# are shimano parts made in China???



## cptjack (Jan 14, 2004)

me and my wife were just looking at the internet and saw that shimano has a lot of factories in China???

What's up?? 

cptjack :eekster:


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## Pisgah (Feb 24, 2006)

Cheap labor and close proximity?


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## jeffgothro (Mar 10, 2007)

The parts are made in china, however Shimano is a japanese company.


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## shiggy (Dec 19, 1998)

cptjack said:


> me and my wife were just looking at the internet and saw that shimano has a lot of factories in China???
> 
> What's up??
> 
> cptjack :eekster:


Shimano has factories in China, Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan and probably several other countries. Nothing unusual about that.


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## bigpedaler (Jan 29, 2007)

Can't guarantee ALL Shim's parts are made in China -- Taiwan is a step up, after all -- but the bulk of their parts are, because they make the trillions of cheapo parts hung on the big-box bikes, and they're sooooooooooooo ordinary (saying it nicely)!


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## Bikinfoolferlife (Feb 3, 2004)

What's up with the question? What is so surprising about Shimano having factories in China??


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## rallyraid (Jun 12, 2007)

Shimano also makes a bunch of fishing and snowboard accessories. They also have a huge bike parts factory in Japan where parts are forged.


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## perttime (Aug 26, 2005)

Bikinfoolferlife said:


> What is so surprising about Shimano having factories in China??


There's nothing particularly surprising about any major manufacturer having factories in China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, India ...


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## mtnkiwi (Mar 29, 2004)

Road componentr: ultegra and dura-ace made in Japan. Dura-ace level cables etc made in japan.

Most high level wheelsets made in malaysia i believe.

XTR and (I think) XT components made in Japan.

One of the reasons for the price differences is place of manufacture and quality of metal used (Japanese steel cable as opposed to Chinese, ball bearings etc)


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## f3rg (Aug 29, 2007)

Good parts come down to great materials, engineering and tooling. Just because someone is Chinese doesn't mean they're any less capable of putting a couple parts on a riveter, hitting a button, and making a final product.

I'd prefer to use well-engineered parts made in China than crap made by anyone else. It really just takes the ability to enforce quality control.


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## stylie (Jan 6, 2007)

f3rg said:


> I'd prefer to use well-engineered parts made in China than crap made by anyone else. It really just takes the ability to enforce quality control.


....... and to be the lowest bidder


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## cptjack (Jan 14, 2004)

*Hey!*

I'm upset

what parts can I buy that are not made in china? I thought my bike was off limits for chinese products.


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## Bikinfoolferlife (Feb 3, 2004)

cptjack said:


> I'm upset
> 
> what parts can I buy that are not made in china? I thought my bike was off limits for chinese products.


Country of origin marking is required, so you should be able to determine that when you buy it. What bike do you have? Nothing wrong with Chinese stuff according to most American buying habits...


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## GT5050 (Jan 23, 2008)

The Macbook that I'm typing on and paid top dollar for is high quality but was made in China. BMW, Mercedes, VW, pretty much any car company makes cars in China, albeit for that market, but they do and the cars are fine. It's a matter of quality control and materials used as someone earlier said. China's bad rap comes from cheap Chinese companies making cheap products, but they are capable of making fine products as well.

That said, I think China's the next one to see their goods go way up in cost, the weak dollar hurt China, as their cheap labor suddenly became less cheap -- among that and other factors like more skilled labor getting paid more, they are the next Taiwan IMO. Look back, years ago nobody wanted anything Japanese, then made in Taiwan was crap, now most high end bikes are made in Taiwan, etc...


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## TLL (Apr 28, 2008)

GT5050 said:


> That said, I think China's the next one to see their goods go way up in cost, the weak dollar hurt China,


Err, China has intentionally devalued the Yuan against the dollar for years, and they will probably continue to do so in the near future.


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## GT5050 (Jan 23, 2008)

TLL said:


> Err, China has intentionally devalued the Yuan against the dollar for years, and they will probably continue to do so in the near future.


While that may be true, it is also true that the dollar has (although lately it's gotten stronger) weakened, hurting Chinese exports. Anyone with a mid-size business manufacturing goods for the US market has felt this, their labor effectively became much more expensive when the dollar was at its lowest.


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## rob.char (Oct 5, 2008)

Where is Sram made, USA?


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## Jayem (Jul 16, 2005)

rob.char said:


> Where is Sram made, USA?


Haha! No. Same place as shimano (taiwan, china).


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## BATRG3 (Dec 11, 2012)

Unless I am mistaken, my recent Shimano purchases are from the following:
SLX Hubs - Malaysia
UN55 BB - Singapore
Alivio Cassette - Singapore
SLX centerlock rotor - Japan

I personally try to avoid China for political and humanitarian reasons. So far my current bike project is made up entirely of pre-owned and non-Chinese parts, although I wasn't sure of all my components at the time I ordered them. I'm not presuming to avoid the PRC entirely, but trying to make a small difference in the deficit.


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## knumpcy (Mar 1, 2014)

Granted since this post started in 2004, and has continued since 2012, now it is 2014 and it still may be in question. I have contacted each of the major groups Shimano, Sram, and Campagnolo. Though Campagnolo is mainly all road parts since 1933 still made to this day in Italy where they are more concerned with quality than profit, which is what it is all boiled down to. I prefer to drive a Porsche than drive a chevette.


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## mbmb65 (Jan 13, 2004)

knumpcy said:


> Granted since this post started in 2004, and has continued since 2012, now it is 2014 and it still may be in question. I have contacted each of the major groups Shimano, Sram, and Campagnolo. Though Campagnolo is mainly all road parts since 1933 still made to this day in Italy where they are more concerned with quality than profit, which is what it is all boiled down to. I prefer to drive a Porsche than drive a chevette.


Ok great. Thanks.


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## juan_speeder (May 11, 2008)

knumpcy said:


> Granted since this post started in 2004, and has continued since 2012, now it is 2014 and it still may be in question. I have contacted each of the major groups Shimano, Sram, and Campagnolo. Though Campagnolo is mainly all road parts since 1933 still made to this day in Italy where they are more concerned with quality than profit, which is what it is all boiled down to. I prefer to drive a Porsche than drive a chevette.


Campagnolo Veloce is made in Taiwan.


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## AZ (Apr 14, 2009)

And "Thread Dredging" is confined to Thursday's.


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## RajunCajun44 (Aug 12, 2012)

f3rg said:


> Good parts come down to great materials, engineering and tooling. Just because someone is Chinese doesn't mean they're any less capable of putting a couple parts on a riveter, hitting a button, and making a final product.
> 
> I'd prefer to use well-engineered parts made in China than crap made by anyone else. It really just takes the ability to enforce quality control.


thank you for saying this... we are human beings on this earth, does it really matter where we live and what language we speak ?? really...


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## kingbozo (Jan 31, 2004)

I have heard that but I don't think it is true. The only manufacturing that Campagnolo has outside of Italy is in Romania


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## Brewtality (Jul 25, 2007)

MtbAZ44 said:


> thank you for saying this... we are human beings on this earth, does it really matter where we live and what language we speak ?? really...


Yes it does matter. 
Whenever possible, it is best to support countries and corporations that treat their people fairly. 
Chinese citizens have no free speech, no freedom of religion, no ability to travel freely, no liberties. They are still an oppressive communist country.

Unfortunately i have admit that I am typing this out on a Chinese made iPhone.


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## SandSpur (Mar 19, 2013)

knumpcy said:


> Granted since this post started in 2004, and has continued since 2012, now it is 2014 and it still may be in question. I have contacted each of the major groups Shimano, Sram, and Campagnolo. Though Campagnolo is mainly all road parts since 1933 still made to this day in Italy where they are more concerned with quality than profit, which is what it is all boiled down to. I prefer to drive a Porsche than drive a chevette.


First, not a single post was made in 2004.. all were from 2008, with the exception of one in 2013, then yours...

not ALL are still made in Italy...

none are made for Mountain Bikes... (We are on MTBr after all)

are you sure youre driving a Porsche? maybe its an Oltcit?


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## Paul Gray (Apr 24, 2021)

Brewtality said:


> Yes it does matter.
> Whenever possible, it is best to support countries and corporations that treat their people fairly.
> Chinese citizens have no free speech, no freedom of religion, no ability to travel freely, no liberties. They are still an oppressive communist country.
> 
> Unfortunately i have admit that I am typing this out on a Chinese made iPhone.


 I agree it is better to support countries with a good humanitarian record but China has taken more people out of poverty than any country ever before in the history of the world..chinese citizens have some free speech, have the ability to travel freely but with their social credit system less freely for some/many.. No liberties? they have some liberties but probably not as many as where you are writting from but you are not in a country with 1.7 billion people that has only relatively recently embraced capitalism.. last point china does not see itself as communist anymore and if you look up what a communist country is; it is a classless, stateless, moneyless society.. china is none of these.. China has come a long way in its manufacturing and as someone above stated it is almost inevitable it will become like taiwan or japan in its quality of production and price.. it is almost impossible to buy things that some part of it is not made in china.. the uk and the usa govts have caused 60 million people (not in their own countries of course) to be displaced since 2002.do i avoid their products?. things are complex..


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## 006_007 (Jan 12, 2004)

Paul Gray said:


> I agree it is better to support countries with a good humanitarian record but China has taken more people out of poverty than any country ever before in the history of the world..chinese citizens have some free speech, have the ability to travel freely but with their social credit system less freely for some/many.. No liberties? they have some liberties but probably not as many as where you are writting from but you are not in a country with 1.7 billion people that has only relatively recently embraced capitalism.. last point china does not see itself as communist anymore and if you look up what a communist country is; it is a classless, stateless, moneyless society.. china is none of these.. China has come a long way in its manufacturing and as someone above stated it is almost inevitable it will become like taiwan or japan in its quality of production and price.. it is almost impossible to buy things that some part of it is not made in china.. the uk and the usa govts have caused 60 million people (not in their own countries of course) to be displaced since 2002.do i avoid their products?. things are complex..


Excellent job resurrecting a thread 7 years dead.


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## SkyAboveDirtBelow (Apr 14, 2019)

Paul Gray said:


> I agree it is better to support countries with a good humanitarian record but China has taken more people out of poverty than any country ever before in the history of the world..chinese citizens have some free speech, have the ability to travel freely but with their social credit system less freely for some/many.. No liberties? they have some liberties but probably not as many as where you are writting from but you are not in a country with 1.7 billion people that has only relatively recently embraced capitalism.. last point china does not see itself as communist anymore and if you look up what a communist country is; it is a classless, stateless, moneyless society.. china is none of these.. China has come a long way in its manufacturing and as someone above stated it is almost inevitable it will become like taiwan or japan in its quality of production and price.. it is almost impossible to buy things that some part of it is not made in china.. the uk and the usa govts have caused 60 million people (not in their own countries of course) to be displaced since 2002.do i avoid their products?. things are complex..


China changed from communism to fascism. Evidently there are still apologists and appeasers.


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## Paul Gray (Apr 24, 2021)

SkyAboveDirtBelow said:


> China changed from communism to fascism. Evidently there are still apologists and appeasers.


apologists ? i m not apologising for anything. you can call a political movement or country whatever you like but its quite meaningless.. the dprk calls itself a democracy but is it?.. would i prefer to live in the usa r china? usa thanks .. thats not what this thread was / is about.. is china fascist ? its certainly very authoritarian but at the same time its a better place to live than when mao was about im sure. fascist? i wouldnt call it that.. id be more afraid of the us destabilizing the entire world than china tbh.. so where am i an apologist or appeasing ? sounds to me like you did not digest one word of what i said above and were just triggered..


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## Paul Gray (Apr 24, 2021)

006_007 said:


> Excellent job resurrecting a thread 7 years dead.


thanks i take pride in my resurrecting dead things! they dont call me god for nuttin..


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## Frank Zangwill (May 14, 2021)

Nowdays，The most skilled engineers are all in China！


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## Frank Zangwill (May 14, 2021)

Brewtality said:


> Yes it does matter.
> Whenever possible, it is best to support countries and corporations that treat their people fairly.
> Chinese citizens have no free speech, no freedom of religion, no ability to travel freely, no liberties. They are still an oppressive communist country.
> 
> ...


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