BicycleBicycle

You know all the parts made by brands that suspiciously don't own a factory for said parts?
Most of that stuff comes from a select few factories.

Back in the day, things that came from said factories were actual crap. They went on most of the toy bikes and sub $100 bikes.
Pot metal hubs, barely steel frames, etc.

After a while some small companies figured out what was good (They started to use aircraft aluminum and various alloy steels), and came out with really nice parts.
THEN, someone decided "What if I take the features of these parts, and then just mass manufacture them?". Then, the quality of everything kind of went up.

Origin8 is basically that mass manufacturer that uses most of what is now known as the "industry standard" for what makes a decent bike part.
They get their stuff from the same few places, and most other brands re-brand these exact same parts (save for maybe a different locknut or something).
Not amazing, but just well established designs that work. They are a relatively new company, and they came out after the first fixed gear boom.

That being said, if you want to build a decent bike, you can't really go wrong with any of these "aftermarket" companies, origin8 being one of them (amongst others like 1/8").
You'll be getting the industry aftermarket standard, and you likely won't need a lot more than that. All of them use good materials (albeit the cheapest possible material of this material, like the softest 7075), and well known designs that have worked for people previously.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of middle ground in the fg/ss world. You're either buying this stuff, or you're buying some re-branded version of this stuff, or you are buying very very expensive proprietary things.
For example, not very long ago I was in the market for a front portuer rack. I wanted something just above my front tire (low), that was wide, and that had a bunch of bars to tie things to basically.
My choices were an origin8 rack $(59.99) some kind of blackburn rack ($74.99), a Soma rack($189.99) and a Cetma rack ($200).

If i had $200 to blow would I have gone with the US made Cetma? Absolutely. Some dude in a garage throwing out custom racks? F-yeah i'm all over it.
But I was only willing to spend like $90 at the VERY most.
The blackburn rack had bells and whistles, but was exatctly the same quality, and made in exactly the same place as the origin8. It was pretty much a no brainer.
It was good stuff too. Solid, well built, welded well, and came with good hardware.
If someone gave me a good reason to spend that $90 I would have done it. ESPECIALLY if it was buy some innovative small company.
But I was in no position to be blowing money (I wasn't livnig on my own dime).
I needed it for work, and it did exactly what I needed it to so there it was.


This same concept applies across the board of all bike parts it seems, at least in the SS/FG world.

Don't expect the strongest or the lightest, but don't expect total crap either.
You'd be hard pressed to find a better value for an everyday bike.
For example, if you get a stem from one of these comapnies, you'll get a piece of aircraft grade aluminum, with the proper grade steel bolts, with locktite on the threads. Proper.
I've had really sick bikes and i've never found a good reason to replace a stem because i've never broken one and they've never come loose on me.
You're better off buying from one of these brands than you are buying like a re-branded version of the same part.

Also, most of their stuff is made in Taiwan which has become the silicon valley of bicycles and they have modern labor laws, so no real supply chain guilt there either.
Because taiwan's bicyle game has become advanced, they now have specialty factories that can do special things for people for not a whole lot more than what it would cost to have a basic design built by a mass manufacturuer. This is where most of the really good custom frames that are made overseas are coming from. They're starting to get more skilled and they are making small boutique shops that can do custom jobs.

SOME companies, capitalize on this and get some pretty good stuff made that is a step above something that you would get like out of origin8.
I believe that a middle ground is coming for these reasons.
That you have to discover for yourself as it's different for every person.