<< Bevil Hogg was the "representative of a French bicycle company" who had "married an American girl and wanted to stay here" with whom Burke decided it might be possible to make bicycles. He later left Trek to form Kestrel.....Tom French was the original head of sales. He later left (c.1983) to join Blackburn. >>
As some of you know, I was the first Trek rep in the southeast back in those days.. Must have been about 1976-7 until 1980?
The way I understood it was that Bevil Hoog (a South African) and Tom French worked in a bike shop in Wisconsin and they also imported French Stella bikes. Dick Burke may have had some financial involvement in that.
IIRC Stella burnt down at the peak of demand and Burke started Trek with Hogg & French... Tom and Bevil left to found Kestrel. Kestel then later was bought by Schwinn. Tom went on to be pres. of Blackburn, (with Jim Blackburn himself, before the Bell buyout) and Bevil went on to bhe the president of Everest wheelchair co.
Dale Brown Greensboro, NC USA
-----Original Message----- From: JohnThompson@new.rr.com To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Sent: Sat, 12 Aug 2006 12:58 PM Subject: Re: [CR]Richard Burke & Trek's origins
loudeeter@aol.com wrote:
> Mordecia Silver provided the excellent "Origins of Trek" post. Below
> are the steel models that I have for Trek in the Used Bike Buyers
> Guide. I'm sure when I started gathering this data that I omitted
> their touring frames. If anyone has more information to fill the
> gaps, I would appreciate them. Also, does anyone know the role that
> Bevil Hogg, Mike Appel, and Tom French played in the founding of Trek
> and when they joined the effort? Thanks. Lou Deeter, Orlando FL,
> USA
Bevil Hogg was the "representative of a French bicycle company" who had "married an American girl and wanted to stay here" with whom Burke decided it might be possible to make bicycles. He later left Trek to form Kestrel (was he the un-named general manager Burke "took out" on a Friday night? I don't know; by then I had left Trek myself). Mike Appel was one of the original brazers. He left Trek around 1979 to work as a custom frame builder. I understand he is now back with Trek in some capacity. Tom French was the original head of sales. He later left (c.1983) to join Blackburn.
--
-John Thompson (john@os2.dhs.org)
Appleton WI USA