Originally Posted by
luker
well, I suppose we need to know what Koga Miyata means by "built". This is a snippet from their literature:
Hand bikes built by Koga Miyata - look for yourself at what they say... since the beginning of 74' every Koga Miyata bicycle has been developed and built in our head quarters in Heerenveen, Netherlands.
A demanding process whereby every bicycle is assembled by hand from start to finish by a bike builder. This is a logical choice for Koga Miyata bikes which is derived straight from our philosophy about bicycle quality. What does that look like then...?
Look at it yourself via a panorama presentation of our cycle company or look at our original image film 'Perfection'.
More on Koga-Miyata hand crafted Road Race bikes, Touring bikes and Metro bicycles - what they say: All our bicycles are hand crafted in Holland for people who like to ride and demand real bicycle quality.
"All Glory Comes From Daring To Begin"
Company history: Back in 74 Andries Gaastra started Koga bikes to market the finest racing frames available. Owned by Accell since 98, Koga and our employees have remained true to the founder's insistence on quality above all. Koga quality is guaranteed by our unique production philosophy: To this day there are no assembly lines at Koga. All framesets are hand-built and each cycle is assembled - start to finish by a certified technician.
I guess it is just clever semantics. I couldn't understand the relationship between the two companies if Miyata
didn't put the frames together...
OK I guess this thread is now hi-jacked
it does seem a little odd how many references are made to the "Dutchness" of the bikes, when so many have Miyata headbadges and decals right on there. It seems that their current offerings (and maybe dating back to *when* in the past?) are made in Holland (or perhaps Holland and Taiwan, too?) but I found this quote on the old internets regarding a 1994 catalog:
"Miyata Factory is only one and is located in Japan(Chigasaki) they sell frames and parts to Netherland and they assamble them.
Regards,
Hernan P.Burgos(NANOBURGOS)"
(The misspellings are his)
So, yeah...clear as mud...