I always wanted a colnago. I like a lot of the steel Italian bikes. But now that Carbon has taken over has the innovation also started to shift? I'm no expert by any means, but it looks like Germany is leading the way with a lot of the newest and lightest bikes and parts.

I don't know if they have any full on component manufacturers.

Am I wrong? I know USA and Italy do a lot. But are they leading?

Germsany is leader in tuning, with brands like Tune, Schmolke, AX Lightnes and Lightweight.
They also have a few small but innovative brands like Storck and Liteville.

If it comes to industry leader in bikes I would say USA, with brands like Cannondale, Scott and Specialized.

(Off course China is leading in production!)

Aren't Focus & canyon both German?

they seem to leading the way in pricing models ....

I looked at a Bianchi Oltre XR EPS SR, for the price of it £9500 I could buy a Canyon & the Bianchi frame at full price and still save a £grand

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Parlee Z1 Gloss SR11 LW Obi
Parlee Z1 Nude SR11 Hyperon
Parlee Z5 SR11 (for sale)
Enigma Etape Ti SR11 +rack
Teschner TT - LW12spoke/LW Disc
Pinarello Opera 90's steel Rec10

It would be interesting to hear who sells the most quality mid market bikes. I agree Cannondale and Specialized have to be up there. The sort of bike I guess most of us WW users buy.

Having said that I think Germany have to be industry leaders in the top end market. For me anyway. My money not a major issue build is almost exclusively German. Frame, fork, wheels, bar, stem, seatpost, and saddle are all from Germany. I chose the parts because for me they are the best, not because they are German.

@konky: what are those parts?

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I Will make the leap

Frame Storck
Fork THM
Wheels Lightweight
Bar and Seatpost Schmolke
Stem and Saddle AX Lightness

A bit predictable I know but I wanted 100% reliability with this build. It's my everyday summer bike.

Groupset is hidden Shimano Di2 by the way.

Was not a German (Denk) responsible for the engineering on many of Scott and then Cannondale's recent bikes? I think Germany is in this position because of a strong attitude towards engineering, and an education system to support it, but I guess more importantly the right economic environment for a lot of these smaller specialised firms to prosper.

There's no doubting that German engineering is exceptional and always has been. I think that you have to remember we are in a global market now and parts manufactured in a certain country may not be 'of' that country. A typical example is F1. Many of the F1 teams are UK based but I'll bet that the employees are from many countries. With bikes most of the major brands will have multi national employees. The high end parts are still predominantly German made, but the bikes they will be on will no doubt have parts from all over the world. I really don't think that you can say that any one country is a world leader. For me, the most innovative current product is Sram XX1. That'll be the USA then...

Scott is a Swiss company, btw. They sell heavily in Germany as well.



Merida, Giant. Worldwide, its not even close for 'mid-market' bikes.
Both are Taiwan based.

"Industry leader" for boutique tech?
Germany.

"Industry leader" for composite tech?
Germany.

"Industry leader" for marketing?
United States or Italy.

"Industry leader" for production?
Taiwan. China is closing in fast though.
That isn't a metaphor.

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Exp001

IME the finest riding machines are still italian.

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Wilier Cento Uno
Colnago Master X-light
Wilier 18carati

It depends on how you define 'industry leader'. Are we talking volume or best quality or something else. By best quality I mean best combination of weight, stiffness, function and durability. If you want these qualities it's very hard to avoid German.

( I just remembered I am using one other non German part on my build other than core groupset. It's Fibrelyte chainrings. For me they have the best combination of above stated qualities available. And well priced too, unlike the German stuff.)

Well done Britain!

Meeec! Sram an.American company, but the XX1 was d Ooo eveloped im Germany, in Schweinfurt, were Sachs was based.

Whilst merida manufactures in taiwan its management and design headquarters are in germany.

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Evo 5.63kg SL3 7.045kg viewtopic.php?f=10&t=110579" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This has no bias at all except for the fact you own a wilier and colnago right?

I can see this post becoming nationalistic and self-righteous.

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I never took drugs to improve my performance at any time. I will be willing to stick my finger into a polygraph test if anyone with big media pull wants to take issue. If you buy a signed poster now it will not be tarnished later. --Graeme Obree

I own a bunch of Scotts but would trade them for Storcks at the drop of a hat. No bias here