What Is the Difference Between Red Carbon and Black Carbon Trek?

Since its humble beginnings in a red barn in Waterloo, Wisconsin, in 1976, the Trek bike company has pursued bicycling excellence. For 30 years, their handmade and custom-engineered bicycle frames and components have provided bicyclists with high-quality products at competitive prices. The Trek bicycle company now features a full line of products suitable for a child's first bicycle, and up through the competitive triathlete and mountain biking professional racing bike made from OCLV carbon fiber.

  1. OCLV Red Carbon Fiber

    • Trek's premium carbon-fiber material, now referred to as Trek OCLV Red, was formerly called OCLV 55. This grade of carbon fiber is Trek's premium carbon-fiber product, and it provides the maximum strength at a minimum weight for the professional athlete. The OCLV Red uses a high percentage of high-modulus carbon fibers that are built in a complex layer-upon-layer manufacturing process. This carbon fiber is used in the manufacturing of Trek's 6 series Madones, Top Fuel SSL and Elite 9.9 bikes.

    OCLV Black Carbon Fiber

    • Trek's step-down carbon-fiber material is referred to as OCLV Black. This material was formerly called OCLV 110. This material is still a high-performance carbon fiber. The product uses an intermediate modulus carbon structure. Bikes manufactured with this material are designed using decades of Trek's tour-proven engineering knowledge. Trek uses this material for manufacturing frames and forks in the Madone 5.5 and 5.2 and the Fuel EX 9.9 brands of bikes. This material has slightly less dense carbon-fiber content than the OCLV Red product, and therefore requires more layers to reach the same strength levels. As a result, the OCLV Black bike frames are a bit heavier than comparable OCLV Red frames.

    Defining OCLV

    • OCLV stands for Optimum Compaction, Low Void Carbon. Trek designed this innovative manufacturing method as a way of producing carbon mountain bike frames. The OCLV carbon fiber is produced by a process that uses heat and pressure applied to compress multi-directional layers of carbon-fiber materials. The multi-directionality of the carbon-fiber materials gives the frames increased strength to dynamic forces that affect a mountain biker's equipment from all directions.

    Weight Versus Cost

    • The difference between the materials is the cost vs. weight vs. performance trade-off curve. OCLV Red is the highest-cost and highest-performing bike frame material. For mountain bike riders who do not want to purchase the top-of-the-line products, the OCLV Black provides similar strength at the cost of a few increased ounces. These bike frames costs the consumer less. In a Good, Better, Best marketing strategy, Trek offers the OCLV White, Black and Red carbon-fiber mountain bike frames, respectively.