“I’m sure they’ve done some research and found that’s going to play well with whatever constituency you’re trying to reach,” Miller said. “It’s a tightrope and it can definitely backfire.”

Trek, the world’s second -largest bicycle maker, is known globally not just for manufacturing but for innovation and marketing, said Tom Schuler, a 1980 Olympic cyclist who runs an athlete management business in Milwaukee and organizes a series of professional cycling races in Wisconsin every June.

Even though it does some manufacturing overseas, Trek still makes more bikes in the United States than any other company, Schuler said.

“It just seems like most people in Wisconsin would think Trek is a great asset to the state of Wisconsin,” he said.

Walker insisted he is just trying to give voters the facts.

“We’re not criticizing Trek; we’re pointing out that voters deserve to know the full record,” Walker said Friday. Walker’s criticism amid the heat of the campaign comes just two years after his administration lauded Trek and made it one of five companies at the center of a marketing drive to attract other businesses to Wisconsin.