Why are all the Taiwan/Eastern brands so expensive?

thelonegroover

Kowalski675 wrote:

I know Giant are Taiwanese, but I noticed the Trance X2 in my local shop has a sticker on it saying "Made in Netherlands". Not sure if that just means it was assembled there.

Thats double Dutch!

njee20

Either way, they have extensive Taiwan connections and get their parts all from the same places ie Shimano and SRAM more or less. So what are their excuses? Companies like Whyte and Orange can justify it cos they're kinda niche brands with a rep but Cube or Specialised? At the mass market, there is nothing to justify the price. R&D is kinda moot as Specialized have been using the same frames for a while...even downgrading frames for some models to older stuff.

Cube are German though, so that voids your point? Canyon et al are cheap because they sell direct to market and you trade off having a dealer network to follow up with, they're still made in Taiwan.

What about Scott? They're Swiss, but they churn out some immensely expensive bikes! Still made in the far east.

Does this make sense. Giant and Merida are probably the two largest frame makers in the world, they both Taiwanese.

Merida make a lot of frames, but don't sell many under their own name, I mentioned brands, not manufacturers.

thelonegroover

I agree, it seems to be the direct selling model that saves the most. As for frames and components, the cost difference will be down to the spec required by the brand. Manufacturers in Taiwan, China or anywhere will make what they are asked to and charge accordingly.

njee20

Well you either have generic frames that get a logo slapped on them (more common among small brands), or you have factories that work with the manufacturers to produce exactly what they want, and it's all very closely controlled.

YeehaaMcgee

njee20 wrote:

What about Scott? They're Swiss, but they churn out some immensely expensive bikes

Replace "but" with "so", and you have a sensible sentence

The Rookie

Thelonegroover wrote:

Where did £10-20 on a frame come from?

The cost of a butted tube to a plain tube is circa £5 difference when supplied at over 10k units pa

YeehaaMcgee

The Beginner wrote:

Thelonegroover wrote:

Where did £10-20 on a frame come from?

The cost of a butted tube to a plain tube is circa £5 difference when supplied at over 10k units pa

That's not really the only differentiator though.

cooldad

I do like a nice buttered crumpet.

philxx1975

The Beginner wrote:

kammybear wrote:

Usually stuff from the east is cheaper due to raw materials

Just spotted this, raw mats are a commodity and are no cheaper in the far east.....I work for an Indian company and they cost pretty much the same as they do in the UK/Europe... (Slight transport cost differences depending on source locations)

I got to visit a place that makes bikes the other day and the chap in their said that this was one of the reasons they were making the shift back to the UK from Taiwan but there was also a whole other raft of reasons shipping, dumping/import duties, timescales involved it was quite a list and I was very surprised.

It does actually make sense as there is an entire supply chain that needs a cut to make it worth their while, I think the sum mentioned was 5% difference or something when you had costed all the mouths that need feeding along the way of getting that product made overseas then to good old blighty.