Originally Posted by TRaffic Jammer
HOw the heck does he do that for the that little? I'll take DarkM's word for it.
AFAIK, his overhead is very low (no production space = lower costs). Think bikesdirect's prices. All he has to do is email the plans for the frame to Taiwan, and they do the rest. Using modern movable jig setups, I doubt it takes 25 hours to set up a frame and weld it. I'd think computerized plans lead to computerized setup models.
Anyway, the cost of producing a frame at a Taiwanese plant that's open 24-7 vs a US "workshop" open 10-4 (I'm guessing the boutique brands don't go 9-5, they're artists remember) is really different.