Why is this East Asian island such a massive player in global bike manufacturing, and what does it mean for the rest of us? Steve Thomas investigates…When you head out on a ride, the chances are that your bike and/or at least some of the components you put your trust in were made in Taiwan – even if the brand is European or North American.
Taiwanese companies and entrepreneurs soon figured out that they could do as good a job for themselves and could cut out the middlemen. Companies such as Giant rose to prominence early in the Taiwanese outsourcing game, primarily as OEM suppliers to the major western bike brands. These days, that opportunism rarely happens, as standards and expectations within the industry and from consumers are much higher than before, and strict order and agreement are the norm nowadays when dealing with most OEM manufacturers.
The result is that many of these companies, and those brands that they supply, have since sought other outsourcing facilities or set up related companies in other lower-cost manufacturing arenas. Many have switched a lot of the more mundane and lower-end production to factories in mainland China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and elsewhere – an ironic cycle that seems unstoppable.