You said it was unpainted right? Guessing that’s part of it. The cervelo California bikes were painted by Exxor in Montreal. Cost of that, extra trips over the border etc.
ya unpainted. I think our shop will eventually be doing the paint for these bikes, as far as I know. but even then there’s no way a tinted clearcoat and OPEN on the downtube will cost more that $600. $1000, maaaaybe.
this feels political
Not at all. If you’re implying I think Taiwan is part of China, you are definitely mistaken. But S-Works are def made in China
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The sticker on mine said Taiwan 
Complete bike or frameset?
Bought a frameset, it was manufactured in late 2020 IIRC.
both Specialized and Cannondale are made in Taiwan by Topkey, no?
Nope!
I am surprised to hear an s-works frame was badged Taiwan- they might be pulling a tariff trick.
Unless the complete bike was made in TW. Different allowances for finishing facilities
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Sorta… that idea has been circulating since Italian companies used to paint Taiwanese frames in Italy, and it’s kinda a myth. But there are definitely some tricks that we do not partake in because they are sketchy. For instance, there is a very large domestic ebike company that has reported bikes as Korean or Japanese Country of Origin because their batteries use Samsung or Panasonic cells.
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Oh i get what you’re saying, this technique is outside the bike industry as well. Like at what point is something made in the US when all the components are made outside the US. Whether it’s marketing or import classifications, it’s a bigger discussion than this convo for sure.
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huh, weird
I know Merida does a lot for S too, but I wasn’t aware of this other company. Anyway I thought it was common knowledge that Merida does high-end manufacturing almost exclusively in Taiwan.
Would be great for a cycling publication to do an updated look at the state of manufacturing now that the pandemic seems to have maxed out it’s disruptive capability (knock on wood). I wonder how many companies had to migrate rapidly to other facilities.
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A lot of brands use different factories for different models. Also some of these factories are Taiwan based businesses with production on the mainland.
Maybe some brands are more consolidated but cervelo used 4 different factories when I was there.
Yeezy fisherman
the company plans a 21-lawsuit salute in his honor
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really leaning in to specialized sucks
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They gonna do in home bike demo’s with kids from Craigslist running shit like dyson did(does?)
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