yetis from china

[tribegrandaddy]

I can remember a post on the old forum complaining about Yeti sourcing frames from Taiwan I read a very good piece in this months singletrack magazine about Scot Nicol and how he sources his frames from China and how he cannot get the same service and quality of frame in the usa and how the company he deals with only deal with ibis and 1 other cycle company and hiow they work with him to push the technolgy of building a carbon fibre frame to the limit it,s well worth a read and you can understand why people source from China/Taiwan and why the people at Yeti have done the same thing not to sell out but to give us the end user the best possible product

tribe grandaddy

[yetivandal]

A very touchy subject, frames made from taiwan, some people say its a good thing and will try to tell you there are better made, but i dont wear it, i think its just cost thing, i think if yeti wont to stay hight end they should keep it at home,
I quess its a matter of apinon, i just hate the way the world is selling out to china!!

[marcus]

i can't imagine many Taiwanese wanting to be associated with China, considering it is a disputed country after all in China's eyes!

capitalism is unstoppable...companies will try and get the best price for the quality offered...if that keeps Yeti going then that's fine by me.

in the very near future all countries will need to befriend China instead of Uncle Sam...the sleeping Giant is very much awake!

[yetivandal]

sorry for my ignorance,

I guess people just worrie about the quality of yeti frames being made else where,

After all we buy yetis with pride, passion and becouse of there prestige,

[marmite71]

IBIS say they out source there mojo production to china not because of price, but for quality reasens?

[marcus]

what's wrong? if you want a great handmade suit, get an italian one or one from saville row, but they'll cost you the earth...if you want one nearly as good, but cheaper, go to Hong Kong or Vietnam where they'll make you one almost as good in a day...but you know what, next to italy, the taiwanese are the best bike fabricators on the planet...

i really hope the anti chinese and anti taiwanese posts aren't racism rearing it's ugly head!

[perttime]

There's all sorts of angles to things when you look at where and how something was produced.

Realistically, the Taiwanese welder does a good job and you pay less for his work than you would a "western" welder. A good deal for the consumer.

Another sort of ideal would be to produce and refine it all in your own backyard. Start your own mine or make it out of wood

Recently, I've been reading about making bows, you know the kind you use for shooting arrows. I realise that a modern compound bow (of aluminum, magnesium, steel, glass fiber, camo paint) may be a "better mouse trap" and definitely a product that you can sell. On the other hand, there must be immense satisfaction in shooting a bow that you made yourself out of natural materials. Apparently such a selfmade work of art can perform too. Is this relevant? Maybe indirectly.

[yetivandal]

Think you need to calm marcus!!

who said anything about racialism!!! no ones being racialist!!

were just expressing opinions, thats what forum are for arent they??

and dont get me mixed up with other posts weve had on here in the past, cos that wasnt me!

[Eddy B]

In an ideal world the local bike shop would also be a local bike builder making everything from SS commuters to 303's, but I think that a lot of people have misgivings about products being made in China due to their poor record on the environment and human rights.
I personally feel uncomfortable with products made in China as I dont believe the workers are treat properly and paid fairly.
Its great as a consumer, but it took a long time for workers in this country to get rights and a fair deal - just in time for the manufacturing community to work out they can exploit workers in other countries with no recourse.
Hopefully the consumers will stop buying the products, but I cant see it.

[tribegrandaddy]

the idea behind my post was to follow up on a post in the old forum about yeti selling out by buying imported frames and to debate that point not to be used as a tool for anyone to have a go at someone because of there race colour or religon we are mountain bikers and eddy b has a fair point about workers rights and conditions I have a friend who travels to China as his company have a plant there an he says it,s getting better but there is a long way to go
it all comes back to money BMC have cancelled all orders of the 4 stroke carbon full sus frame as they cannot guarantee the quality of the frames from there eastern supplier only the frames made in europe and they wo,nt make any in europe as it is too expensive

[Andrew]

Are the over seas Yeti's made in China or Taiwan?

I was under the impression it was Taiwan.

[marcus]

perhaps i need to qualify my remarks.

Taiwan is not part of China, it is an independent island with its own government. The Taiwanese are extremely competent framebuilders with very high quality control, and apparently Yeti have chosen a very good small frame builder. Taiwan is not part of China, it hasn't been for many years. China wants it back but the Taiwanese are resilient and strong willed and proud of their country. I am not sure that there are any stories of Taiwanese frame builders being exploited, but i may be wrong.

We, yes, WE, in the West are largely responsible for the exploitation of workers in China and all developing countries because we, as consumers, demand a low price!

Taiwan, is not a developing country. It is a rich country. The biggest developing countries in South East Asia are Vietnam and China.

Without getting all history teacher on you, Britain has probably one of the worst human rights records on the planet!! We exploited most of the world for a very, very long time, including our own workers (the mill industry in the north for example).

Most of the products in your home are now made in China. The world is tilting. One day, the Chinese will be exploiting us not the other way round...but, hang on a minute, maybe they already are explooiting us by our very reliance on them!

[yetivandal]

Thankyou for putting us strait marcus, that was very well said,

This thred should have been called yetis from Taiwan, not yetis from China, and along with my comment earlyer it has seamed to been throne of course, my apologies,

I have just read an article in an Australian Mountain bike mag, on the Global bicycle communtiy in Taipei city, Taiwan, and it very interesting, i didnt know there were such a big player in the global bicycle building industry, pluss the majority of our components, they say its the world epicenter for bicycle manufacturing, so i guess theres no getting away from it, its the future, and if a bike company wants to stay in a competitive market thats what they have to do, they also mention the high manufacturing standards are second to none,

I am interested to know how much production do yeti have done over there, is it a complete frame build start to finish, or are the frames just welded there and finished in the US??

[EddyB]

The 575, DJ, ARC, ASR are all made completely in Taiwan and then shipped direct to the country in which they are sold.
They used to be sent to America and then sent worldwide.

I have no problems with any Taiwanese manufacturing.

But I do have a problem with China.
Just based on knowledge of the country - outside of the cities and total supression of the people by the state.

[marcus]

People have a similar 'problem' with Vietnam. I thought my wife would be excited living here as she had the chance to vote. But she just laughed in my face and said, sure, you have 3 choices to vote from, but they all do what they want to do when they get in power! What difference is that to communism?

China has some dodgy history in relation to human rights, especially in relation to Tibet. But the UK has an equally appaling human rights record e.g slavery, and the rape and pillag eof most of the developing world in the 16th-20th centuries when it was building it's commonwealth i.e Empire! as does Australia in relation to the treatment of the aboriginal people. The US spent a lot of time and energy trying to control south east asia and failing, now they've moved on to the Arab states. Interestingly, the Emperors of China also liked suppressing their people. Power corrupts, whether it is communism 'democracy' or dictatorship.