2009 Specialized Site up
- Thread starter KevinR86
- Start date
This would be the only time in history where a single crown fork was lower than a dual crown of the same travel.
The lower crowns on the e150 are as flat as any dh fork out there so I kind of doubt it. Keep in mind you've easily got an inch to play with on the e150 height.
all is well, I think I have said a thing or two that I shouldn't have in the past due to partaking in a beer or 8
Your tone of writing suggested it, but if you didn't mean that then fair call - the economy argument is completely valid, I guess I still stand on the other side of the fence though because the falling US dollar meant a lot of cheap bike parts for me! Things seem to be changing now though, for better or worse.
I love this Enduro color sceme!!
It would be really cool if the Demo 8 was offered in that color!
Err I believe jonkranked was talking about American companies that manufacture their bikes in America, not Specialized.
8800 for an xc bike is the only noteworthy item on there...
I guess spec is trying to convert some of the dentists who have been paying 10k+ for road bikes for years.
They do pretty much bend over backwards to hook you up if you're what they call an 's-works' customer but good lawd that's quite a service charge.
Remember the days of coming to terms with the fact that your dh bike cost 4 grand? jeesh
And all the unknown S-works in house products on the bikes. If spending that much I would rather hand pick the products myself but I guess maybe some want the factory look.
Besides, we're talking about bikes, not cars. The automotive industry is an entirely different beast than bicycles.
Also, I don't mind Toyota. I drive one. They are good products, and by them doing a lot of manufacturing in the US, has brought the country a LOT of jobs, at time when other US owned automotive companies are downsizing their workforce.
Sorry if I didn't make more of a clarification at the offset.
In regards to currency exchange, that's only a side issue when you look at the big picture here. The big picture here is that American owned companies are outsourcing production to overseas manufacturers in China and Taiwan. This is fueling their economy. These nations are growing because of us, and as this happens, more companies are turning to these nations for production.
With this influx of industrial manufacturing comes large amounts of money. These countries are, for all intents and purposes, going through an industrial revolution of sorts, only they don't have as much trial and error to do with the equipment and processes. This means more rapid growth. These nations are getting to a point where they are starting to crack down on regulation, wages, etc. One of the reasons a lot of products coming from Southeast Asia are getting more expensive is because these nations are starting to impose stricter regulations on manufacturing (some of it with pressure coming from the US). China has finally implemented a minimum wage. They are currently having an issue that so many people from the countryside are coming into manufacturing that their farming population is at risk for not being able to feed their billion plus population. They're paying farmers more to stay in the country to farm. They pay manufacturing laborers more because they are starting to need to be more skilled. Its kind of sad, the products they produce for export are of far higher quality than those they produce for domestic sale.
I've seen the effects of this first hand for the company I work for (Mattel, albeit a different industry, still the same end result). What cost us say, $15 to produce last year now costs $22. Its at the point there is no choice to to pass this extra cost along to the consumer. Its not just the toy industry, its every industry with production in SE Asia. The days of cheap Chinese products are coming to an end. I guess the only question now is which second world countries are going to be exploited next.
Do you have any idea how expensive it is to freight ship not only A car, but thousands of cars, across the pacific these days?
Plus it give protection against exchange rate fluctuations and possible protective trade barriers (one of the reasons the Japanese started manufacturing cars here in the first place).