Trek Bicycle Corporation signed a long-term licensing agreement with Greg LeMond, the 3-time Tour de France champion and the first American to win the Tour—to design, build, and distribute LeMond Racing Cycles. 1995 was also the year Trek opened a state-of-the-art assembly facility in Whitewater, Wisconsin, leaving the Waterloo location free to focus solely on frame production. In 1997, Trek helped sign former world road race champion (1993) Lance Armstrong to the Trek-sponsored United States Postal Service Pro Cycling Team. Armstrong won his first Tour de France in 1999 aboard a Trek 5500, becoming the first American to win the Tour on an
Specialized Bicycle Components and later agreed with Specialized he would change the drink's logo. In 2011 Portland wheel builder Epic Wheel Works was forced to change its name due to potential trademark conflict with Specialized. In 2012 the company sued two former employees after they started the bicycle brand Volagi Cycles, for theft of trade secrets and breach of employment contract, as well as other charges. Of Specialized's nine claims, eight were thrown out of court, and the jury awarded Specialized one dollar in damages on the remaining count (breach of employment contract) that went to trial. It was estimated by (Volagi's founders)