Are there any American made bikes?

[CAMPYBOB]

Huffman FTMFW!



Ol' rabbit teeth on his Huffman!




Huffy, today: http://www.huffy.com/Default.aspx /img/vbsmilies/smilies/mad.gif

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Matt Eaton wins the 1983 Milk Race on a Bike Nashbar bike:





Not only did an American brand win the event, we used a Brit cast off that became an American citizen to do it with! Out frackingstanding!

 

[danfoz]

Originally Posted by CAMPYBOB .


Huffy, today: http://www.huffy.com/Default.aspx /img/vbsmilies/smilies/mad.gif

With the exception of the bikes I saw a couple pro's riding in the magazines, the Huffy's I'm familiar with from the 80's were possibly the worst bikes ever made on the planet, they were certainly the heaviest. Was Andy's Huffy a rebadged something else? My first guess would be a Serotta.

 

[mpre53]

Originally Posted by danfoz .

Apparently that ended with CAAD9

Yup. And technically speaking, C-dale is now only a North American brand. They're owned by Dorel. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif

 

[mpre53]

Originally Posted by danfoz .


With the exception of the bikes I saw a couple pro's riding in the magazines, the Huffy's I'm familiar with from the 80's were possibly the worst bikes ever made on the planet, they were certainly the heaviest. Was Andy's Huffy a rebadged something else? My first guess would be a Serotta.

From what I've read, that guess would be correct.

 

[alienator]

With the exception of the bikes I saw a couple pro's riding in the magazines, the Huffy's I'm familiar with from the 80's were possibly the worst bikes ever made on the planet, they were certainly the heaviest. Was Andy's Huffy a rebadged something else? My first guess would be a Serotta.

Yes, they were rebadged.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

"My first guess would be a Serotta."

Matt Eaton's "Nashbar" was a Columbus tubed Olmo that was possibly built by Colnago. Nashbar sold both brands back in the day.

Andy's bike was True Temper that was brazed by John Slawta of Landshark after one of Serotta's frames failed during the Fleche Wallone. Serotta was the team's supplier. Huffman paid large amounts of money to get their paint and decals on those bikes.

Andy's frame was a climbing frame. Light, but not on the absolute limit.

 

[oldbobcat]

Originally Posted by CAMPYBOB .

Andy's bike was True Temper that was brazed by John Slawta of Landshark after one of Serotta's frames failed during the Fleche Wallone. Serotta was the team's supplier. Huffman paid large amounts of money to get their paint and decals on those bikes.

As a footnote, the 7-Eleven Serotta Huffies were also of True Temper but of a lighter gauge. The following year, 7-Eleven bought their bikes from Eddy Merckx. Eddy's road bikes always erred on the side of ruggedness over lightness.

 

[chris4u2013]

United States can boast for the number of bicycle builders that it posses. You can find that bikes from the superior brands such as GT, Specialized etc are imported to different countries too. If you are looking for mountaineering purpose, then you can choose those from Intense Cycles as well as fromTurner Bikes.

 

[king bily]

Are there any bikes made in America and if so that don't cost a fortune? Is there an online resource to identify them? I know there are still brand names but at least a lot of their stuff is outsourced. In case there's nothing reasonable what sources are good, i.e. Japan, Taiwan etc.? I'd like to buy American company American made but if that's out of reach then American company best source. Thanks for any and all advice.

Trek, Scott and Cannodale still build some high-end models here. Waterford and a handful of custom stee, alumiminum and carbon builders still crank out some wonderfuls frames that are 'Made in America' (even if the tubeset may be drawn in Italy, England or some other offshore country.

American labor means American pricing, as a rule...which means a fairly hefty price when compared to Asian rim-produced items.

Japan and Taiwan tend to produce high quality products. At any given price point the quality is pretty darn good to excellent. Chinese good are, IMO, a bit more sporadic in QA, but can be as good as anything else on the market. Do your homework and some of the Chinese stuff will put a smile on your face.

What little the Europeans still do without outsourcing is good stuff, but they have followed the rest of the planet in search of cheap labor. The 'Italian' name brand 2011 rocketship bike I bought last fall and bought a 2012 version of this spring never spent a day in Italy. The mold fabrication, layup schedule and product development was farmed out to a Taiwanese outfit. They, in turn, outsourced the actual layup, molding and autoclaving of the frame...right down to sanding, painting, decal application and clearcoat...to a mainland China firm. The frameset is drop-shipped directly to the American buyers that even get to spec out custom paint jobs for the States.

The labor is three steps removed from the company name quality control folks that have the decal on the d-tube. You do like I do, read the reviews, pays your money and takes your chances. So far, they guys in China thru enough fake carbon and fiberglass at it to keep it together for a few thousand miles.

Like you, OP. I prefer USA quality and at least a good company behind a good product. Ever since Schwinn cashed out...those days are hard to come by! Try a top-of-the-line Madone from Trek. If I weren't racing them (and busting them), I'ld be on a big dollar American ride myself.