Gear Shots 14: Switch frame locally made?

[Straw]

Hello;

It's mentioned in the article on the main page that the Switch frame is locally made, but I always thought that was an advertising gimick, and that everything RM makes is imported from the East.

Any insight?

[Trini-dad72]

All of RM's high end frames are made here. I believe that the lower stuff is imported in.

[TomT]

from the East? maybe shipped from the east's wear house but not made there, atleast thats what i know. last time i checked Rocky was still making all there high end frames in Canada, B.C. to be specific(i.e. RMX, Switch, Element, ETSX, Slayer, Flow, high end vertex and steel frames, and the Solo series). They are starting to have there lower end frames (Everything from Sport Hardtail to Touring) made of shore, then shipped back and painted in Canada, maybe out east in Pro-Cycles wear house, then assembled and shipped to shops.

[dirty deeds]

Rocky has a real live factory on Annacis Island where they manufacture everything from scratch including all the CNC'd bits.

[atb]

we make some small parts for rocky at my shop out in poco.

[Straw]

Thanks guys...that's encouraging. Maybe that's why the frames are so expensive!

and by "east" I meant the Far East, as in Taiwain, not eastern Canada.

[bikerboyriley]

well i know some of there higher end frame are made here, but there lower end middle range bikes are catalogue bike

[Jerry-Rig]

side note: frames made in Taiwan/Far East does not mean they are less superior than ones made locally

[Straw]

^^^
True, but it's nice to know when a company is using local labour, local materials, etc etc etc.

I like to support local things as much as I can, so it's good to have an idea of who is local and who isn't.

I do ride an Shore though, which is made in Taiwan or somewhere. So even thought I would like to buy locally, I don't always do...

[schoenrock]

Originally Posted by Jerry-Rig

side note: frames made in Taiwan/Far East does not mean they are less superior than ones made locally

if the auto market is any kind of example, it might mean that frames made in the east might be better then frames made locally.

[eknomf]

Originally Posted by Jerry-Rig

side note: frames made in Taiwan/Far East does not mean they are less superior than ones made locally

I'd say that in general it does though. Even if the worksmanship is equal, the materials used are typically far lower quality. Theres also a huge difference in a bike frame that is welded, machined, aligned, finished, etc by someone who rides and understands bikes as opposed to some sweatshop worker in the east.

[XXX_er]

Actualy I met Pip at a DH race several years ago and I asked him why he made the Banshee in Tiawan?He sez the workmanship /expertise /facilities were all superiour in tiawan .The welders were better , if he wanted a certain tube type he just hopped on a bike and rode one Klick down the road to a tubing mfger who could give him exactly what he wanted.The bike mfgers have all been in Tiawan for 20 years so thats where the expertise is

[eknomf]

Of course no manufacturer who makes their bikes overseas is going to say it's a bad thing.... In my experience working at a frame manufacturer doing some quality control, maybe 5% of the frames we made in the US had problems and got rejected, where often the shipments we got from Taiwan would have 30% to 50% rejected because of bad welds, bad alignment, etc. There was even one batch we got in of probably 200 or so bikes where every single one had to be destroyed because of a weld problem.

[Trini-dad72]

From what I have heard, frames made in Taiwan are rather excellent. The frames that I saw come thru .243 when I did some QC work there were excellent. Yes, there were one's that had issues, but for the most part they looked really really good.

But for a proper point of view on this we need to have someone like Pip, or FOX weigh in.

[0_o]

I challange any manufacturer in canada to provide every aspect of the production process from tube fabrication to painting under one roof. And do it consistently.
Doesn't exist.

And for all you fanboys using Rocky as an example... 80% (probably closer to 90%) of Rocky's line is still produced overseas.