trump tariffs

Chinese bikes are often less than half the price of European or USA built bikes , rendering any increases relatively insignificant....agreed? The Chinese know a thing or two about bikes ,but if you want the good stuff you have to pay the piper.
 
Guys - give it up on where ebikes are 'made'. Even the Taiwan factories or Vietnam factories are owned by the Chinese. And yes, the brands you know of that you think might be US, even in terms of components, their product is being made in China.

It's very old school to think of made in China as being crap or subpar. Nearly every thing you own, is being made in China. That's why these tariffs are being attempted in the first place, but it's futile and 30 years too late for most products that Americans consume.
 
Yes, this waters down to the peddles, is everyone expected to wait until every part is manufactured in the US. i would love it because in China its basically slave labor, unless everyone on the planet say's no i'll pay a lot more for the same bike it will continue. Hell when i die i'm sure the neighbors will take the gold crowns out of my mouth. Welcome to the real world.
My pension is small, i have to go cheap to get by, way of the world. The difference is only the fact i know when i go to bed at night there's a Chinese worker getting up to work themselves to near death, most don't. Doesn't sit well but it is what it is.
I see no gain here with tariffs as far as American jobs go.
 
Deleted Member 4210 said:
Ruff Cycles, who builds the Ruffian, and states that it's 'handcrafted' in Germany, might be the closest one to something being 'built ' outside of China. They are hand welding and painting their own frames. But the rest of the content, comes from Asia; tires,spokes,rims,pedals,chain,gears,bearings,grips, lights, and so on.

It's priced at $5999. And I do sell them.

Prodecotech 'assembles' in Florida. But it's all coming out of China. And whatever they assemble is probably not a whole lot more than I do with Aventons that are shipped to my shop.

Magnum may someday 'assemble' here in the US, rumor has it. Genze does some 'assembling ' of product in Detroit.

Does any of that really matter?

We live in a Global economy. But back to the original question, Trumps tariffs have affected ebikes and bikes, and every ebike OEM is taking steps to mitigate the impact. Articles about this have been posted in other threads here at EBR.
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Maybe not even that! it may be put together from Chinese parts, claims like that need to be researched, don't take a companies word for it, find out where each part is manufactured.
Bosch made electronic car parts that lasted forever in the 80's, designed and built in Germany, the copies where endless and failed at the same rate. Buyer beware.
 
I believe that sadly here in Canada there is only one bike maker
Deleted Member 4210 said:
Sorry but you are misinformed on where Treks are made or German or Swiss ebikes are made. Giant makes 60 % of the world's bikes, and their factories are both in China and Taiwan. Which German or Swiss ebikes do you believe are actually made in Germany or Switzerland ?
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So you think that my riese and muller is made in china? Wrong. I have a chinese bike that i put 4000 miles on but now it is toast. My german bike has a bosch system . Do you think its made in china also? China has a billion cyclists so again they know a thing or two about cheap bikes but i want one high quality bike, not three disposables.
 
Hopefully a trump deal will be reached in the next 30 days. It would be great to see a bunch more sales as a result. Anyone holding off on a big purchase in expectation of this?
 
Deleted Member 4210 said:
Guys - give it up on where ebikes are 'made'. Even the Taiwan factories or Vietnam factories are owned by the Chinese. And yes, the brands you know of that you think might be US, even in terms of components, their product is being made in China.

It's very old school to think of made in China as being crap or subpar. Nearly every thing you own, is being made in China. That's why these tariffs are being attempted in the first place, but it's futile and 30 years too late for most products that Americans consume.
Click to expand...

A lot of bikes are built in China, but as contract labor. Most bike companies are not Chinese. I can't even think of any Chinese bike companies, maybe for low end bikes that I wouldn't buy anyway. Bicycle manufacturing is not particularly high tech, so a lot of developing countries could take their place if the bike manufacturers choose to move there. For components, Shimano, a Japanese company, dominates, and has plants in many countries. Chinese made tires kinda suck. My Orbea says made in Spain on the frame, but as a minimum the motor is Chinese made, but designed by a European company.
 
Several manufactures have moved their production lines to Taiwan or Vietnam to avoid the tariffs. They may be Chinese owned, but the tariff only applies to articles coming out of China.
 
Timpo said:
Honestly, I am starting to feel the same way too.

Mr.Coffee listed American companies manufacturing "Made in USA" frame.
Whether you are using cheap Chinese welder from local hardware store and imported Chinese aluminum.. because the fabrication took place in America, it's a "Made in USA" and somehow superior to "Made in China" like some of the Trek and Specialized bikes.

Just because you move the location from one place to another, because we're all on earth, and humans are welding them together, I don't know just based on the location you can expect the higher quality.. we used to be able to, but now as Mike said, it's a global economy.
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It's not all about superiority. All things considered, I'd rather an American welder be employed to weld my frame than a Chinese welder.
 
I didnt mean to start something about whether china makes good products

Im just wondering if a trade deal is reached in early may and the tarriffs are dropped, if this will result in ebike prices going down
 
Rad Power recently lowered their prices by $200. They are absorbing the tariff and probably selling more bikes because of this. They only other e-bike I saw besides my RadRover was more Rads in our AZ winter place. Mine sure attracted a lot of attention and questions this year.
 
Now that the tarriffs have been bumped up to 25% (bicycles ARE INCLUDED in list of tariffed goods), do we expect ebike prices to get jacked up?
 
bikeman242 said:
Now that the tarriffs have been bumped up to 25% (bicycles ARE INCLUDED in list of tariffed goods), do we expect ebike prices to get jacked up?
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Isn't it true that bike prices have already been bumped up to reflect tariffs?

However, if past experience is repeated, "tariffs" will become a common excuse to raise prices, increase profit margins even as work- a-rounds are put in place (e.g. moving manufacture from China, which has been getting too expensive anyway, to lower cost sites, Nam, Mexico, U.S. etc.).
 
bikeman242 said:
Now that the tarriffs have been bumped up to 25% (bicycles ARE INCLUDED in list of tariffed goods), do we expect ebike prices to get jacked up?
Click to expand...

I thought complete ebikes, motors & batteries from China had 25% tariffs imposed last year? Today's news appears to be everything else eg Shimano & SRAM components manufactured in china, etc. Every cyclist is going to be paying more now for components and consumables like chains, tubes, etc.
 
Mr. Coffee said:
There are lots of companies making bike frames in the USA:

https://co-motion.com
https://www.sklarbikes.com
https://www.stinnerframeworks.com
https://breadwinnercycles.com

I wouldn't have to work very hard to find many more examples like this. Yes, they are expensive. But you get what you pay for.

This is the 21st century. Manufacturing most any product is an international enterprise. It is almost impossible except for the very simplest products to say they were "made" in any one place.
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Are those USA made bikes made from american made steel/aluminum etc, or are the materials imported somewhere in Asia? Just curious.
 
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