The shiny outside cover is a front for the political backstabbing. If you are old, management will look to get rid of you, especially in manufacturing. Trek is trying to act like a marketing company, but they are a bike company. They are too focused on being a cool young company to recognize that they are sacrificing cycling industry knowlege for trying to be young and hip. Also, there is no sense of community for the people of Waterloo or Madison or their manufacture employee. Their priorities are their private investors and their white-collar employees. Their manufacturing employees give off a feeling that the older they get, the more likely they are to be laid off to save money. Trek's management has no loyalty to their manufacturing people. Their composites technology is stuck in the 90's and is not advancing. Look to Germany for leading-edge bike composite technology.