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World’s top bicycle maker is moving U.S. orders to Taiwan factory

bloomberg.com

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Re: World’s top bicycle maker is moving U.S. orders to Taiwan factory

#91

Post by nextos »

ppod wrote: post #35
josho wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sadly, it's all about price. It’s about price because consumers can’t measure by anything else. Eg. I can’t tell which of two products is manufactured to higher standards, nor which one isn’t infested with formaldehyde. Until consumers are able to determine those other factors then yes sadly it is all about price (and marketing).

Good point. This is where public online reviews come in. It's a bit tricky with amazon, because for some products different sellers source slightly different versions of the product (or just knock-offs), but in theory open online review is a revolution for the customer-quality information gap.

Reviews are nice, but reviewers are rarely in the position to assess some properties of a product. Especially safety.

Re: World’s top bicycle maker is moving U.S. orders to Taiwan factory

#92

Post by microcolonel »

wtallis wrote: post #24
microcolonel wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, not sure about how they're measuring. By market cap, Shimano is about four and a half times larger. P/E is very close between the two; Giant's PY return is about 77 times better than Shimano's.

Shimano doesn't sell bicycles, just a lot of bicycle components and accessories.

Fair enough, I just couldn't think of any other manufacturers even in the industry that make more parts or complete bicycles (that I can actually buy) than Giant does.

Re: World’s top bicycle maker is moving U.S. orders to Taiwan factory

#93

Post by jdietrich »

mymythisisthis wrote: post #23

Bicycles are something that you need to be careful buying. Don't buy a BSO - a Bicycle Shaped Object. Just because it looks like a bike, doesn't mean you can comfortably ride it. An entry level bike is about $1200. You can comfortably ride it for hours, or up hills, carry a heavy load, it won't easily break, and it'll have a smooth ride. I feel bad for people that go out and buy a BSO; BSOs ruin cycling. We need to h…

>We need to have laws in place to prevent crap from reaching the market.

We already do, they're just weakly enforced and (in the US in particular) archaic and badly drafted.

Re: World’s top bicycle maker is moving U.S. orders to Taiwan factory

#94

Post by weiming »

bpicolo wrote: post #83
weiming wrote: post #46

We just moved and needed to buy some new kitchenware. You would not believe how difficult it is to find so much as a spoon that is not made in China. Even from any name brand, even in a "fancy" store like Williams-Sonoma.

Gotta be more targeted in your searches if that's what you care about. https://www.sherrillmfg.com/ https://www.globalkitchenjapan.com/collections/flatware-cutl...

Thank you. Looking Japanese stuff is a great idea. They are one of the few places to still keep some manufacturing "in-house."

Searching is hard and companies are not always fully transparent about their process. E.g. "Assembled in the USA" for a frying pan could mean that the pan and handle are made in China, but riveted to each other in the USA. Sigh.

Re: World’s top bicycle maker is moving U.S. orders to Taiwan factory

#95

Post by nextos »

weiming wrote: post #46

We just moved and needed to buy some new kitchenware. You would not believe how difficult it is to find so much as a spoon that is not made in China. Even from any name brand, even in a "fancy" store like Williams-Sonoma.

Try Sambonet for example, great quality, made in Italy.

Or some WMF steel, made in Germany. Other components might come from China, though.

Re: World’s top bicycle maker is moving U.S. orders to Taiwan factory

#96

Post by zarkov99 »

nextos wrote: post #8

I don't immediately discard an item because it's made in China, as I know of some high quality items made there. Most Apple products, some Xiaomi products or Meermin/Feit shoes. However, I tend to be very skeptical about its quality. Moving manufacturing to China is most often done to reduce cost. The only industry where it's not done due to cost, but supply chain issues, is electronics. And with cost reduction comes…

Do you happen to have published your curated list somewhere? I feel the same towards quality so I am always looking.

Re: World’s top bicycle maker is moving U.S. orders to Taiwan factory

#97

Post by verall »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #65
floatrock wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a criticism of the supply chain and enforcement, not the certification itself. I think most people would agree that a promise without verification is no real promise.

China executed people responsible for adding an industrial chemical to baby formula [1]. Without debating the merits of capital punishment, I think the issue is the lack of consistency in supple chain management. The only model I could compare to would be Costco, who is pretty good at curating products customers will like (and the quality is usually good IMHO). Trust sells, if you find buyers who value trust. [1] htt…

China executed scapegoats after huge internal outrage and an attempted coverup.

Not the kind of thing that builds trust.

Re: World’s top bicycle maker is moving U.S. orders to Taiwan factory

#98

Post by analog31 »

jakobegger wrote: post #9
jopsen wrote: post #4

This could just be a neat spin on a move towards automation :)

Are there any robots yet that can weld bicycle frames? I thought that was still a job for humans...

I'd be shocked if bike frames were not robotically welded already.

Re: World’s top bicycle maker is moving U.S. orders to Taiwan factory

#99

Post by analog31 »

razorunreal wrote: post #53
jakobegger wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there any robots yet that can weld bicycle frames? I thought that was still a job for humans...

This is actually weird to me. It seemed like it should be possible to stamp out bicycle frames like a car, so I researched it. Such a bike does exist, but is extremely expensive, which seems to defeat the purpose. Is it really not possible to streamline the manufacturing beyond welded tubes?

Lots of aluminum bike frames are already made from hydroformed tubes. Anything that looks like it wasn't just made from pipes, is molded. The question is whether making a frame from a smaller number of molded parts is cost effective. The different parts have to be of different thicknesses, and there's just the geometry puzzle of how to do it without ending up with a big seam that has to be welded anyway.

Early Schwinn frames included parts (head tube, bottom bracket) that were formed from sheet metal. One thing about making tubes from tubing is that there's very little waste.

Re: World’s top bicycle maker is moving U.S. orders to Taiwan factory

#100

Post by matt_heimer »

zarkov99 wrote: post #96
nextos wrote: post #8

I don't immediately discard an item because it's made in China, as I know of some high quality items made there. Most Apple products, some Xiaomi products or Meermin/Feit shoes. However, I tend to be very skeptical about its quality. Moving manufacturing to China is most often done to reduce cost. The only industry where it's not done due to cost, but supply chain issues, is electronics. And with cost reduction comes…

Do you happen to have published your curated list somewhere? I feel the same towards quality so I am always looking.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife/ Note the sidebar links.
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