snafu21

I've been following the Dahon/Tern debacle for a while now. Terns look good, but so do the new Dahons, made in 'Europe's most modern bike factory' in Plovdiv, Bulgaria from the start of 2012.

JimBeans83

Nice comparison of past to present,

does "made in EU" detail also just mean more than 50% of value is added in EU? Are the frames shipped en masse from far east factory and assembly in Bulgaria ?

tcs

Rumored? It was what they officially announced.

In other news, Dahon sez around half of their global production/sales are in China now. Perhaps that explains the two (global, China) websites. Dahon has some 1,100 company-owned, brand-exclusive stores in China, plus sell in another 500+ independent bike shops there. The sales forcast for 2012 in China is ~450,000 bikes.

That's a lot of folding bikes!

snafu21

Pix of the EuroHon: Fenders have been removed for 'street-cred', and possibly 'street-crud'.

tcs

As I understand it, the EU laws and regulations are MUCH different than in the USA on "made in..." labeling.

In the EU, there is no legal requirement to mark products "Made in EU" and no legal definition of what "Made in EU" means. Such labels, if applied, need only meet the laws of some various member countries to be non-deceptive. I am not an international trade lawyer nor do I play one on TV, but if Dahon is assembling bicycles in the EU from imported and EU manufactured piece parts, that's probably well within the accepted use of the term "Made in EU".

I note that Brompton marks and markets their bikes as "Made in England" while using a great many parts imported from Asia.

Again, this is much different than the legal requirements and definitions in the United States.

tcs

Well, "Hand built in the EU" would certainly give the consumer the impression the frames are fabricated in Bulgaria. Why not? Maxcom does manufacture bicycles, after all, although I wouldn't be surprised if crates of pre-shaped, hydroformed tubes arrived from China.

snafu21

Pix:

Workers at the factory celebrate sale of bike to Snafu:

gringo_gus

with babes like that put me down for the road trip to Plovdiv

(actually, seriously, I wouldn't mind visiting).

Pinigis 

the EU imposes a 46% tarriff on bicycles imported from China, thus the need for production in low-wage area of Europe.

smallwheeler

the US should be doing the same thing.

kamtsa

The one of the right is the VP of Marketing. Saw her at Eurobike.

fietsbob

dont hold your breath, the Walton family heirs, alone,
not to mention the Wall-Mart Corporation, can flood congress with lobbyists,
and money, fund primary opponents, to unseat anyone, trying,
to quash any thing like that , from happening..

War and Prisons, #1 !

2_i 

Throwing in a view from the other side, a lady in the foreign exchange office of an Eastern Europe university asked me: "We hear so much about this fitness movement in the US, but why so many visitors from the US have a difficulty squeezing through a standard door frame?? "

snafu21

''wouldn't mind visiting"

Bulgaria is a great place, according to my ex-neighbours who bought a place there so they can die in the sun from cheap hooch and Camel Filters. If Dahon open a retail store in Sofia the place is going to be awash with Brits going over for the duty-free smokes and folders.

3200 miles by road there and back from my place. I'm gonna need more than one pair of Dahon Rotolos.

tcs

Looks like you could pretty much follow the Rhine to the Danube, and on return you could use the 'soft underbelly' route and go via Greece and Italy. A more challenging route perhaps would include a Lyon to Vienna leg through the heart of the Alps. If pressed for time, you could ride just one way and catch the Orient Express the other...

Pinigis 

It is 11% here.

dynaryder

Offtopic,but I don't know about that 'Anniversary Bike'. At 22.9lbs it's about 1/3 lbs heavier than my '09 Speed Pro TT(22lbs 11oz). And that's with pedals. Also noted they went back to caliper brakes. I remember demo riding two early TT's w/calipers;both had horrible brakes. Also,the lightest production folder thing is kinda naff since a SS Brommie is lighter,as well as the old Curve,Mu SL,and Helios.

snafu21

I'm turning into Dahon's unpaid PR nerd, here's an interesting flickr stream showing Dr Hon donating bikes to various Mayors.

Dahon is becoming a dark, cult-ish international bicycle-laundering operation, with its tentacles spreading all over Asia and Europe.

I wonder if they'll give me a job?

chagzuki

Brompton deserve a slap for pushing the 'hand built' tag in the first place, amusing to see it being stolen & diluted by Dahon Hand Built Bikes.

tcs

I don't believe Brompton ever owned this marketing tag line.

JimBeans83

Re: impression

That's the goal - to let uninformed people think something that's not quite true, so they feel pride, more willing to spend money. Orbea doesn't make it's frames in Spain, but the bikes say made in Spain.

If there's no specific wording on what value constitutes being made in the EU, then without doubt it's worse than the US requirements.

But once you think about how easy it is to add even 80% of the value of the bike in the "made in XY" place, it's simple to make that claim. Wholesale pricing of raw finished components (not just the easiest case of hydroformed tubes) might account for just 20% of suggested retail price.


But at what stage specifically does a bicycle become such, so as to receive the 46% tariff ? That would be a fully assembled bicycle, which is when? After wheels, etc are on? Or when is it just a frame? (I'm not as familiar with the harmonized schedule for EU)

Diode100

Do you really think "Made in Bulgaria" has more marketing cachet than "Made in China" ?

(even if Sofia is a great place)

kamtsa

Designed in China, manufactured in Europe. That's a first.

xlDooM

"Hand built in Europe" to me just says "more expensive than it could have been". It could be better from a humanitarian point of view (there's reasonable regard for human rights of factory workers in Europe), but I doubt it's technically any better. I don't know if any of the people posting here meant to imply that, but I've seen it suggested on other forums that a part manufactured in Europe is somehow magically better than one from Asia.

Diode100

Well in four years most things have improved or at least moved on, i mean some of us don't even wear flares anymore.