On Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 7:26 AM, Tim McNamara <tim...@bitstream.net> wrote:
> > > On Oct 8, 2009, at 8:47 AM, Seth Vidal wrote: > > > On Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 9:42 AM, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery > > <thill....@gmail.com> wrote: > >> > >> Technomic Deluxe stems are forged. Non-deluxe stems are cast. At > >> least > >> that's my understanding. > >> > >> I highly doubt that many companies are looking to move into the > >> higher- > >> end quill stem market. Aside from Riv, the only bikes that need those > >> stems in any numbers are old bikes. From the industry standpoint: if > >> somebody is riding some old bike, it is unlikely that they are gonna > >> pay $50+ for a replacement stem. Look at the dwindling variety of > >> threaded headsets. It's considered a dying, if not dead market. > > > > But to be honest the parts from nitto are the least of the items I was > > concerned about. The frames from toyo are the item which seem to be > > commanding the large price increases. So that's my main curiosity. Is > > there really no feasible way to level out the exchange rate by > > producing more of the frames in north america? > > > > It's not like toyo and wateford are the only two frame builders in the > > world, right? Do all the frames have to be built in the same couple of > > places by the same subset of people? Apparently so. > > No, but there are very few US frame building shops that can make 500 > frames in a month for a house brand. There's Waterford and that's > abotu it. Match tried and went toes-up fairly quickly. Most frame > builders in the US are one person operations and unable to meet a > demand higher than one frame a week or even less- most of those frame > builders are artisan hobbyists who make a living doing something else. > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ > > > What was wrong w/ the match business model? Have things changed since then (10 years?) so another production frame company could get enough business? -- Cheers, David Redlands, CA "Bicycling is a big part of the future. It has to be. There is something wrong with a society that drives a car to workout in a gym." ~Bill Nye, scientist guy --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
