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WISCONSINNOVATION Events
- WISCONSINNOVATION will open on Tuesday, July 19th and run through Saturday, September 17th at the Wisconsin Historical Museum.
- The exhibit features the Trek Madone 5.9 that Lance Armstrong rode to victory in the 2003 Tour de France
 Lance Armstrong testing a new bicycle in a windtunnel. As American cyclist Lance Armstrong scales the Alps and Pyrenees in his quest for a seventh
consecutive Tour de France victory, he rides bicycles born and bred with homegrown Wisconsin
technology. And an exhibit at the state history museum — WISCONSINNOVATION: Trek
Bicycle Corporation of Waterloo — tells the tale behind the whole saga. The exhibit tells
the story of Trek Bicycles and the innovations that have skyrocketed the company to
unparalleled industry success, a story complemented by the ongoing success of bicycling's
most famous rider of all time.
Centerpieces in the exhibit include the Trek Madone 5.9 that
Armstrong rode to victory in the 2003 Tour de France and a prototype of Trek's brand new 2005
TTX in primer gray — a bike so new it's not yet on the market. The TTX is the same frame
Armstrong rode in the Stage 1 time trial of this year's Tour de France.
As an industry leader, Trek continues a venerable Wisconsin tradition of innovation in manufacturing.
Its proprietary Optimum Compaction, Low Void (OCLV) process, allowing for lighter and stronger bikes,
represents a milestone in bicycling technology. And in charting a course toward its own brand of
engineering excellence, Trek joins the roster of other notable Wisconsin industry leaders ranging
from Trane air conditioners and Manitowoc cranes to Cray supercomputers.
Trek's success as a Wisconsin
industry parallels the state's longstanding love of cycling. Wisconsin boasts more bicycle trails per
capita than any other state in the Union. Hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin residents of all ages take
to the road on bicycles each year, generating an economic impact estimated as high as $834 million,
according to a 2005 study by the Governor's Bicycling Coordinating Council.
Lance Armstrong leads Group 3 during the 2003 Tour de France on a bicycle on display at the Wisconsin Historical Museum The Wisconsin Historical Society has long cast a wide net to document the history of business and industry. The
Society's archives bulge with business records and key artifacts of national companies ranging from International
Harvester and Singer Sewing Machines to the records on NBC and major motion picture studios, including United
Artists. Records of Wisconsin companies in the collections include those of Appleton Woolen Mills, West Bend,
Oshkosh B'Gosh and, more recently, the Marcus Corporation.
WISCONSINNOVATION represents another step in this longstanding tradition. Artifacts and records
that help tell the story include a Trek Y bike used by the U.S. Secret Service and bikes that mark milestones
in research and development. Among these is the first wind-tunnel prototype of the 2000 TT frame featuring time
trial technology developed for Tour de France competition. Multiple engineering drawings, blueprints and component
parts also document the evolution of Trek's products. A timeline of Trek's history from its founding in 1976 with
just five employees and hands-on displays and activities for visitors, including live coverage of the 2005 Tour de
France, make WISCONSINNOVATION a homegrown exhibition not to be missed.
Back to the Wisconsin Historical Museum.
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