are shimano parts made in China???

Cheap labor and close proximity?

The parts are made in china, however Shimano is a japanese company.

cptjack said:

me and my wife were just looking at the internet and saw that shimano has a lot of factories in China???

What's up??

cptjack :eekster:

Click to expand...

Shimano has factories in China, Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan and probably several other countries. Nothing unusual about that.

Can't guarantee ALL Shim's parts are made in China -- Taiwan is a step up, after all -- but the bulk of their parts are, because they make the trillions of cheapo parts hung on the big-box bikes, and they're sooooooooooooo ordinary (saying it nicely)!

What's up with the question? What is so surprising about Shimano having factories in China??

Shimano also makes a bunch of fishing and snowboard accessories. They also have a huge bike parts factory in Japan where parts are forged.

Bikinfoolferlife said:

What is so surprising about Shimano having factories in China??

Click to expand...

There's nothing particularly surprising about any major manufacturer having factories in China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, India ...

Road componentr: ultegra and dura-ace made in Japan. Dura-ace level cables etc made in japan.

Most high level wheelsets made in malaysia i believe.

XTR and (I think) XT components made in Japan.

One of the reasons for the price differences is place of manufacture and quality of metal used (Japanese steel cable as opposed to Chinese, ball bearings etc)

Good parts come down to great materials, engineering and tooling. Just because someone is Chinese doesn't mean they're any less capable of putting a couple parts on a riveter, hitting a button, and making a final product.

I'd prefer to use well-engineered parts made in China than crap made by anyone else. It really just takes the ability to enforce quality control.

f3rg said:

I'd prefer to use well-engineered parts made in China than crap made by anyone else. It really just takes the ability to enforce quality control.

Click to expand...

....... and to be the lowest bidder

Hey!

I'm upset

what parts can I buy that are not made in china? I thought my bike was off limits for chinese products.

cptjack said:

I'm upset

what parts can I buy that are not made in china? I thought my bike was off limits for chinese products.

Click to expand...

Country of origin marking is required, so you should be able to determine that when you buy it. What bike do you have? Nothing wrong with Chinese stuff according to most American buying habits...

The Macbook that I'm typing on and paid top dollar for is high quality but was made in China. BMW, Mercedes, VW, pretty much any car company makes cars in China, albeit for that market, but they do and the cars are fine. It's a matter of quality control and materials used as someone earlier said. China's bad rap comes from cheap Chinese companies making cheap products, but they are capable of making fine products as well.

That said, I think China's the next one to see their goods go way up in cost, the weak dollar hurt China, as their cheap labor suddenly became less cheap -- among that and other factors like more skilled labor getting paid more, they are the next Taiwan IMO. Look back, years ago nobody wanted anything Japanese, then made in Taiwan was crap, now most high end bikes are made in Taiwan, etc...

GT5050 said:

That said, I think China's the next one to see their goods go way up in cost, the weak dollar hurt China,

Click to expand...

Err, China has intentionally devalued the Yuan against the dollar for years, and they will probably continue to do so in the near future.

TLL said:

Err, China has intentionally devalued the Yuan against the dollar for years, and they will probably continue to do so in the near future.

Click to expand...

While that may be true, it is also true that the dollar has (although lately it's gotten stronger) weakened, hurting Chinese exports. Anyone with a mid-size business manufacturing goods for the US market has felt this, their labor effectively became much more expensive when the dollar was at its lowest.

Where is Sram made, USA?

rob.char said:

Where is Sram made, USA?

Click to expand...

Haha! No. Same place as shimano (taiwan, china).

Unless I am mistaken, my recent Shimano purchases are from the following:
SLX Hubs - Malaysia
UN55 BB - Singapore
Alivio Cassette - Singapore
SLX centerlock rotor - Japan

I personally try to avoid China for political and humanitarian reasons. So far my current bike project is made up entirely of pre-owned and non-Chinese parts, although I wasn't sure of all my components at the time I ordered them. I'm not presuming to avoid the PRC entirely, but trying to make a small difference in the deficit.

Granted since this post started in 2004, and has continued since 2012, now it is 2014 and it still may be in question. I have contacted each of the major groups Shimano, Sram, and Campagnolo. Though Campagnolo is mainly all road parts since 1933 still made to this day in Italy where they are more concerned with quality than profit, which is what it is all boiled down to. I prefer to drive a Porsche than drive a chevette.