Which brands have maintained or improved their products?

[batman1425]

More a category than a company - but carbon rims, both clincher and tubular, have come a LONG way.

It wasn't that long ago that no one would dream of running a carbon rim on anything but glass smooth tarmac in bright sunny skies. Buying a set used was also a big roll of the dice if you weren't certain of how the previous owner treated them. Now you see carbon at all the cobbled classics and in all conditions. Carbon is a daily driver now.

[El Chaba]

Originally Posted by veggieburger

I used to work in the bike industry, and the first batch of 3Ts that came to our warehouse were from Italy, made in Italy. We placed an order for a dozen in each length from Milan weeks before. They looked fine from the outside, but the inside was gloopy and unfinished.

Obviously you never truly know where all the parts come from, but I'm quite confident these were...at the very least...assembled in Italia.

I'm pretty certain that all of those 3TTT stems were Asian moldings, finished in Italy. It's not hard under EU rules to qualify as "made in _____"....

[PacNW2Ford]

Originally Posted by bicycletricycle

I am not sure if this is true but I can not think of a brand off hand. I think that taiwan probably makes the nicest aluminum frames currently available. The best lightweight forged and machined stems seem to come from taiwan. The taiwan deda stems are better than the CNC Newtons.

While most offshoring decisions were likely cost based, you can't ignore process evolution. And Taiwan has been a world leader in advanced quality castings for a long time for many industries. Likewise in the golf club industry, China is the just about the sole source of thin wall titanium castings that are robotically welded into golf club heads. If the domestic manufacturers ever wanted to get back in the game, they would be playing catch up in process and quality.

My contribution to this thread would be Cane Creek, their products have evolved from Dia-Compe based (I think) stuff to top line MUSA goods. Not that there was anything wrong with Dia-Compe.

[seric]

A less luxurious brand that comes to mind would be Sugino. I feel they have stayed on target doing what they do and doing it well.

[ColnagoC59]

I'd put Colnago on that list, The Colnago C-line is still relevant. The company continues to improve it.

[Jeff N.]

Zipp. Their components (especially those gawdawful carbon cranksets) have improved a bunch.

[Frankwurst]

I don't think Planet Bike has lost any ground.

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by Hellgate

Amazing they are still around isn't it. The same rehashed "stories" for the past 40 years...

I miss Winning, RIP...

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk

Yes and no. There has been some good longer-form content recently. Can only expect so much when they are trying to catch eyeballs next to GQ and MensHealth..

[Andy340]

Took apart a White Industries H3 rear hub to clean and replace bearings today - the freehub (campagnolo) is a thing of solid titanium beauty

Really impressed with overall quality of the internal parts.

T11 looks to have improved the aesthetic but maintained the internals

Originally Posted by Andy340

White Industry - great hubs, VBC cranks are a good option if you need less than 34t inner ring and now expanded to multiple B.B. formats , now have headsets (no experience with these but good to have more options/colors)