Originally Posted by
tjspiel
Here's a little test. What if you were to take an Atlantis, strip off the paint and repaint it just as nicely, except instead of having Rivendell logos, badges and whatnot on it, you put a Trek or Surly logo on it, and called it the Antartica or something. Do think you could sell it to as many people for the same price even if you told folks that none of parts were sourced from China?
Probably not. However, I think that is largely irrelavent. The quality of a bike reveals itself over time. Sometimes months or even years. A ride around the block is not a sufficiently powerful test for most consumers to differentiate a higher and lower quality bike. Instead they must rely on the proven quality of a brand that has been demonstrated by hundreds or thousands of users over many years. The "Antartica" would have no such track record for consumers to rely upon.
Paul