Author Topic: Taiwanese Bike Brands?  (Read 981 times)

Zhu Tou

Taiwanese Bike Brands?
« on: May 28, 2025, 06:08:06 PM »
Outside of Giant and Merida, what other Taiwanese (carbon road bike) bike brands are there? I'm drawn to these brands because of their unavailability in North America, and am willing to go through the hassle of getting one of their bikes if it means both having a quality bike and something that no one around me has:
  • DARE
  • Gusto
  • Trigon
Did I miss anything? Not Aster, Axman, or KHS; if anything, their bikes look outdated, and if I'm not wrong, are on the lower-than-entry-level end of the scale.



Lotnik

Re: Taiwanese Bike Brands?
« Reply #1 on: May 29, 2025, 01:07:24 AM »
From this three you mentioned I think only Trigon is worth the hustle to get it overseas.

Serge_K

Re: Taiwanese Bike Brands?
« Reply #2 on: May 29, 2025, 03:44:55 AM »
Tangentially relevant, there were several interesting looking aero bikes at the shanghai (?) bike show a few days ago, i assume they're chinese and not taiwanese, but either way, they're not names we see mentioned on this forum, so in case people have info on these frames, i'm interested.

I don't really buy, in 2025, the whole China bad, Taiwan good.
Fast on the flat. And nowhere else.

carbonda3

Re: Taiwanese Bike Brands?
« Reply #3 on: May 29, 2025, 04:24:07 AM »
The second one is from a Chinese sports brand, founded by former gymnastics champion Li Ning, who used to make clothing and badminton rackets. This bicycle is the latest product this year. I don't know much about the first and third ones.

carbonda3

Re: Taiwanese Bike Brands?
« Reply #4 on: May 29, 2025, 04:27:57 AM »
Although we are not a Taiwanese brand, maybe you can consider us (Carbonda)

Fatbonzo

Re: Taiwanese Bike Brands?
« Reply #5 on: May 29, 2025, 06:51:02 AM »
It's the same with all the clothing brands, somehow they don't sell on AliExpress
I would be interesting to understand that market...

Zhu Tou

Re: Taiwanese Bike Brands?
« Reply #6 on: May 29, 2025, 09:38:35 AM »
From this three you mentioned I think only Trigon is worth the hustle to get it overseas.

What are "wrong" with DARE and Gusta?
« Last Edit: May 29, 2025, 09:51:27 AM by Zhu Tou »

patliean1

Re: Taiwanese Bike Brands?
« Reply #7 on: May 29, 2025, 10:29:00 AM »
Is it possible to discuss China vs Taiwan manufacturing differences without becoming a politically charged conversation?

How did Taiwan gain a reputation of being high quality yet China having a stigma of low quality? I have folks regularly coming to my channel saying they would never buy a Chinese brand but have no issues with Taiwanese brands.

jfcb

Re: Taiwanese Bike Brands?
« Reply #8 on: May 29, 2025, 12:46:42 PM »
Is it possible to discuss China vs Taiwan manufacturing differences without becoming a politically charged conversation?

How did Taiwan gain a reputation of being high quality yet China having a stigma of low quality? I have folks regularly coming to my channel saying they would never buy a Chinese brand but have no issues with Taiwanese brands.

Well both are different countries/ cultures with Taiwan being very western minded.
How they have gained that reputation of high quality product manufacturer: They started with industrialization as from 1960's while China was lagging with at least 20 years and also that their manufacturing focus was/is different. While Taiwan is from origin more quality, niche tech, B2B driven, China's main focus has been mass production and cost-driven. Besides this Taiwan is more strict with IP regulatory environment and stricter QC. This resulted in Taiwan's reputation of being reliable and high quality VS the inconsistent, low-cost Chinese reputation. I guess there are many other factors feeding that reputation.
China is catching up with all of this, but nonetheless it's normal they still have reputation. As you might now, you don't change a reputation from one day to another. 


This all aside, I'm not sure if there are that many other "niche" Taiwanese bike brands that are worthwhile to mention. The Taiwanese people I know or either patriotic and are proud of the Taiwanese  Giant /Merida brands so they purchase those bikes or they want to have a Western brand because they can show off with that bike (since cycling is considered kind of an elite sport).
« Last Edit: May 29, 2025, 12:54:01 PM by jfcb »

Sakizashi

Re: Taiwanese Bike Brands?
« Reply #9 on: May 29, 2025, 12:53:35 PM »
To answer OP's question, i think Dare and Trigon would be two that I would look at in terms of carbon frames.

How did Taiwan gain a reputation of being high quality yet China having a stigma of low quality? I have folks regularly coming to my channel saying they would never buy a Chinese brand but have no issues with Taiwanese brands.

I think time is the #1 factor. ASI brands used Taiwanese manufacturing early, and then there were Giant, Merida, Gigantex, etc. They seem to have over a decade on most of the mainland-based brands. That is a long time gain acceptance and build brands.

I believe Kinesis does many OEM framesets for different brands. They don't sell directly to certain regions such as the US, but they supply many brands that use their framesets.

IP protection is #2.

Kinesis is a fascinating case. I think Kinesis UK is a sub-brand with a good reputation, and their website (http://www.kinesis.com.tw/en/) lists both own-brand and OEM businesses...but is the Kinesis frame you buy from AliExpress from the same Kinesis that is the Taiwanese company? There are plenty of people here who wouldn't care, but those in the general market do care — after all, brand trust is part of the transaction, and most people place a non-zero value on it.

With that example in mind, you can see how the IP position in China, which essentially leaves copyrights and wordmarks unenforceable, creates problems. Why buy a product if you're not sure it's genuine? The answer is simply because you can get it for a lot less. That sets the price expectation that products are cheap, low quality, prone to breakage, and will have no brand support. It's a steep hill for Chinese brands to climb. For example, why should a customer buy a Quick Pro when they can get an SL8 fake that's not an SL8 fake (but turned out to be an SL8 fake anyway) for 1/3rd the price? How does Quick Pro prove that they are better? Can they even do that if they are lumped in with companies that lie to and gaslight their customers? Two of the top threads on this forum concern fakes, which remain popular despite some serious issues, including forks breaking and small metal parts not functioning properly, requiring replacement with genuine parts.

OEM business is #3.

I also think that many of the current offerings from Taiwanese companies appear less advanced because they are allocating their resources to maintain OEM accounts. It's a choice that Microshift and Kinesis both seem to be making, as they are prioritizing their B2B accounts rather than throwing ideas at the wall and hoping they stick before conducting proper product testing. After all, there are a lot fewer complaints about Microshift Sword than there are about Ltwoo's ERX/ER9. Additionally, if it comes on a Trek, most people assume the product has been thoroughly checked and is of good quality, so that helps on the trust front, even if the components are low-end.


bremerradkurier

Re: Taiwanese Bike Brands?
« Reply #10 on: May 29, 2025, 03:44:41 PM »
The higher end Fuji carbon frames may still be built in Taiwan by ASI/Ideal.