I've always been irrationaly biased towards Italian bikes and components, but I was wondering where some of the other not so obvious other component companys are based.

Canyon - German?
Scott - USA or Swiss?
Easton - USA or Canadian?
Scram (Sram) - USA or Japanese?
ADA - German?

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Arms of a sprinter, legs of a climber, lungs of a smoker!
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Canyon - German
ADA - Dutch
Scott/Easton/SRAM - American

Correct me if needed

Lightweight - Germany
Syntace - Germany
BTP - Germany
Tune - Germany

They really like light stuff over there.

FSA - Designed in Italy made in Taiwan???? Not 100% sure about the Italy part...

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Whow! That's a pretty damn nice garage door!

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Yep Becker, THM-Carbones, Spin, Nokon, Schmolke

Where are m2racer and New Ultimate from?

Man an acurate tally would be fun...

But it ain't commin from me.


The bicycle business is a whole lot smaller than most realize. Including the design element.

Nationality is exceptionally meaningless.

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charles@pezcyclingnews.com

Nail on the.....

M2 WAS an American company and New Ultimate is based in Denmark.

I'd have to agree with Pez that nationality doesn't matter anymore. It doesn't matter where your HQ is, most of the time production is done in another country. I can't think of too many companies that still produce at home.

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Exactly, ask Ritchey and Oval Concepts...
...because they sell almost identical products made in the same factory. On the same line, things like the Scott Addict and Canadian Cervélo R3 are made by TenTech Composites, a Taiwanese company with factories in China.

In threads on WW, others have claimed that TenTech makes the Canyon frames as well (at least the carbon ones).

It sounds like they are good at what they do and are able to build to whatever spec the designers give them.

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Giant anyone?

Also, I'm sure I read recently Scott are a Swiss company.

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Arms of a sprinter, legs of a climber, lungs of a smoker!
I cycle, therefore I am.
http://www.dukinfieldcc.org/ http://photobucket.com/albums/b32/clpowellbikes/

I believe Peter Denk's business is Swiss, and they did the designing for Scott until recently.

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There's another company that not only produces for several (5+) major bike brands carbon, but also most of the composit tennis raquets and several golf shaft brands...

They also make a large range of forks for different people and a large chunk of the cranks, bars etc.


But.


That's not to say that they're all the same product.


Speaking to the head of this company, he readily admits that some manufacturers really have better product comming out than the next guy.

"We make some great products and some not so great products" The hands on are similar, but some bike designs are superior. over time, all brands get better because we can suggest better design to people, but in the end, there are leaders even in the same factory.

There are better bikes, more complicated bikes built along side of very inexpensive less complicated product. Carbon makes it all seem similar, but it's not as simple as little black squares. The better makers understand how much they can do with material choice too, but you would be suprised maybe to know how 20 dollars of different material can change a bike, but some companies don't want to pay it"

He actually went on to talk about how much he likes making things for Kuota... "they spend the money and make a better bike than most... They're better at making a bike than selling, they don't get credit as much as some others who do less." (and we were standing in another manufacturers booth...). When I asked him to rank the companies though, he said "I shouldn't say even this much"

More than I would like to know where things are made, I would like to know the process drilled down, but that'll never happen.



You simply can't judge a product by where it's made... Not even by generalizing by factory is acurate.

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charles@pezcyclingnews.com

Pez, that is the best post you have ever made (and you posted Bobby, so that is saying something). It is so true.

Names sell bikes. Some manufacturers have the best technology, some have the best marketing and image. It very very very rarely happens to be the same company with both.

The bike trade is a globalised industry now. Once upon a time you could buy an Italian frame brazed in Turin with Columbus steel tubing from Milan. You probably still can but most people's bikes are a complex story of international design and trade.

Nothing is what it seems anymore, for example Porsche Boxsters are assembled in Finland (by Valmet, a paper and packaging company). It has components made all over the world. This is just one example. The pepper in your kitchen is probably a blend of indonesian, brazilian indian and vietnamese black pepper.

The outsourced manufacturing means that a company today is often a brand management agency, take Scott. They subcontracted the design to Peter Denk in Switzerland. The carbon frames are made by TenTech composites, a Taiwanese company with factories in China, using Japanese carbon fibre.

So legallly, Scott is an American company but it's a stretch of the imagination to say it's an American frame. Like the Boxster car, it's an example of global supply chains management.