What's all this snobbery about far east bikes?

We often get asked in the bike shop about where our bikes are made and there is sometimes a detectable air of disapproval when we answer in the far east. However as always, it is not as straightforward as that; Now we are fully aware that there are some poor quality products built in the far east and this is what has tainted peoples perception of this area as a manufacturer. But on the other hand there are also many excellently engineered products manufactured in the far east associated with well respected and high end global brand names. China in particular has invested heavily in many manufacturing sectors and obviously electric bikes is one of those sectors. They have large bespoke factories with state of the art tooling, skilled labour and excellent engineering teams that can build electric bikes to any specification and budget. And hereby lies the problem, beancounters in the west want to absolutely maximise profit per unit so they downgrade components to the minimum quality they can get away with. This leads to an influx of sub standard bikes sometimes only good for one seasons riding. And then the reputation suffers. But of course even very high end electric bikes are made in China, and there is also the little trick played by manufacturers that love to market the fact they are built in a 'reputable country' such as Germany or wherever but basically they are just assembling the bike components sourced from the far east. So don't blame these far eastern countries, blame western companies and even western consumers who want everything for as little money as they can spend on it. It is they who are squeezing quality down so everyone in the supply chain on the western side gets a good slice of profit. Here at Electric Bike World we have a great quality product at a fair price; we specify a lightweight quality frame and use quality components like Shimano, Tektro and Samsung celled batteries. We happily support our bikes for years to come so we have to be confident there is an excellent level of reliability built into them and our customers will testify to this I am sure, many of them still riding our electric bikes after many many years.