Where was my bike made?

Some bike companies have a few secrets. And one of those secrets is where your bike is made or who actually made it. The bike companies like it that way because many of them rely upon the same factories to build their bikes!

The big picture is pretty clear: around 95% of the bikes sold in the U.S. are made in China or Taiwan by a handful of manufacturers of which Giant is the largest.

Generally speaking, low to mid level bikes are made in China and mid to high level bikes are made in Taiwan. The exception is carbon; many manufacturers use Chinese manufacturers to make their carbon frames even their high-end racing frames.

When it comes to knowing where your bike is made, shouldn't it be as easy as looking at the sticker on your bike or what is printed on the box in which your bike came? After all, how confusing can a label that says Made in the USA or Made in France or Made in Italy be?
Well in a word very. It is very confusing because your definition of made in is different from the bike industry's definition.

A typical rule of thumb is that the country claiming origin has to add 60% or more of the value of the final product.

For example, you and I can import an unpainted carbon fiber racing frame from China to Spain which will ultimately retail for $4,000 with Shimano components in the United States.
The frame and fork may only cost $200 from the Chinese manufacturer. In Spain, we will paint, decal, assemble, and box the bike for shipping to the U.S.

Our cost to paint, decal, assemble, and box might be $300 and the cost of the components might be another $800.

So is this bike Made in China or Made in Spain? According to the bike industry's definition, the bike is made in Spain. The sticker will say Made in Spain as will the shipping box to the United States because over 60% of the value will be added in Spain.
Let's say we take the same frame and have the Chinese manufacturer paint it, decal it, assemble it into a bicycle, and ship it to Spain. When we ship it to the United States, the label will have to say Made in China.

Perhaps the best way to eliminate the confusion is for the bicycle industry to follow the lead of the automobile industry and tell the end consumer the countries of origin of all aspects of the bicycle.

After all, if you are led to believe by a bunch of marketing people that your bike was handmade in Spain when it was actually mass-produced in a Chinese factory, would you buy that bike? Maybe but you wouldn't pay a premium for it.

With these things in mind, here is an alphabetical brand by brand run down of some key bike brands sold in the U.S. along with a few bits of trivia.

To read more:

http://allanti.com/articles/where-was-my-bike-made-pg328.htm