That's interesting I hadn't even considered that. I thought they would at least have their own assembly plant even if frames in addition to parts were bought in. I understand about most bike brands not having their own factory and just being a brand slap but the Tern bikes didn't really fit into that profile very well, I always think of that more as generic bikes. Saying that its clear fuji-ta for example make complete bikes for many big brands like Cannondale etc. So are we basically saying Tern design a bike frame and their own recipe for which components are fitted and then tender the contract to various manufacturers some better than others?

If its a subcontractor though that implies frames from a different company than the final assembly of the bike. Although the wording 'subcontractor' may not be accurate and simply used because it sounds better than stating 'manufacturer of the bike'.

I've looked at the recall of the Tern bikes and the frames look pretty generic and could be hand welded at numerous small factories in China. I guess even when using hydroformed shaped tubing they could still buy in just the tubing and a low quality facility could weld them into a pretty sophisticated looking frame. Also some of the Tern decals on pretty standard frames almost look like they are imitating a hydro-formed tube appearance.

The more I read about Tern the more their price premium looks unwarranted to the end consumer because if they are juggling multiple manufacturers to get the best price so they can achieve the highest margin the end consumer basically has no idea what quality bike they are getting. You can have the same model bike owned by different people and one may be strong enough for use for 20 years and the another may be close to failure with a high chance of personal injury or even death. The brand is more a lifestyle choice rather than representing a quality level.