Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 213 posts

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

#181

Post by inferiorhuman »

cannonedhamster wrote: post #164
nextos wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd still argue that's quite local. In most Spanish supermarkets, stuff tended to be local or from nearby EU countries. Although now things are degrading. My favorite UK supermarket sells organic pine kernels from China, at a ridiculously high price. That's not local, nor pine kernels are typical produce from China. It's just seeking high margins.

Soil composition, fertilizers, vegetable strains, and weather conditions all impact taste. Tomatoes from my garden made from heirloom seeds taste significantly better than best boy, beefsteak, or even tomatoes on the vine. I've had tomatoes from Italy, in Romania if all places, and can concur that even the produce exported tastes worlds better than what you can buy in the average US supermarket. I'd wager that the ty…

You can find heirloom veggies and less industrialized produce in American markets — but part of the reason they're not quite as popular is that they don't ship as well or have as long a season. Fuerte avocados, for instance, have a season of about six weeks. They're delicious but towards the end of the season they're not that great.

Of course, living in the Bay Area I'm spoiled by the selection. It really is better than a lot of other areas. In contrast, Portland, in particular, stood out as having consistently mediocre produce available (and New York was surprisingly good even in the middle of winter).

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

#182

Post by bigiain »

analog31 wrote: post #171
flyGuyOnTheSly wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A valid warning, indeed! I will admit that my drill has had the grounding pin cut out of it's once-3-pronged plug. Apparently it was common for contractors to cut it out as many of the houses they were working in didn't have grounding sockets. I've only used it a couple of times, after checking it over mechanically inside, so I'm not too worried about it. The beautiful thing about old power tools however is that repl…

With the grounding pin absent, even a small amount of leakage can result in the enclosure of the tool being anywhere between mains and ground potential. I'm neither an electrician nor an engineer, but I suspect that the newer "double insulated" standard is a worthwhile improvement.

Either (or both of) roper grounding or a residual current detector would have made that day of mine a lot less exciting. I'm still happy using metal-cased mains powered devices, but I'm somewhat more careful about checking those two things before I hang on to them tightly these days...

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

#183

Post by technofiend »

MrTonyD wrote: post #112
nextos wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A step further, it seems most people's favourite brands tend to be ones which were high quality in the past. Its a rare situation where that quality continues as mass market appeal arrives. Yes, I think this is a typical brand lifecycle. Somewhat niche brand gets famous due to high quality and appealing image. Brand gets bought by big group, with a lot of expertise in distribution and marketing. Quality goes downhi…

I was just reading the book "The House of Morgan" and it describes how companies are purchased when they don't maximize short term profit. The bankers and executives make sure that they make millions in the transfer, and then the brand is cheapened to get more profit, usually at the expense of the customers and employees, and then the company is sold again to get more millions for the executives and bankers. They don…

I jokingly call this MBA disease as a nod to Dutch Elm disease; the parasite sucks all the nutrients it can out of the host, killing it and then moves on. It’s the reason I don’t expect to enjoy Whataburger for much longer now that it’s been purchased by a Chicago investment house.

For instance Whataburger uses fresh eggs and scrambles them on site. That’ll go by the wayside in favor of McDonald’s-style pre-made and pre-packaged eggs generating waste and lowering quality. But it’ll make the food easier to replicate nation wide creating shot term profits from growth until consumers have the predictable “I don’t see what all the hype is about” reaction, damaging or possibly destroying the brand.

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

#184

Post by dang »

tastygreenapple wrote: post #12
petschge wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The one idiot that the rest of the world ignored was Georg W. Bush. By electing a second, worse idiot the US has demonstrated to the world that they are no longer a viable long term partner.

[flagged]

Posting political flamewar comments isn't ok here. Would you please review and follow the site guidelines so we don't have to ban you again?

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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

#185

Post by dang »

petschge wrote: post #10
jimmaswell wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think allies are going to be permanently "alienated" by one president's remarks.

The one idiot that the rest of the world ignored was Georg W. Bush. By electing a second, worse idiot the US has demonstrated to the world that they are no longer a viable long term partner.

No partisan flamebait here please.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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

#186

Post by audiometry »

fhbdukfrh wrote: post #134
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…

While lots of cheap bicycles are made in China it's also where practically all high end carbon fiber bikes are made as well. Just like we discounted made in Japan a generation ago, we like to do the same with China today. It's true for some industries but just wishful thinking for many. Look at what's happening with Chinese cars for an example of rapid manufacturing improvement

"cheap" versus "high-end" is not as clear a distinction as it seems. In fairness, it depends what you're looking for.

Carbon Fiber is lighter, ok, so call that the high-end one. But in reality, their durability is lousy -- in addition to being mostly-ruined by a crash, they do deteriorate over time. I know this first-hand as a colleague repairs carbon fiber frames [imagine lots of epoxy and carbon wraps], so I see a huge gamut of failures. Most of the frames coming in are probably 2-8 years old? Will be interesting to see how they 'wear' in the 10-20+ timeframe.

This, in comparison to steel frames, which have fantastic crash resistance (one of my frame's toptube has a huge dent in in for years no problem, and, another friend, a racer, finished a multi-day stage race with the headtube angle crunched-in after rear-ending a car early in the race). Also, provided they're rust-proof'd the frames last decades and can be repaired, modified.

I've been to ?a? ?the? Giant factory in Taiwan seeing them manufacture steel frames -- it was amazingly simple and primitive and mass-scale factory way out from Taipei, in the countryside.

I suppose another win for carbon is it enables lots of weird/cool frame shapes. There are shaped steel and aluminum tubes, but nothing like the options in carbon.

I think the weight advantage of carbon is lower than you'd expect -- high-end cromoly-steel frames are made from suprisingly thin tubing that is very sound.

Anyway, I am clearly a fan of steel frames and more randonneur-style riding. If I was into triathlons or time trials, I'd probably reply differently. And I also increasingly dislike throwaway culture and I don't believe these carbon frames hold up in the longterm.

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

#187

Post by nkozyra »

nafizh wrote: post #5
nkozyra wrote: post #2

Amazing to see an anecdote like this trotted out as newsworthy. There are three total data points and two of them are incredibly vague. Honestly, this feels a bit like propaganda.

The title clearly says 'World's top bicycle maker says'. It's an opinion.

> It's an opinion.

Opinion articles are - by convention - designated as such. This allows journalistic institutions to distance themselves from things that are insufficiently sourced or are overtly one-sided.

This doesn't fall under that umbrella. It's presented as a piece of economic foreshadowing that Trump's threats are impacting the viability of China as a global manufacturing hub. Which, ok, prove it! Don't give us one company's stated stance, show the numbers. Give us more sources.

This is not good journalism.

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

#188

Post by dingaling »

flyGuyOnTheSly wrote: post #31
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…

>But it's a lot of trouble to find high quality items these days. I want to own few things and keep most for the rest of my life. I concur on both fronts. Might I suggest you check out thrift or second hand stores? I have a collection of old aluminum cased power tools made in the mid 20th century in North America, and I think the most I paid for any one of them was $12 CAD. They look amazing. You can take them apart…

In the UK most 'thrift' or charity shops are hollowed-out since they realised they could make much more money selling valuable items online in auctions. Since then they have a national audience and not just wall-ins from one town.

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

#189

Post by chopin »

nextos wrote: post #153
Nition wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have this vague idea of starting a "buy it for life" type store, everything with a 10+ year warranty, plus required maintenance stated clearly for each product. Sell tools, clothing, kitchenware, appliances, whatever. Is there anywhere like that already? I'm in New Zealand but I'd like to hear about international examples even if I couldn't shop there.

I think Manufactum is the most similar thing out there, yet still far from perfect. They focus too much on old looks vs quality.

Manufactum (if you talk about the German company or division) sells mainly feel good stuff. I bought some and I wouldn't classify it as high quality items. They generally have a very good finish, that's it. I certainly wouldn't shop there for high quality.

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

#190

Post by CogitoCogito »

kqr wrote: post #179
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>the waiter asked if she would like butter on her bread. My friend waited for it to be added // I've heard stories like this before. It sounds a bit stupid on the part of Trading Standards (TS). Waiter: "Do you want butter" Customer/TS agent: "Yes, please" Then the TS agent prosecutes you for putting butter on their food. Well why did they ask for butter. I mean, I realise that people are sometimes absolute idiots bu…

It takes very little for the waiter to inject, "The satay contains peanuts as an essential ingredient, do you still want to order it?"

Sounds by that story that the other orders were intended for the other people eating given that the peanut free order was explicitly made. So I can only assume the waiter assumed the rest was an order for the others? Maybe that assumption may not (legally) be made and a warning needs to be made for everyone at a whole table? Either way that seems like a bit of a gray zone. Sounds almost like the point was to trip up the waiter.
Post reply on HN