groveb

I would like to see a list complied showing were all of the different bike brands are made.

Obviously alot of bikes are now made in Taiwan and China but which brands. I am in the market for a bike and likely will buy a frame and build up what I want. Buying a used frame on ebay makes it harder to know were it was made.

some brands I am interested in......

Lemond
Bianchi
Felt
Giant
Cannondale
Fonderiest

I assume that some brands source products from mass producers etc. Any help I were these products come from would be helpful.

Waldo

LeMond: Taiwan and U.S.
Bianchi: Taiwan and Italy (supposedly still on the latter for certain Reparto Corse models)
Felt: Taiwan (possibly China, I don't recall)
Giant: Taiwan and China, they make bikes for many many companies, including Trek
Cannondale: U.S. with the exception of the Synapse, which is China
Fondriest: Got me.

CastIron

It's WHERE.

DieselDan

The '07 Cannondale Synapse will be US made.

miked528

what about Fuji and Jamis? Where are they made?

msheron

We have to ask ourselves and be honest, does it really matter where it is made. I have ridden the so called el-cheapo frames that rode as good as the high dollar US or Italian made.

Maybe it's just me but I highly doubt it. Now, if your talking about a GMC Denali, then you have to ask yourself, what the F&*K is this piece of crap?

R900

Yes, it matters to me. Our kids bikes were made overseas, but all our other bikes have US or Italian built frames (except our Fuji tandem). Good frames can be made anywhere, but I like supporting manufacturing in the USA and Italy, and always look for where it was made when shopping.

John

spiderbike

this is good to know because I will only buy bikes that have been made in Asia so that I don't have to support some fat overpaid union slob...

besides everything else I own is made from Asia and is high quality....If only Toyota's were made in Mexico

fmw

None of my bike frames were made in Asia and I have several. I guess the reason is that I don't particularly like mainstream bikes.

maddyfish

I don't buy ANYTHING from China, ever. Yes, it makes it difficult, and I have not been into a Wal-Mart since Sam Walton died, but since visiting China in the 1980's, and seeing how the people there are virtual slaves, I have boycotted them.

As far as bikes go, my neighbor's kids China bikes fall apart after every ride, that's all I need to know about Chinese manufacturing.

Psimet2001 

That's an extreme statement. I hope you have kept in mind that most items manufactured in the US (read:"assembled") contains parts and materials that were sourced overseas. I work for a huge industrial US manufacurer. We have plants in the US and employee US operators....

...and yet we get in trouble with export documentation because we find that foriegn sourced parts and materials always find a way to creap into the finished product.

So not buying ANYTHING from China does not mean not buying stuff from Walmart...it means not buying stuff. Period.

...maybe you could have said, "I try to avoid buying products that labeled strictly as made in China."

EDIT:BTW - China has changed a lot in the last 5 years. If you truely care about the workers in China then buy China product. As the Chinese have been making more and more money they have started movements to raise the standard of living...kind of like the industrial revolution in fast forward. If you truely cared you would help put more money in their economy to speed that movement.

...on a personal note the last trip we took to China my manager watched an operator shear a finger off in a press and then get yelled at for doing it. The operator was replaced and the shear was runnoing again within a minute or 2. Blood still in place. Then he listened to an Engineer talk about how he was pushing management to allow more flexible hours for him...it's coming, but it is like trickle down economics...it will take a while before the worker is considered.

operator

I find that hard to believe. You must boycott a lot of countries based on that criteria and buy nothing.

Edit: or what psimet2001 said

maddyfish

Believe what you want, but if you buy things knowingly made in China, then you are supporting slavery. It is possible that Chinese made stuff ends up in my house, but not knowingly. And yes, I do buy very, very little.

maddyfish

BTW the way to free China is to NOT support them in any way, so that the Chinese people will remove and discard their government. When you buy Chinese goods you are prolonging the life of their unjust, totalitarian, government.

burbankbiker

Not that we should hijack the thread to a comlete debate about third-world country labor standards... but I avoid buying made in china too and it's not just because of the labor standards.

I've tried to avoid coutries with poor labor standards but you go insane because finding stuff NOT made in china or pakistan or anywhere else notorious becomes very difficult. And even when you find clothes made in USA, for example, you later find out stores like Forever 21 which manufactures in Los Angeles has sweatshop conditions here in the us. So the label alone isn't a marker for humane work conditions.

All that said, though, I still don't buy made in China when I can because China is a communist dictatorship that's more akin to Fidel Castro or Kim Jung Il than Sam Walton or Henry Ford. I don't support communism. I don't support dictators. Say what you will about labor standards, helping speed development, and the like... but I just can't feel okay supporting that guy.

merlinextraligh

Read Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, or slightly more current, Milton Friedman, Capitolism and Freedom, and get back to us on whether you still want to boycott foreign goods.


And as far as the workers are concerned, do you think that decreasing the demand for their output does much good for them?

alanbikehouston

Any new road bike selling for under $600 is made in made in communist China. Road bikes in the $600 to $1,500 are made in either communist China, or, a the higher end of the quality spectrum, in the free Republic of China on Taiwan.

Cannondale continues to make the great majority of its frames and forks in the USA. And, Trek makes its OCLV carbon frames and OCLV forks in the USA.

I don't know how long any US manufacturing company will survive. Apple revealed last week that the children making its IPODs in communist China were working about 80 hours per week, for pennies an hour. According to Apple, they intend to compel its supplier to give the children at least one day off a week and reduce their hours. Slavery has been abolished in the USA, but not in communist China.

Is there any American willing to work 60 to 80 hours a week in a factory for ten cents per hour? Don't think so. America's ruling class is shipping our factories, our jobs, and our national wealth to their business partners in Beijing. America will soon be a nation of Wal-Mart clerks, ringing up Chinese-made products for the minimum wage. Great for the factory owners. Great for the owners of Wal-Mart. Not so great for the Americans who once had good jobs building the products that made America the world's strongest manufacturing power.

ollo_ollo

My Torelli was advertised as "made in a small shop in Italy" & a few weeks after purchase, I noticed a "made in San Marino" sticker! Huh?? I checked into this & found San Marino is a small principality surrounded by Italy, they speak Italian, are Catholic & use Italian currency so I'm OK with the "made in Italy" advertising, probably some tax advantages or lower labor rate is involved. Don

giantcfr1

So there you go "groveb", all the answers you hoped for. Which frame / bike are you going to go for?

burbankbiker

I do love when companies try to dress up their use of chinese labor. Like "Manufactured in the People's Republic of China." Or, even better, "Exclusively Designed and Manufactured in the PRC for Radio Shack."

Abbreviating China into an unrecognizable word and adding exclusive doesn't exactly gloss over the reality. But they try...

It is interesting, though, how some companies like Cannondale don't play up their US manufacturing as much as they could (busting the myth that Made in USA and affordable can't co-exist) while other companies like Surly portray a totally small indie factory brand image while making their stuff in Taiwan like the rest of 'em.

rickkko

Guess you guys didn't support Lance Armstrong's cancer foundation for childrend by buying one of it's yellow bracelets (MADE IN CHINA).

Too bad your ideology gets in the way of a very importand cause that may ultimately benefit children all over the world. Yes that would mean Chinese children as well.

Have a good day!
..rickko..

voltman

I know some people made in China. They seem fine to me.

cyclezealot

One of the reasons I bought my Klein. Exotic Wisconsin. I think. That US flag on the tube can just mean some components were assembled in Wisconsin. I claim it to be a US bike.

burbankbiker

Actually you're exactly right. I didn't buy one of those yellow bracelets precisely because they were made in China.

If buying a yellow bracelet made in china and manufactured in a country with environmental policies which contribute to cancer is the only way you know how to benefit children all over the world, I guess you should buy the bracelet.

Me? I made a donation to a cancer charity and cut my LONG hair after 14 years so that children undergoing chemo could get a quality human-hair wig. And I didn't need any yellow bracelet to advertise to the world that I cared enough about cancer to spend 3 bucks on it.

Those yellow bracelets to me jumped the shark when politicians wore them as supplementals to their American flag pin in an effort to one-up their opponent in both patriotism and altruism.

Psimet2001 

ABH - I respect your conviction. I hope people like you help my business by "buying American". I am one of those "US manufacturing company" that you refer to.

BTW what is a "US manufacturing company"? Where do you draw the line. I ask because I have never seen one. I have been to hundreds, if not thousands of large and small production and job shops.

Every one has at least one Mazak, Okuma, Emco Meir, Haas, Mori-Seiki, etc. machine tools. A ton of them use Sandvik inserts and cutters. Mitutoyo gauges, etc. They use bolts from China, filters from Europe, and software from Asia.

Their machines contain my foreign competitor's valves, pumps, cylinders, and switches.

Where did their steel come from?

Where do you draw the line?

What's American? I don't know, and I'm the one you're looking to support.

If you say these are "US manufacturing company" because they have facilities in the US, employ US workers, pay taxes, etc even thought they consume foreign products as a part of business...then use the same analogy for the LBS. They have US facilities employ US workers, pay taxes, etc. The fact that they are filled with foreign bikes...is just like a shop filled with foreign machines...

hmmm...