It is no secret that I like living and riding in Greenville, South Carolina. Regular readers are probably used to mentions of Greenville on the blog from time to time, especially toward the end of summer when the U.S. Pro Championship races draw near. As soon as I saw a recent Competitive Cyclist newsletter article titled, “We check out Greenville, SC”, I knew that I would probably want to pass it along.
The fact that they praise the riding here is the main reason I wanted to share the article, but not the only one. There is also interesting content about equipment, specifically George Hincapie and Craig Lewis’ Columbia Team issue Scott Addicts. The article points out the various equipment sponsors’ logos on the seat stays of the team bikes. Among the familiar brands, Continental, Elite, Fizik, SRM, etc., is the logo of Ten Tech Composites, a Taiwanese frame manufacturer that produces frames for many high-end brands. “We don’t recall ever seeing a pure Taiwanese manufacturing company serve in the role of supporting sponsor like this,” say the guys at Competitive Cyclist. The article on to say:
“The worst-kept secret in the bike industry is that the best composites manufacturing is done in Taiwan. Ten Tech’s decal suggests that Taiwan is ready to come out of closet. They want brands to promote Taiwanese manufacturing. It’s an elimination of smoke-and-mirrors. It’s truth-in-advertising. As far as we’re concerned, it ‘s awesome.”
Awesome indeed. I have touched on this subject on the blog before, and I agree that it is time to dispel the myth that Asian manufactured frames are somehow automatically of inferior quality to those manufactured in the U.S. or Europe. Certainly the quality of carbon fiber frames on the market varies, but country of origin is most certainly NOT the sole factor that determines quality.
Photo credit: Competitive Cyclist
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