bruce19

Just wondering if anyone knows of a web site that shows where the various bicycle marques have their bikes made. Is everything made in Taiwan and/or China?

Nightshade

"Is everything made in Taiwan and/or China?"

No, everything is not made in Asia. Worksman cycles is located in NYC,NY and has been for the last 100+ years in the cycle business.

Giacomo 1 

Well, that is true, but they are strictly a "boutique" manufacturer, and do not make mass produced bikes.

But I think it is very safe to say, that nearly every major bike name these days is made in Taiwan. If you want an American made or Italian made bike, you will pay dearly for it these days. You have to go back to the late 80's - early 90's to see mass produced bikes made in the USA, Japan, or Italy...

Cychologist

I believe the higher end Madone frames are still made in the USA.

DnvrFox

Cannondale was made in the US of A until just a couple of years ago (2008/2009).

John_V 

I got called all sorts of names in the road bike forum for answering a similar question. I read an engineering white paper a while back that had to do with carbon fiber manufacturing that focused on the automotive and bicycle industry. The article said that most of the European bikes are manufactured in their perspective countries. The term "Manufactured" can mean a few things. It can mean that all the parts are manufactured in a specific country or it can mean that some parts are manufactured elsewhere but the item is assembled in a specific country. So if the bike has Shimano or SRAM components, we know that not all of the bike was manufactured by that specific country. It's like saying that American cars are made in the USA when transmissions and many of the engine and interior parts are made overseas or in Canada and Mexico.

According to the white paper, European manufactures do not outsource as much as Americans do. So I am assuming that low to middle end frames and forks are made in Taiwan and China and that their higher end frames are made in their respective countries. Now lets see how bad I get bashed on this forum.

jtaylor2

Trek's FAQ says their high end bikes are still built in the USA. Of course that says nothing about where the components and material are sourced.

https://www.trekbikes.com/faq/questio...?questionid=90

Is my bike made in the USA?

We continue to produce many of our bicycles in the US with a focus on our higher-end OCLV carbon fiber offerings. All of our bikes are designed and engineered at our headquarters in Waterloo, Wisconsin though select road, ATB, comfort, hybrid, urban and kids’ bikes are produced by Trek-specific overseas vendors. Bicycles produced overseas follow the same stringent quality standards as our domestically built bikes. No matter where your bike is produced quality is stock on every Trek built.

My 2012 7.3fx was made in China

Wogster

No, but a bicycle is an assembly of parts, and those parts can come from all over, so it's hard to determine where it's made. Here is an example, Opus buys components from Shimano that are made in Malaysia, then combines that with a frame made in Taiwan, and does the assembly work in Canada, so where is it made?

bruce19

Earth?

bobbycorno

Yeah, well... In cycling, "where a bike is made" generally refers to where the FRAME was constructed. Not where it was finished, not where the bike was assembled, and not where the components came from. Which means that the vast majority of carbon go-fast bikes are made in Taiwan or PRC. This includes most of the well-known US and European brands.

Mentioning the auto industry in this is interesting. These are the same folks who got the Ford Crown Victoria (an all-American land yacht if there ever was one) classified as an import by sourcing many of the components from Ford plants in Windsor, Ontario, just across the river from Detroit. Why? As an "import" it didn't count in Ford's Corporate Average Fuel Economy numbers. So there's all kinds of ways to spin the "where it's made" question.

SP
Bend, OR

Robert Foster

This might help some. Not a complete list and not as up to date as you might like.
https://wannabteam.co.za/?page_id=1422

CB HI

If it says OCLV carbon, made in USA. If it says TCT or anything else, not USA.

Wogster

Why the frame? Generally with products of all kinds, including a lot of food products, the country of production is where the most value was added, so if bicycle company X, buys $85 worth of parts from Malaysia, and a $100 frame from Taiwan, then has it assembled and boxed in the USA at a cost of $105 then it would be considered made in USA. The same bicycle assembled in China at a cost of $10.50 would be considered made in Taiwan. I think the last true made in USA bicycle was a Chicago Schwinn....

wvridgerider

The prices do not reflect where they are made. Cannondale didnt drop their prices by outsourcing their frames.

tcs

The US National Bicycle Dealers Association reports that in 2010, 99% of all bicycles sold in the USA were imported from Taiwan or China. These bicycles are built up from components from those countries and other mostly Asian countries.

Item: SRAM is in the process of closing the internal gear hub factory in Schweinfurt, Germany - where IGHs have been manufactured since 1904 - and moving production to Dali, Taiwan. Reason? To massively shorten the supply line, as most European OEMs have moved their production to Taiwan or China.

Ken Brown

Cannondale is popular in Europe and a few years ago proudly proclaimed there too that it was made in USA. Has that changed?

DnvrFox

Yes, as of 2008-2010 or so.

https://urbanvelo.org/cannondale-clos...on-facilities/

dguest

In Late 2008 Cannondale sold out to Dorel Corp, at the end of 2009 and early 2010 Cannondale moved all frame manufactoring to Asia. The CADD 9 was the last made in USA frame. (for Cannondale)

tcs

Not true. "Made in USA" has a legal definition enforced by the Federal Trade Commission's Department of Consumer Protection. The definition is quite strict and this definition is different than "Country of Origin" for imported products.

In your example the manufacturer could legally claim "Assembled in USA from imported components".

DnvrFox

Cannondale moving article:

https://www.bikeradar.com/news/articl...cilities-21101

SuperDave

Heck, if you want to drill down even deeper, you might be surprised at how many brands (Felt, Jamis, Kona and Trek among others, including most of the BikesDirect brands) come from one manufacturer - Kinesis.

xizangstan

And drilling even deeper, where is the titanium, molybdenum, chromium, aluminum, etc. mined these days? Thanks to the EPA in the States, probably not in the USA. I understand Russia has the largest titanium reserves...

stevencbradley

I have a 1996 Gary Fisher that proclaims "frame made in USA," but everything I've seen recently has been made in Asia somewhere. It's frustrating, but that's how it is.
For a good reference to the changes we've seen, watch a film like "The French Connection" (70's, I think), and notice what's in the car chases. Then watch a new film. That's as good a point of reference as any. I hope we do make a comeback in manufacturing. I"ve always believed it was better for us if we make our own stuff. That was Wal-Mart's philosophy, until Sam Walton died. I may find an old bike and build it up (out of Asian parts, DARN it), just to be different.
Steve B

tcs

The USA is by far the world's #1 manufacturing nation, producing almost 1.5X what #2 country (China, with over 4X the US population) does. With 4.5% of the world's population, the USA produces over 22% of the world's manufactured goods. The US's manufacturing sector, measured in constant dollars, is almost 2X what it was 40 years ago. If anyone wants to learn (gasp, I know, we're over 50), all these numbers are easy to look up.

Two points:
1) No, not as great a percentage of the US workforce is employed in manufacturing these days. And...not as many folks work on farms any more, either.
B) Bicycles are by-and-large 1890s technology.

Bob Ross

...except for those models that weren't.