Factory's in Temecula.They fabricate and heat treat there,but I believe they send out locally for paint(powdercoating).- Lloyd
works both ways though. I'll use 2wheel Lee as an example. He works at Honda and yes, the big profits must be going off shore. But how many Intense frames has that guy bought? A bunch just so you know (and even more GT's from back in the day). So his offshore based company is helping the local ecomony if you look at it that way. So, how many of you drive American cars? Back to Lee, he drives a big Dodge truck. So Honda is putting money into Dodge's pocket if you look at it that way. Myself, I roll an '04 1/2 ton Dodge and my wife is in a 3/4 ton '01 Surbabn (with the big block of course). The shop next door to mine makes a bunch of stuff for White. Mostly moto stuff but I did notice some MTB lowers in there the other day. I asked and he said he used to run those parts all the time.
Well, many of the popular Honda and Acura automobiles are made in the United States (and some in Canada). Oh, and my "American car company" Dodge is made in Mexico (thank god - the identical models made in the US are more problematic). To correct Tani, some Oakley stuff is manufactured right here in the US. I believe some/many/or all of the sunglasses are made here. They even work 24 hours at their factory in Foothill Ranch. All of the clothes are overseas (a friend of mine is a buyer there). I just realized that SAR boats said the same thing (not just Taiwan, but other areas in the orient, too). Dave, when you say White, do you mean White Bros forks? The same friend who is a buyer at Oakley used to be in purchasing at White Brothers, with forks being one of his areas of responsibility...Oh wait, you've met him, too, a long time ago. Small world. But I think at that time he was in purchasing at GT.
Truvativ/SRAM R&D is in SLO, fab is in Taiwan, like almost everything else bike-related. If you're concerned about profits "going overseas," you can buy stock in companies like Honda, and bring those profits right back.
I know they may not like me saying it, but most of the Kore stuff is made in Taiwan, right along side all of the Sram stuff that isn't made in China.... We (Felt racing) make most of our bikes in Taiwan, I used to work for AMP research and we tried to make most everything in the OC! But realistically it's very hard in the current economic environment to make stuff (not just bikes) domestically. More power to the guys who can make stuff in the US, and to people like Santa Cruz who actually moved a lot (if not all) products back from Taiwan to better control the quality etc. For me, I'm proud of the fact that we design everything in the USA, from frames, down to even components. There's a lot of companies out there buy of the shelf, not that its all that bad, there are many companies in Taiwan that have made frames etc for USA brands for long enough that they can crank out good quality designs, but they have no individuality..... Everyone has to remember that for everyone out there who's willing to support their local guy, there are 100 who want to spend less. :-k Just watched a whole bunch of bikes go down the assembly line in sunny Taipei......Taiwan.....maybe something changed since then...Wednesday....(just kidding!!!!!!):lol::lol::lol:
.. Just to clarify, We still do limited production runs out of our factory in Anaheim and our local subcontractors - just not as much as before - pretty much almost every EVO and F5 in existence (with the exception of a handful of frames) was produced within 30 minutes of So Cal. or in our factory. I can name close to ten people on this forum who have Southern California-made CHUMBAs that were picked up this year. If you want an EVO made in Anaheim, come take a look, we have some sitting on our frame rack. We also have rockers, bottom brackets, head tubes, yokes, that are all machined in-house sitting in our warehouse. Believe me, I write the checks every month for the CNC machine, I make sure it gets some use. Just have not been able to keep up with demand with US production for as long as I can remember. We couldn't be happier with our Taiwanese manufacturing though - the weld beads, alignment, and finish just blew us away - and it's def. not cheap, we are probably paying more than if we had to make the frames in the U.S. We have no problem paying for quality. : )
There is a company in Anaheim that molds sunglasses for Oakley, but the material they are using.... Grilimid Nylon is from Germany Macrolon (lenses) Bayer also from Germany Santoprene TPR the softer material on the arms is from Taiwan There are very few plastic companies based in the USA any longer. One of the biggest was GE plastics, but they just recently sold to a Saudi concern for the most ever paid for a plastics company. Looks like we are heading for a recession, some of this work may move back to the states as we won't have the value of a dollar any longer.
I think I'm missing something here. The frames made overseas are both more expensive to produce and better? Are you saying it's not possible to make the frames in the US at any price? Is it that there just isn't the manufacturing capabilty in the US?
Is Russ Denny bikes still being produced because I thought those were produced locally, also Siren bikes are made in Idywild.
... Thanks for asking. These days, there is such a high level of difference in the quality you can get out of an "overseas" frame. If you want a cheap frame with snot welding, poor frame alignment - for a bargain basement price - you can still get that - and many companies do. But, remember, frames like the IBIS Mojo, Santa Cruz Nomad, and Maverick MLs are all made - or at least a large part of their manufacturing is done "overseas." I'm sure you've seen the quality on those bikes - and they aren't exactly cheap to make. So yes, the price is actually very similar as for us to produce the bikes in-house, and its not because the U.S. doesn't have the capability - but wages in Taiwan for top welders and machinists are going up a lot because of increased demand for talent. Also keep in mind that many "US" frame makers will import hydroformed tubes from Taiwan.
Well I buy my 6061-T6 from Fry Steel. But the cert that comes with it is from some off shore mill. I hope there will be someone left that knows how to build it. Do they even teach metal shop in the high schools anymore? I do not know one kid that's taking any type of high school shop class. But I know a bunch that can fix up my computer.
So this begs the question, if cost and quality are comparable, why not just have the frames fabricated in the US?
.. Comparable yes, but there are certain materials and processes that are done more easily overseas - like carbon and hydroforming. It's just like anything else, look at your cell phone, your television, even the computer you are typing on right now - sometimes countries will get a competitive advantage in manufacturing a certain product. -A.
