Trek feels the heat as US police use its bikes in clashes with protestors | Sticky Bottle

Philly police attempt to disperse crowd after hundreds mased/gassed on Parkway. This was @ 5:30 as curfew nears. Dude w/ white shirt provokes scuffle, shoves baton into civilian’s throat. #phillyprotest #blacklivesmatter #GeorgeFloydprotests #protests2020 pic.twitter.com/XDKOMbr0Sr

— Peopledelphia (@Peopledelphia) June 1, 2020

Trek bikes have featured in scenes like these during riots and clashes in the US; police using the company's bikes to patrol on and then as a weapon when trouble flares

Trek Bikes has found itself at the centre of criticism after its bikes have been used as weapons by police during riots and other clashes in the US since the killing of George Floyd last week.

The company produces bikes specifically for policing and some police forces use them for cycling patrols.

A trend in US police has been towards deploying large groups of cycling police officers, some of them specialised policing teams, to get to the scenes of disturbances quickly and quell them; acting as a group and using their bikes as a tactical offensive and defensive weapon.

In a number of recent incidents officers on Trek bikes have become involved in ugly clashes and the bikes have been used by the officers against members of the public they are trying to take on.

Some of these clashes have been recorded by people on video phones and posted on social media; bikes being used to push back crowds, often in very physical confrontations, with CS spray and batons also used on the Black Lives Matter protestors.

Trek is not the only bike brand to supply bikes to US police forces. But in a PR disaster for the company its bikes have been used by officers in ugly clashes that have received a lot of attention on social media.

Lara Gillespie attacks Dolomite stage as Giro hits high mountains — The media is beginning to examine how bikes are being used as a tactical weapon and a shield of sorts during the riots and other clashes in the US

Video - Ireland's Meehan climbs with best on brutal Alpine terrain — The media is beginning to examine how bikes are being used as a tactical weapon and a shield of sorts during the riots and other clashes in the US

*These images are a disaster for Trek, though it has no control over what the kind of policing its bikes are used for*

Trek has not directly addressed the police's recent use of its bikes - which is out of the company's control, it must be said. But the company has entered into the debate around the Black Lives Matter protests in the US.

It published social media posts with the words "We need big changes" against a black background, below, and Trek president John Burke has written a lengthy article on the Trek site about what he sees as the way out of the current problems in the US.

He explores the "ramifications of the unspeakable tragedy of George Floyd’s murder" and sets out, in great detail, why he believes the current problems have arisen and offers his view, again in some detail, about how they can be resolved.

It is perhaps an unusual move for the president of a bike company. But his column was published against the backdrop of photographs and video across the media and social media of Trek bikes being used as weapons by police in riots sparked by the death of a man in police custody.

The reaction to Trek's social media posts has been somewhat predictable; some people praising the contribution but most urging the company to stop producing a bike for policing and to immediately stop selling it to the police.

Trek bikes have been used in Philadelphia for some time, with this incident, in which a protest camp where people campaigning against a crackdown on undocumented migrants was broken up back in 2018