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I wish Thomson made.....

2K views 32 replies 23 participants last post by  pin-it 
#1 ·
I wish Thomson made more stuff than they do. I'd love to have a Thomson handlebar, or headset, or hubs. The things they do make are so good I can imagine that anything else they would make would be just as awesome.

Is there anything you wish they offered?

No, I don't work for them I'm just a big fan :D
 
#2 ·
HJB said:
I wish Thomson made more stuff than they do. I'd love to have a Thomson handlebar, or headset, or hubs. The things they do make are so good I can imagine that anything else they would make would be just as awesome.

Is there anything you wish they offered?

No, I don't work for them I'm just a big fan :D
Seeing as they don't make bearings, i will leave the headsets and hubs up to brands like chris king and phil wood. But a thompson handlebar or maybe even a crankset would be pretty cool:)
 
#3 ·
"Seeing as they don't make bearings, i will leave the headsets and hubs up to brands like chris king and phil wood."

There's a difference between specifying and purchasing a good bearing and incorporating it in your product vs manufacturing one...Phil Wood at least includes that info on their website, CK doesn't. Don't get me wrong, they're great companies but don't give them credit for things they don't actually do.
 
#4 · (Edited)
bike_freak said:
Seeing as they don't make bearings, i will leave the headsets and hubs up to brands like chris king and phil wood. But a thompson handlebar or maybe even a crankset would be pretty cool:)
As said above those others don't make their own bearings either so Thomson could make a headset as good or better than King. It would be nice to have some competition at the top of the heap.

Forget I said that. I didn't intend for this thread to head in that direction...
 
#5 ·
I too would like to see a Thomson handlebar. I mainly want it to match my stem and seatpost. I honestly can't say I am dissatisfied with the selection of other brands of handlebars out there. I think one contributing factor to the success and quality of Thomson products is their narrow specialization of products. You start getting into too many things and I think the quality can start to suffer.
 
#7 ·
Cranks

I grilled them about building a Crankset at I bike 3 years ago and I was told that they were considering it but they were going to wait to see which BB design wins out as "standard" before they commit. The guy I talked to told me that bike parts are just a side show for the aerospace business and would take a back seat if they had other contracts to fullfill; they must be making big$$$ in aerospace if stems and posts are small change!
 
#8 ·
Bikinfoolferlife said:
"Seeing as they don't make bearings, i will leave the headsets and hubs up to brands like chris king and phil wood."

There's a difference between specifying and purchasing a good bearing and incorporating it in your product vs manufacturing one...Phil Wood at least includes that info on their website, CK doesn't. Don't get me wrong, they're great companies but don't give them credit for things they don't actually do.
Actually that's incorrect, King does manufacture their own bearings.
Larry
Mountain High Cyclery
 
#9 ·
Bikinfoolferlife said:
Not when they were in Redding...did they add this capacity in Portland?
I was thinking they had been doing it all along, but not positive on that. Quote from their website...
"Each headset was developed with every attention to detail and each part of every headset is made by us. We even go so far as to make our own sealed, cartridge style bearings - a practice unheard of in the bike industry".
Larry
 
#11 ·
Ventanarama said:
I was thinking they had been doing it all along, but not positive on that. Quote from their website...
"Each headset was developed with every attention to detail and each part of every headset is made by us. We even go so far as to make our own sealed, cartridge style bearings - a practice unheard of in the bike industry".
Larry
I think assemble and manufacture are not quite the same...think about the expense to actually manufacture your own ball bearings. I can assemble the bike, doesn't mean I manufactured it. This link might help imagine it http://yarchive.net/metal/ball_bearing_manufacture.html
 
#12 ·
Ventanarama said:
I was thinking they had been doing it all along, but not positive on that. Quote from their website...
"Each headset was developed with every attention to detail and each part of every headset is made by us. We even go so far as to make our own sealed, cartridge style bearings - a practice unheard of in the bike industry".
Larry
I e-mailed King on this very subject maybe......ummm 4-5 years ago and they assured me that, yes, they make their own ball bearings and other bearing related parts, all in the quest to assure uniformity and consistency of quality.
 
#14 ·
now that's cool

slowrider said:
I grilled them about building a Crankset at I bike 3 years ago and I was told that they were considering it but they were going to wait to see which BB design wins out as "standard" before they commit. The guy I talked to told me that bike parts are just a side show for the aerospace business and would take a back seat if they had other contracts to fullfill; they must be making big$$$ in aerospace if stems and posts are small change!
I'm riding on Stealth bomber parts!

Thomson rims, hubs, hell the entire wheelset needs to be Thomson.
 
#15 ·
fanghasyou said:
Just because thomspon makes good stems and posts doesnt necessarily mean they will produce good handlebars, cranks, whatever. Its hard to get it right the first time. Takes alot of research, testing, and experience in the market to get it right.
Exactly. Just bacause they make top notch stems and seatposts doesn't mean they'll necessarily make other superior products. They're very good at technologies that require forging and finely machining parts but that alone doesn't mean they will be just as good or better doing products that require other processes. It's only made harder by the fact that there are already other manufacturers already making those other very high quality parts.
 
#17 ·
Mike T. said:
I e-mailed King on this very subject maybe......ummm 4-5 years ago and they assured me that, yes, they make their own ball bearings and other bearing related parts, all in the quest to assure uniformity and consistency of quality.
First, I'm sorry this part of the thread got a bit hijacked. I just wanted to point out that a brand name doesn't always translate to a historical production value or other quality.

I'd be interested in the CK reply. Since they will probably answer in the vein of their manufacturing of cartridge bearings, they wouldn't necessarily have to confirm what parts they buy if they consider their contribution, of design or parts, to be the major portion, or the substantial transformation to put it into governmentese, of the product as a whole.

I do note that their current website now confirms they have finally brought anodization in house, something they implied previously as having been done in-house (vis-a-vis their claims for their production as being as environmentally clean as possible; they outsourced that as they couldn't do it to their own standards in house prior to moving to Portland); for someone offering such a wide range of anodized products that's a bit misleading, eh?
 
#20 ·
Bikinfoolferlife said:
I do note that their current website now confirms they have finally brought anodization in house, something they implied previously as having been done in-house (vis-a-vis their claims for their production as being as environmentally clean as possible; they outsourced that as they couldn't do it to their own standards in house prior to moving to Portland); for someone offering such a wide range of anodized products that's a bit misleading, eh?
King did the annodization in house. They had a very expensive enviromentaly friendly system in place. They stated that they would temporarily outsource the annodization when they moved to Portland until they got the new facilities online.
 
#21 · (Edited)
Hecubus said:
King did the annodization in house. They had a very expensive enviromentaly friendly system in place. They stated that they would temporarily outsource the annodization when they moved to Portland until they got the new facilities online.
Maybe in Santa Barbara, not in Redding... from their website:

Manufacturing processes: Making stuff creates waste - there's no way around it. What we can do, however, is make sure we handle each and every process as efficiently and responsibly as possible. Our biggest accomplishment right now is our new anodizing line. By taking this typically dirty step in house, we were able to clean it up to our standards - which for us means ZERO waste water discharge. This absolutely state of the art line completely recycles all of the water it uses and produces minimal solid waste. It cost a fortune, but we all sleep better at night knowing we're not supporting the typical, potentially highly polluting, anodizing process.
 
#22 ·
and that would be...

shabbasuraj said:
If Thomson was to make something else, it would have to remain Al, as that is what they seem to do best.

So maybe crank arms or chainrings, skewers, or seat post clamps....
That would be just about everything: frame, wheelset, bars, brakes, cranks, pedals.

So what you're saying is that you would just like to have a Thomson bike?

Sounds fine to me. :)
 
#24 ·
A frame would be nice

The first thing that popped into my head was what a nice hardtail frame they could produce. Think of it, every inch CNC'd to perfection. Other good suggestions are rims, bars, crank-arms, but none stick in my head like a sweet Thomson frame.
 
#25 ·
slowrider said:
I grilled them about building a Crankset at I bike 3 years ago and I was told that they were considering it but they were going to wait to see which BB design wins out as "standard" before they commit. The guy I talked to told me that bike parts are just a side show for the aerospace business and would take a back seat if they had other contracts to fullfill; they must be making big$$$ in aerospace if stems and posts are small change!
Exactly, Thompson is a small operation out of Macon Georgia, all thier bike products are run as a side to keep thier machines and employees busy and satisfy thier biking passion. So you probably won't see many big or complicated projects coming off thier assembly line. They also have a Kicka$$ little test track behind the plant.
 
#26 ·
I'm biased, my friends work there.

I'm friends with two guys that work at LH Thomson, one an engineer and the other is the marketing guy. They want to make different parts and have considered cranks, headsets, and bottom brackets among other things. Ronnie, the company owner, used to ride bikes as a hobby and passion. However, his doctor has told him not to ride anymore due dangers of detaching his retina or something (I'm not sure about the details). What's nice is that some of the Thomson employees ride bikes and can appreciate quality products. Despite the medical condition preventing him from riding, Ronnie demands that his products be the best or at least equivalent to the best.

The engineer (Rob) told me that they could make headsets and BBs as good as King or Shimano, they just have to invest the time and resources into it. Due to their size and shape, tooling changes would be minimal. They aren't a large company and have other businesses (they are a Gold level supplier for Boeng), but Boeng has had marketshare loss in the past few years. As a result the bike business has grown to be 40% or more of the company.

I too am interested in seeing new product.
 
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