In my bike stable, I have bikes designed and/or originating from the following locations:
All of them are great bikes… lightweight, relatively inexpensive, durable.
I have owned several American bikes/frames and they have all been put out to pasture.
So tell me how that I can support American workers if my perception is that their product(s) are inferior.
The same argument could be made about auto-manufacturing.
Thanks for your input.
What material? There are a number of highly regarded titanium and steel frame builders in the US. Strong, Erickson, and Richard Sachs come to mind when talking about the best of the best. Moots also makes really nice frames.
Trek’s are made in Wisconsin
.
Trek makes decent frames and they stand behind them 100%. I had a 12 year old mountain bike frame that cracked. Trek replaced it with the current top-of-the-line model, which costs 3X what I originally paid.
And the U.S. absolutely leads the world in custom frames. Many of these are both cheaper and better than fancy-pants manufactured Eyetalian or Swiss bikes. Heck, there are half a dozen of these guys just in Southern Oregon where I live:
DeSalvo
Land Shark
English Cycles
Calfee
Parlee
…
There are many, many more.
In my bike stable, I have bikes designed and/or originating from the following locations:
All of them are great bikes… lightweight, relatively inexpensive, durable.
I have owned several American bikes/frames and they have all been put out to pasture.
So tell me how that I can support American workers if my perception is that their product(s) are inferior.
The same argument could be made about auto-manufacturing.
Thanks for your input.
Seven
IF (Independent Fabrication)
Trek’s are made in Wisconsin
Do you mean assembled? Didn’t they start buying their frames from SE Asia? You might also inquire as to how many Trek bikes are made in Wisconsin and how many Trek bikes are sold each year, and then account for the difference.
My eight-year-old Litespeed Saber was made in the U.S. and I suspect I will be riding is long after your bikes manufactured in 1) Switzerland, 2) Belgium, 3) Italy, and 4) China are in some landfill. 
Steel - several. I’d choose Dave Anderson. Also Dave Kirk. Not sure if Richard Sachs is taking orders anymore.
Ti - Seven, Firefly, Moots
Carbon - Calfee, Parlee, Crumpton
All of the above of absolutely top notch.
Now if you are talking about a ‘tri’ frameset…out of the above, Parlee may be the only one. The others would probably be willing to build one with tri geometry, but won’t be aero tubes, etc…
Trek only makes a few select frames in the U.S. The vast majority of their frames are manufactured overseas.
Trek’s are made in Wisconsin
Do you mean assembled? Didn’t they start buying their frames from SE Asia? You might also inquire as to how many Trek bikes are made in Wisconsin and how many Trek bikes are sold each year, and then account for the difference.
This video shows them cutting pre-preg carbon, you tell me:
GCN Trek Tour
He didnt ask which companies exclusively produce in the USA.
Depends on how you define “maker.” Do you think of Apple as an American mobile phone maker?
As others posted, there are a crapton of phenomenal American frame companies. I have a Franco road bike and a Felt tri bike. However, there are very, very few carbon frames manufactured in the U.S. because it makes not sense economically. It is not about the “American worker,” as much as China is where large factories are developed with state-of-the-art fabrication technologies and processes. Only a few vertically integrated product companies in the U.S. invested in on-shore manufacturing capacity. Except for very high volume companies, I would rather buy from a company who manufactures overseas, because they are leveraging the latest technologies and processes.
Just go to the NAHBS pages for the last 4 years…here’s 2015 as an example
http://www.2015.handmadebicycleshow.com/exhibitors/
you will find dozens of builder working in multiple and all materials.
.
Trek’s are made in Wisconsin
Do you mean assembled? Didn’t they start buying their frames from SE Asia? You might also inquire as to how many Trek bikes are made in Wisconsin and how many Trek bikes are sold each year, and then account for the difference.
This video shows them cutting pre-preg carbon, you tell me:
GCN Trek Tour
He didnt ask which companies exclusively produce in the USA.
So they make a few in Waterloo. BFD. From wiki:
Trek Bicycle Corporation is a major bicycle and cycling product manufacturer and distributor under brand names Trek, Electra Bicycle Company, Gary Fisher, Bontrager, Diamant Bikes, Villiger Bikes and, until 2008, LeMond Racing Cycles and Klein. With its headquarters in Waterloo, Wisconsin, Trek bicycles are marketed through 1,700 dealers across North America, subsidiaries in Europe and Asia as well as distributors in 90 countries worldwide. 99% of Trek bicycles are manufactured outside of the United States, in countries including the Netherlands, Germany, and China.
Very, very few Treks are made in the US, less than 1% according to the company.
There are a few domestic carbon manufacturers but they’re esoteric and expensive brands like Alchemy, Argonaut or high end Parlees. As others have mentioned, there are many local welders.
Almost all carbon frames sold in the world are made by subcontractors in Asia for very good reasons. Asian factories can produce extremely high quality work for a reasonable cost. Taiwan in particular has led the world in carbon bike manufacturing due to mature and efficient processes, the well-integrated local supply chain, the large amount of local talent. Perhaps most importantly, large scale manufacturing is possible only in Asia. Carbon production is all about scale as it’s capital intensive.
Personally, I don’t get why people get so hung up on where their bike is made. Bike brands get so much marketing traction over “made in Italy” or “made in France” and charge ridiculous premiums for these stickers. Personally, I’d rather buy from a vendor that makes thousands of bikes a day than from one who makes a few per month. If anything, you’re likely going to get higher quality with the former.
Trek makes decent frames and they stand behind them 100%. I had a 12 year old mountain bike frame that cracked. Trek replaced it with the current top-of-the-line model, which costs 3X what I originally paid.
And the U.S. absolutely leads the world in custom frames. Many of these are both cheaper and better than fancy-pants manufactured Eyetalian or Swiss bikes. Heck, there are half a dozen of these guys just in Southern Oregon where I live:
DeSalvo
Land Shark
English Cycles
Calfee
Parlee
…
There are many, many more.
I’ve never heard of DeSalvo.
I thought Calfee and Parlee quit making frames about 7 yrs ago.
My first road bike was a Trek. The rep put me on a 58cm bike. That was silly. I’m 5’10’'. Never bought another Trek since then.
I appreciate the Ti discussion. I like Ti, but it’s more expensive, heavier, and doesn’t do anything that carbon cannot do.
'I appreciate the Ti discussion. I like Ti, but it’s more expensive, heavier, and doesn’t do anything that carbon cannot do. ’
You might want to do a bit more looking into that statement…
Check out ‘Eriksen’ in Steamboat Springs
A couple more I don’t think were mentioned above, but Argonaut out of Bend, OR does custom carbon bikes. Of course this route is much more expensive than an off the shelf frames. Cervelo makes their Rca bike in California. But again, not cheap.
As for titanium, I test road a Guru road bike back to back with a Supersix, CAAD10, and Bianchi Infinito. Maybe it was in my head, but it felt WAY smoother/more comfortable. I didn’t get a chance to weight all of them, but handled the ~8% climbs just as well. The supersix did feel a little bit more snappy. If I had the cash, I’d go for a titanium road or gravel bike in a heartbeat
If you are looking for custom frames or carbon the prices can get up there but there are many builders in the US many of them already mentioned.
Stinner makes nice frames. Vanilla Workshop and Speedvagen are also very nice.
Some companies offer stock geometries at lower prices. For example if you wanted a CX bike Squid bikes sells aluminum frames made in the US for around $1200.
I’ll add Holland Cycles, in the San Diego area, to the list. (http://hollandcycles.com/)
Watch the video on the home page which highlights making an “Exogrid” frame. It’s a combination of Ti and carbon.
Guru is out of business, but I believe Allied in AR bought their jigs, etc.