Like many physical objects in our lives, most of the bikes we ride are made in China. In 2021, 76 million bicycles were manufactured there. Even many Italian brands that project the aura of artisanal, handcrafted bikes are mostly made there.
American bike manufacturing took off, along with the popularity of the bicycle, in the late 1890s. Bicycles subsequently went through boom and bust cycles in the 1930s and the 1970s. Bike brands started to look for a cheaper manufacturing solution outside of the United States after that, and Asia is where they ended up.
Chinese manufacturing for export took off in the ’80s and ’90s as the country opened up to the idea of business. Given the massive size of the Chinese manufacturing ecosystem, it’s amazing that the first business license in that country was not issued until 1979. The speed of growth in every Chinese industry has been extraordinary. One can understand how bike building got exported there: bikes are fairly low tech products that require lots of labor to build. So a manufacturing system with millions of workers who are paid a fraction of Western workers sounds appealing.
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