I was a little hurt to find out the other day that my dream bike, the Yeti 575 (worth about $7500 with the pro-spec build) was made in Taiwan.
I know that 90% (if not more) of the world’s bicycles are made in Asia. Giant are the world’s largest bicycle manufacturer and their mega factories in Taiwan and China produces bikes for Specialized, Avanti, Trek, Scott USA and Iron Horse. I also found out after reading this article, that Italian dream road bike brands such as Colnago and Bianchi also make some of their frames in Asia.
I suppose when you’re paying a premium (in this case, the most you could possibly ever want to pay for a bicycle) you’d want to excpect the very best, with absolutely no compromise, but I consider that making something in Asia because it’s cheaper to make it there as a massive compromise, one which I find hard very hard to swallow.
I can’t be sure, but I doubt $20,000 Hermes handbags are made in Asia. If Hermes started making their goods in Asia, would they expect their brand to uphold their prices?
It’s all a bit shocking to me at the moment, shattered dreams and a hard hit of reality. Maybe I’ll end up making my own frames? (I need a new dream afterall).