Russ Roth

You're trying to discuss ethics and corporate self-interest and corner cutting? The bikes are made in China for a reason, lowest possible cost to maximize profits, if that means that sometimes parts aren't made to the highest quality, well, that's what they're paying for.
Although I wouldn't go blaming a country for the above, the US mint has an amazing facility with lots of people and technology designed to catch errors and yet clipped coins and mis stamps still make it out. That a company overworking and underpaying its employees to serve the bottom line of a, I'm gonna guess an american, corporation which only cares about maximizing top brass wages doesn't have the best QC should be of no surprise. That looks like a single speed ring from the cheapest of Giant's 1x comfort, cruiser, or similar style bike. If you found that on a sram red crank I'd be more surprised but then you still get what you pay for.

La Brea Bike

It wasn't Giant (cheap bikes, but Taiwan made, not fraudulently awful). It was a brand name though. Look at Amazon/Allibaba. Chinese companies ARE producing direct to consumer things like Eurobike, Begasso, and the like. Fake everything. Shifters that run through the gears like 4 times before the bubble gum machine plastic crumbles, disc brakes that really don't work at all (scary stuff). Dropouts built so far out of paralleliity that the knock off derailleur won't shift the chain on the knock off freewheel. People are giving their kids these bikes. God help the ones that build them themselves. It's dangerous fraud.THESE ARE VEHICLES THAT WILL BE USED ON PUBLIC ROADWAYS.

sasa_ke

Is this thread just a weird anti-China political project for you or what

La Brea Bike

I would love it if the emergence of fraud and dangerous products that have been shipped here in the last 4-5 months would cease making it into the hands of my customers and their kids. It's only coming from one place. It's not Taiwan.

sasa_ke

Okay, but you're also imputing geopolitical opinions to other users for some reason. I don't know why you'd do that unless you want to have a political argument.

If the Aventons you sell are dangerous and fraudulent, that's an interesting discussion, but withholding the brand name for business purposes and then making the conversation about China writ large makes it some odd political polemic on your part instead of a possibly useful talk about manufacturers.

La Brea Bike

Interesting you are so concerned about the honor of China's industrial reputation. Enough to dig into our shop, possibly as a threat? It's not one we sell, but is nonetheless popular, by the way. In North America, Lawsuits are rampant, I am not going to be calling that company out. And as an FYI, 30% of my customers are Asian, and 50% are African Americans. These are the primary people being victimized by this garbage in our area. In many cases these people don't have excess money to just let it go if they can't return it and end up with nothing. I'm pissed. STOP IT.

downhillmaster

Seriously?
The phrase ‘made in China’ has been a running joke for 30 years and it is because of the overall poor quality of products that they produce. Not politics.

Deepcherry

I do not understand why anyone would buy a new bike, let alone a cheap new bike. Period.

dedhed

People don't do what you expect, but what you inspect.

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

sasa_ke

How is it “a threat” to look at the website of the store you’re advertising with your username? How could some anonymous Canadian pose “a threat” to your business? This is paranoia.

Congratulations on the diverse customer base, I can see it’s a point of pride for you, but this bizarre jingoism is still misplaced.

You, in your own store, sell a whole line of made-in-China bikes. I don’t know what’s got you so frothed up about China, but clearly on a logical level you know it’s ridiculous and I think your anger is coming from that cognitive dissonance.

Hiro11

What are you talking about? Giant carbon fiber frames are often cited as some of the highest quality carbon you can buy at any price point. Giant has some of the most advanced, vertically integrated carbon manufacturing capabilities in the industry. Giant makes bikes for all the largest brands. They are also not "cheap".China is the manufacturing workshop for the world. Basically every bike brand makes stuff in China. Chinese factories produce to their customer's desired spec, this can be very high quality if that's what the customer wants. You can't generalize an entire country based on no name garbage sold on Aliexpress. This is especially true with a country with a manufacturing base the size of China's. Even some of the "no name" Chinese "brands" like Hongfu/Dengfu, ICAN, Trifox and Winspace that sell directly make some truly excellent stuff.

Hiro11

Essentially everything you buy likely has at least some component that was made in China. Is it all junk?

rwh 

Was it a Murray?

downhillmaster

No it isn’t.
That wasn’t my point.
My point was that in general, things made in China have had a bad reputation for years and it’s not necessarily political as other people have suggested in this thread.

Wildwood 

Does Trek make good bikes?
edit: In China?

Wildwood 

Let's change the subject.
Does Spesh make good bikes?
edit: In China?

Koyote

I have never heard that phrase used in that way – and I would remember, since I grew up in an era in which “made in Japan“ was a common insult. At any rate, that line betrays severe selective thinking, since many incredible items are built in China – like the iPhone on which I am sending this message. And plenty of junk is made in other countries, including the United States.

It’s a bit amazing that the OP, who apparently is in the retail side of the bike industry, has so little understanding of how modern manufacturing is done.

La Brea Bike

Re-read my background again. In most countries, if you produce fake or dangerous goods, you will be sued or your country's safety organization will shut you down.. Yes, they did execute some people for making poisonous pet food a few years ago, but in numerous cases, things that been sent here in the last 4-5 months could be considered the same care for humans.

La Brea Bike

Please look up Giant's Corporate location. It's not mainland China. TAIWAN is the mecca for quality bike production. We have not worked on anything I would consider fraudulent or dangerous from Taiwan in the Covid boom. In fact, I can't remember getting anything sketchy from that location ever. Oh, and yes, Giant contract produces for almost every bike company. They make a range of stuff from the top notch to $250. Even their $250 offerings aren't dangerous or fraudulent.

unterhausen

I'm just trying to understand what the point of this thread is. If it's just China bashing, then I can move it to P&R.

I'm sure anyone that works in a shop is going to see some horror stories due to bike brands scrambling to get parts. Bike companies are pushing their suppliers to make more parts, mistakes will be made. The person that put the crank in the OP together probably had a few milliseconds to scan it and throw it aside and messed up. We had a no-name crank with the pedal hole drilled crooked. But guess what, we warrantied it and nobody ever got the chance to have a problem with it on their new bike. If consumers don't understand the value of that service and buy direct, they are going to end up trying to source a crank that isn't available right now.

Iride01 

No matter where or whom manufactured it, it's the person or entity selling the product that really bears the responsibility for this kind of stuff. IMO. If they have no quality control standards that they told the mfr they wanted to go by, or don't do their own Q&A to find this stuff before they sell it to you, then they are more wrong. And likely they do no quality control. Nor have they even specified to the manufacturer what was acceptable or unacceptable.

China and many Asian countries can do really good precision manufacturing or they can do really bad manufacturing. It seems that something about their thinking allows them to use exactly the amount of product quality control that is specified by the importer or re-seller of the products.

La Brea Bike

The point is in the last 5 month's this has become more and more common. It seems as if there is no care for the end user of this stuff, and no repercussions if people are injured or defrauded, unlike companies in the rest of the world.

unterhausen

Okay, so it's just China bashing. I'm actually just going to close it. You might want to get approved to post in P&R if you aren't already.