Did the American bike industry create its own biggest competitor? Why Chinese factories are launching their own high-end bike brands

The North American bicycle industry has long relied on Chinese OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) to build frames and other components. The formula was simple: Brand X designs a frame, sends the design to OEM Y abroad, where the frames can be built quickly and cheaply, and manufacturer Y sends those frames and components to Brand X to be marketed and sold to the North American ridership.

In this overly simplistic explanation, this symbiotic relationship has worked perfectly well for decades. In that time, Chinese OEMs have gotten better and better at creating not only inexpensive finished products, but also exceptionally well-built frames, wheels, and other components. In today’s North American market, where at-home manufacturing is often cost-prohibitive or not possible at all due to a lack of equipment and trained craftsmen, the Chinese OEM has provided manufacturing stability.