More info on Time parts and Look

Where oh where do they manufacture their parts?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mike Bullis 5.5-6.5 miles on September 9, 2009 at 12:31pm

LOOK is a French company, TIME maybe, too.

Permalink Reply by J on September 9, 2009 at 6:07pm

LOOK and Time are both headquartered in France. But these exercises are always difficult. Most of the brands you've listed currently manufacture some or all of their lines in Asia. Several of the factories that Shimano uses, particularly in Taiwan and Singapore, also make non-Shimano bits. But I suppose as long as the goal is "anything other than Shimano" as opposed to supply chain purity, it's an interesting game.

Permalink Reply by Matt M. on September 9, 2009 at 7:22pm

Noway J!!! Let's see, Mavic, DT Swiss, Schmidt, Rohloff for starters - are you saying they don't make their products in Europe??? I can imagine DT Swiss and Mavic farming out some items, though, due to their size.

Your reply sounds kinda like a salesman trying to tell the customer that they don't have to fuss about Shimano's omnipresence. Just maybe they'd like to have their components made in the place where cycling started.....

J said:

LOOK and Time are both headquartered in France. But these exercises are always difficult. Most of the brands you've listed currently manufacture some or all of their lines in Asia. Several of the factories that Shimano uses, particularly in Taiwan and Singapore, also make non-Shimano bits. But I suppose as long as the goal is "anything other than Shimano" as opposed to supply chain purity, it's an interesting game.

Permalink Reply by J on September 9, 2009 at 10:31pm

I'm not trying to sell anything. In fact, only about 5% of the bikes I build use Shimano components, so it's not as if I favor the company. But working at a custom shop, I get this question quite a bit: either (a) I'd like a bike without Shimano components (for whatever reason) (b) I'd like an all American/Italian/English/French bike or (c) I don't want Chinese/Taiwanese parts.

And so the truth is that this is almost (but not quite) impossible. I'm not questioning the rationale, whether it's aesthetic, moral, political, or whatever... but let's be clear that there's a distinction between branding, design, assembly, and manufacture.

You do still see a fair amount small scale CNC work (ie Blackspire, Paul) in North America. There are also a handful of ultra high end carbon fabricators (Parlee, Edge Composites, etc.)...

But most bars, stems, forks, and seatpost marketed by companies like Reynolds, ITM, Stella Azzurra, 3T, Deda, Zeus, etc. are made in Taiwan/China by Trigon, Kalloy, and other OEM fabricators.

Specifically, not all DT Swiss parts are made in Switzerland. Some of the cheaper rims are made by Alex in Taiwan. I also tend to doubt that their new carbon rims are Swiss (or even EU) made.

Many Mavic products are made in China and Taiwan and have been for years. The low end prefab wheels like Aksium and Crossmax, etc.

Schmidt and Rohloff are German but of course niche and tiny and expensive, but the other internal hubs you've mentioned (SRAM, Sturmey Archer) are made in Asia.

Even the most storied brands like Colgano, Pinarello, Campagnolo... have moved some production to Taiwan/China.

Matt M. said:

Noway J!!! Let's see, Mavic, DT Swiss, Schmidt, Rohloff for starters - are you saying they don't make their products in Europe??? I can imagine DT Swiss and Mavic farming out some items, though, due to their size.

Your reply sounds kinda like a salesman trying to tell the customer that they don't have to fuss about Shimano's omnipresence. Just maybe they'd like to have their components made in the place where cycling started.....

J said:
LOOK and Time are both headquartered in France. But these exercises are always difficult. Most of the brands you've listed currently manufacture some or all of their lines in Asia. Several of the factories that Shimano uses, particularly in Taiwan and Singapore, also make non-Shimano bits. But I suppose as long as the goal is "anything other than Shimano" as opposed to supply chain purity, it's an interesting game.

Permalink Reply by Matt M. on September 10, 2009 at 12:15am

Nice. Questions we all want answered.

J said:

I'm not trying to sell anything. In fact, only about 5% of the bikes I build use Shimano components, so it's not as if I favor the company. But working at a custom shop, I get this question quite a bit: either (a) I'd like a bike without Shimano components (for whatever reason) (b) I'd like an all American/Italian/English/French bike or (c) I don't want Chinese/Taiwanese parts.

And so the truth is that this is almost (but not quite) impossible. I'm not questioning the rationale, whether it's aesthetic, moral, political, or whatever... but let's be clear that there's a distinction between branding, design, assembly, and manufacture.

You do still see a fair amount small scale CNC work (ie Blackspire, Paul) in North America. There are also a handful of ultra high end carbon fabricators (Parlee, Edge Composites, etc.)...

But most bars, stems, forks, and seatpost marketed by companies like Reynolds, ITM, Stella Azzurra, 3T, Deda, Zeus, etc. are made in Taiwan/China by Trigon, Kalloy, and other OEM fabricators.

Specifically, not all DT Swiss parts are made in Switzerland. Some of the cheaper rims are made by Alex in Taiwan. I also tend to doubt that their new carbon rims are Swiss (or even EU) made.

Many Mavic products are made in China and Taiwan and have been for years. The low end prefab wheels like Aksium and Crossmax, etc.

Schmidt and Rohloff are German but of course niche and tiny and expensive, but the other internal hubs you've mentioned (SRAM, Sturmey Archer) are made in Asia.

Even the most storied brands like Colgano, Pinarello, Campagnolo... have moved some production to Taiwan/China.

Matt M. said:
Noway J!!! Let's see, Mavic, DT Swiss, Schmidt, Rohloff for starters - are you saying they don't make their products in Europe??? I can imagine DT Swiss and Mavic farming out some items, though, due to their size.

Your reply sounds kinda like a salesman trying to tell the customer that they don't have to fuss about Shimano's omnipresence. Just maybe they'd like to have their components made in the place where cycling started.....

J said:
LOOK and Time are both headquartered in France. But these exercises are always difficult. Most of the brands you've listed currently manufacture some or all of their lines in Asia. Several of the factories that Shimano uses, particularly in Taiwan and Singapore, also make non-Shimano bits. But I suppose as long as the goal is "anything other than Shimano" as opposed to supply chain purity, it's an interesting game.

Permalink Reply by Duppie 13.5185km on September 12, 2009 at 12:23pm

Here is an interesting article on where bikes are made. It gives a rundo... beleive that you can make similar assumptions about parts manufacturing.
Frank

Mike Bullis said: