Originally Posted by
guy153
Interesting aside and sorry to bring the modern world into this but I think this does happen now with carbon fibre frames and forks. There are companies in China who will sell you standard frames and forks. All you have to do is add a brand. This is why traditional brands like Cannondale change hands for more than they ever have but have never meant less.
Not exactly the point I was trying to make. Of course there are many factories that produce many different brands. Very few bike brands own their own factories (and interestingly the 3rd biggest brand here in the US, Giant, also does contract work for their competitor's too.) But I seriously doubt that beyond a very few brands that do the after fabrication paint/decaling the rest of the "house labeled brands/contracted out" brands do zero after factory work on the frames. And most of those don't even do the component build ups. The "brand" is a sales office, a leased distribution space and a website, not a work shop/assembly line model at all. Andy