[EscapeVelo]

I know Ive been a pain in the arse. But just trying to learn some more.

Iron Horse, GT and Schwinn are all owned by Pacific Bicycles now. But I was noticing that the GT bikes are still favored. Iron Horse has lost significant respect, and Schwinn has lost all respect.

Are Gary Fisher frames made in USA?

Giant is Taiwan.

Specialized?

Kona?

Fuji?

Diamondback?

Trek?

Canondale?


I noticed that Dick's Sporting Goods has Nishiki and Diamondback bikes, and used to carry Iron Horse.

Any comments about these brand names and where their frames are manufactured?


Looking for USA made frames, but would also be interested in Japanese or Taiwanese manufacture.

 

[asphalt_jesus]

Many of those brands source from the same OEM's. So, it's pretty much the same bike with a different set of stickers and perhaps a part or two difference at most price points.

Specialized is Merida's "American" brand. The rest buy from the usual OEM's in a competitive bid scenario.

If you want something made in the U.S.A. Off the top of my head, Russ Denny and Curtlo are both still at it and their work is great. I assume Moots is still doing some frame building in-house because of they continue to market some very distinctive product. Finishing *might* be outsourced, but usually somewhere in the U.S. if not in the same town as the builder.

 

[EscapeVelo]

I saw a Gary Fisher Supercaliber on ebay with a USA made frame.

 

[EscapeVelo]

Khs?

 

[AndrwSwitch]

Almost all the majors have offshored. Trek and Cannondale held out for a while, but if they still do anything here in the US, it's only the really top-end bikes.

I don't know what your budget is. For an affordable(ish) American-made production frame, I'd probably be looking at Gunnar. They're steel, but it's decent steel, not skank iron like a cheap steel frame. They don't give a weight; I'd expect respectable but not something to make a weight weenie happy.

At a higher budget, I'd probably be looking for a local custom manufacturer. I know there are a couple in my city. Or, a less local custom manufacturer if you had someone in particular in mind, or you were looking for a super-light bike, since a lot of custom builders only work in steel and not necessarily the really high-tech steels that can compete with aluminum and carbon.

 

[asphalt_jesus]

Khs?

You couldn't google this one? Still Taiwanese. Most bikes are made somewhere either in Taiwan or China.

If you don't have the budget for a new bike, then buy something used. Most used bikes, even the very good ones, are not used very much anyway.

Give up the idea that you can find an American made bike at Taiwan/China OEM built prices.

 

[AndrwSwitch]

I saw a Gary Fisher Supercaliber on ebay with a USA made frame.

If it's your size and the style of bike you want, bid on it.

You really need to give some more context. If you can afford to buy a $900 frame and build up a bike, it's pretty easy to get American-made. If you need to fit the whole bike inside $900, you have to go used.

FWIW, my frames are all (probably, I have a '99 LeMond that might be American) from Taiwan or China, with a fair number of components from Japan and maybe a little European stuff.

EDIT: Come to think of it (and glance at the frames) I think I have two American-made frames. My '99 LeMond and my c2005 Trek Portland. I'm pretty confident that my Specialized, Kona and Raleigh all come from overseas, though.

 

[pfox90]

Nishiki and DB are designed in the US and built overseas. Nishiki used to be it's own company in the 90's and we bought the name out.. kind of like we did Field and Stream (from the magazine). Nishiki's frame warranty *I think* goes through DB and they work pretty closely when designing their bikes to match that of DB.

 

[EscapeVelo]

I like Taiwanese products in general.

Any bike frames still made in Japan? Fuji? Panasonic?

 

[JonathanGennick]

Any comments about these brand names and where their frames are manufactured?

You might find this map interesting:

Where is your bike made? | Bicycle Times Magazine

 

[EscapeVelo]

You might find this map interesting:

Where is your bike made? | Bicycle Times Magazine

Thanks!

 

[EscapeVelo]

Anybody fans of K2 or KHS?

 

[EscapeVelo]

Trying to hone in a few bike brands and models to find a used deal.

Schwinn Homegrown is at the top of my list.

 

[Blaze0303]

Finding quality bikes made in the USA that arnt insanly overpriced. Uber hard.

 

[mtnbiker72]

Trek/Fisher still makes 10 mountain bike models in the USA...all high end

Mountain - Bike models - Trek Bicycle

Scroll down and there is a "Made in the USA" filter on the left hand side of the page

 

[faceplant72]

Here is the answer on 6 bike bands

Dorel: Product Segments

" Cannondale, Schwinn, GT, Mongoose, IronHorse, SUGOI, Pacific, Dyno, RoadMaster, PowerLite and InSTEP "

Bike are just another part of the market for Dorel
I can't wait to see Gee shilling strollers

 

[car bone]

As far as I know pretty much everything is made by merida and giant and their subcontractors/factories. Pretty much at least. You can get handmade ti and steel and whatever if you pay for it. There is nothing wrong with taiwan and china bikes qualitywise, they are much better than they ever were coming out of the US. They are mass produced so they have it nailed down. Maybe no fancy solutions but they should perform.

Now they might even be straighter and truer than some custom handmade bikes. But if you want handmade in the US or canada expect to pay like 2k for a frame, because thats pretty much what it costs if someone is gonna take the time and care and not "mass produce" it for you, making sure its a very high quality frame.

Or you could go "semi custom" or handmade but not unique or specially made for you, then you can probably get down to 1500 or so, since the maker can produce the frames faster since all parts are exactly the same, no need to adjust tooling and such. And the same tubes and whatnot are bought in higher volumes decreasing the price in both shipping and at the supplier. It should still give you the highest possible quality with no corners cut. It could even give you a higher quality frame than a true high$$$ one off for those exact reasons.

I know I can do a job faster and better if I do the exact same task 20 times instead of just 1 time, dialing it in.

The good makers probably charge over 3000 now for a really nice frame regardless of material. You need to pay them extra because its a custom and the care that goes into that.

All those brands you wrote they don't actually make anything anymore, they design and choose colors/decals and in some cases do prototypes and test them. They are more into advertising and marketing than making bikes.

I don't like taiwan or china bikes personally but for me its more of a moral/ethics/philosophical standpoint, I also like to send money exactly where I want to to keep local economies/economies of my choice strong because I believe this will benefit me and people around me that I care about in the long run. If you have no problems with this buy taiwan made.

 

[desertred]

......... for me its more of a moral/ethics/philosophical standpoint, I also like to send money exactly where I want to to keep local economies/economies of my choice strong because I believe this will benefit me and people around me that I care about in the long run. If you have no problems with this buy taiwan made.

Other than this, is there some other reason that people desire to have an American built frame/bicycle? I'm not knocking the above rationale, just trying to understand if there are other reasons that American made frames may be more desirable than those outsourced overseas?

 

[DennisF]

I don't like taiwan or china bikes personally but for me its more of a moral/ethics/philosophical standpoint, I also like to send money exactly where I want to to keep local economies/economies of my choice strong because I believe this will benefit me and people around me that I care about in the long run. If you have no problems with this buy taiwan made.

There political factors that have bicycle manufacturing and manufacturing in general to move offshore. Here are a couple of my pet peeves:

1. High corporate taxes. We have the highest corporate tax rate in the world or close to it. Raising individual taxes is unpopular, so politicians on both sides of the aisle tax businesses. The average voter thinks "it won't affect me." But it does. The taxes are passed in to the consumer in higher costs. And perhaps more significantly, we lose our jobs.

It is more attractive from a return-on-investiment and risk standpoint for an investor to start a company in Tiawan where the corporate tax rate is 18% rather then the US where it is 38%

2. Labor laws and unions. I saw a documentary on the last television factory in the US. Before the plant was closed and production was moved overseas, assemby line workers were making $60/hr. Employees can collaberate and fix labor rates, but employers cannot. In some states workers are forced to pay union dues regardless of their political or religious beliefs. It was great for the employees while it lasted, but now they are getting nothing.


So I am all for supporting the American economy by buying American, when the American product is of equal better quality and priced competitvely. My family all drives American-assembled Ford vehicles (complete with a lot of parts made in Mexico and elsewhere, and an annoying mixture of metric and SAE bolts).

And I love my Lezyne floor pump and all the guys at Lezyne. The pump is of absolute top quality and doesn't cost that much more than a good pump made overseas. I'm guessing there isn't a lot of labor involved what with CNC and all. Anyway, way to go Lezyne and all the other small American bike parts and accessory manufacturers. I hope this is the start of a trend.

But buy American if at all possible regardless of quality or price? No. The problem isn't just greedy businessmen who screw the American worker to make a few extra bucks or a stingy consumers that buy foreign to save a few bucks.

Bottom line, I think people really don't want an economy based on manufacturing, and our policies reflect that. If we decide that yeah, we again want American manufacturing and the jobs it provides, and are also willing to accept the smoke and noise and other unpleasant factors that come with manufacturing, then policy will change and manufacturing will return.

 

[DennisF]

You might find this map interesting:

Where is your bike made? | Bicycle Times Magazine

Cool!

Question: It says that "Trek imports from" and it lists Giant.

Does this mean that Trek hires Giant to manufacture for them?

Or do they just buy Giant frames from Giant? if I buy a Trek, I may be getting an identical frame as my friend who owns a Giant?

Thanks.