Originally Posted by
restlessswind
In my opinion, Taiwan made bikes have always been of superb quality, even in the 80's. Taiwan took over where Japan left off. Nowadays, Taiwan made bikes are the highest end of popular, mass produced bikes.. I would't say they came a long way, I say they started out on the high. The quality of the late 80's to present frames are of the highest standards. They are better than the Japanese bikes of the 70's and 80's. Just because a bike is made in a predominantly Caucasian country (US, UK, Italy, France) doesn't mean it is a superior product. Also the QC in China all depends on the specifications of the demand of the company contracting a manufacturer, Very high end products are made in China. Just because something is made in China doesn't mean it is garbage either. To think so is racist.
Bacl in the '80s, people were worried when production shifted to Taiwan from Japan, because of the high value of the yen. There was a feeling that Taiwanese products were inferior.
I don 't know if they were then, but they definitely aren't now.
Chinese QC can be poor. Stuff made for the Chinese domestic market can be awful, but the same company making products for the western markets can be really good, the QC is better because western buyers demand more. I had a friend who ran a small factory in Kunshan. He said it wasn't hard to compete with Chinese products, because he didn't cut corners, unlike his competitors.
I bought a really good set of carbon rims from China, I couldn't get them from anywhere else, the quality is top notch, but they weren't cheap. If you are willing to pay what you would in Europe or North America you can find excellent quality. If you buy cheap crap from Aliexpress, then you get what you pay for.