I don't think the yen exchange is the whole issue with Toyo. I heard a rumor that they had a significant number (~half?) of their longtime builders quit or retire. According to my source, it isn't fashionable in Japan for young people to go into craft industries, so recruiting new builders hasn't been easy for Toyo.
On Oct 8, 8:47 am, Seth Vidal <skvi...@gmail.com> 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. > > -sv --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
