bike shop employee that was lucky enough to take a spin on one back at Trek world, here are his impressions.

Well, here is the first bit of info you may be interested in. If you order a district right now (10/22/08) in a 56 cm you can expect it March 9, 2009. Trek likes to underpromise and overdeliver so let’s hope that is the case with the district.

I was able to ride the District as well as the Soho, both equipped with belt drives, at Trek World on the demo day at the plant in Waterloo, WI. The bike we rode was not the District you see in the photos, however it was the same frame geometry and the belt drive, so you got the idea even though you didn’t get the flashy velocity rims and the leather grips.

The first thing you notice is how quiet it is. A single speed has never been a noisy bike, so the noticeable silence of a belt drive is impressive. It is an extremely smooth riding bike and will be great city bike due to the greaseless belt drive and chain guard. Those fixed gear devotees should be able to convert their Districts. The guys at Trekworld said that the belt drive could not only handle the additional torque that a fixed gear creates, but would in fact out perform a traditional chain. The belt drive, since it has no bushings is not supposed to stretch…ever.

As far as the geometry of the District goes, it feels very similar to a crossbike. Not quite as relaxed as a mtb, but still relaxed enough to be a great commuter while remaining fast. The District is going to be an extremely fun bike to ride and pictures pretty much speak for themselves as far as aesthetics are concerned.

Trekworld 09 was the first big showcase for the Trek District, and it caused a lot of buzz too. Some of the best pictures available of the District at Trekworld come from Guitar Ted, who had a backstage pass and snapped some good photo’s. While the pictures can been seen all over the internet now, the ones here were originally posted over at Bicycle Design. If you are looking for more shots in high res, check out Richard Masoner’s Flickr photos.

While I obviously don’t have the whole inside story on the roots of the Trek District, we can pick up a couple of good hints from Treks blog “LIfe in the bike lane“. Just after Trekworld and the announcement of the new Trek District there was an interview with the designer of the District 96. While at first blush it looks like there isn’t a whole lot in common between the District and the 96er, there is probably more there than meets the eye. The 96er is a “full on concept bike” and as such we will probably never see it go into production. Probably a good thing too, because it’s not nearly as good looking as the District. The District 96 shows that Trek is thinking about “fashion” bikes for the urban hipster crowd. While it may be over the top, it is the forerunner to the more stylish, and much more practical District. Some of the obvious carryovers are the deep v rims and the track pedals. I’m just glad the production design turned out so much better than the concept.

More pics of the District 96 after the jump.

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Why would anyone have a whole blog dedicated to one bike?  Why not?  I first heard about the Trek District a couple of weeks ago, when I saw it on Coolmaterial.com.  My first reaction was that it was one fine looking SS, especially for one that was a production bike. When I noticed that it had a belt drive, instead of a chain drive, my obsession started.  Since then I have been scouring the internet looking for more information about it.  While the information about it is still somewhat limited, one thing is apparent, there is a lot of buzz about the bike.  That’s when I got the crazy idea to start a one bike blog.  I figured there were others out there like me who were looking for more information, so I thought I would do my best to gather it all in one place. With that, TrekDistrict.com was born.  Think of it as the unofficial fan site of the Trek District bike.