High End Bicycle Shop In Taichung

Taiwan Where Can I Find...?
#21

[quote=“urodacus”]If you’re just looking for Egg Beaters, Look has licensed the design and is making slightly cheaper versions available in some stores here. I have seen them in Colorful Cycle and Kent Cycles in Taipei, for example.

It is ironic that even though it’s all made in Taichung, you can’t buy anything there.[/quote]

I bought a Ritchey BreakAway 2 years ago so that I could have a bike to travel with instead of having a bike in Taiwan and one in the US. The bike was designed by Tom Ritchey and sold as a Ritchey and also licensed by Dahon (Allegro model). However, even though they are built in Taiwan, neither company sells them in Taiwan. My local contact in Tainan, who is a bona fide dealer of several US brands as well as Giant, tried to get a BreakAway through his distributor. The distributor said that it would be a special order. He didn’t want to do it as it would be more trouble than what it was worth. All I can say is that I tried…

By the way, I have Quattro SL’s on the Ritchey and I really like them. No adjustments to mess with. Just jump on and go. My wife has Candy SL’s on her road bike; an Orbea Mitis Dama. I guess you could say that we are all Cranked Up!?!?

#22

[quote=“plasmatron”]cheers urodacus… I’m really after their Acid and Smarty pedals to do some testing with… I actually work in the bike industry and I’ve already contacted CrankBrother’s head office to apply for OEM buyer status, since I want to spec these pedals on some of our high end bikes, but they are oh so finicky about their OEM sales, I guess understandably since they’ve got a huge aftermarket profit margin empire to protect…

You’re right about it being ironic that so many of the high end product lines are manufactured in the Taichung area yet are basically unavailable for purchase, I was talking with Tony Luo, Giant’s GM/CEO earlier this year and he was saying that it’s a huge obstacle for Giant’s local bikes sales, Taiwanese still view bicycles as being a +/-NT$2000 product, whereas EU/US folks consider a US$2000 to be a fair starting point for a weekend cyclist bike, with enthusiasts spending anything up to US$10,000 for a top flight road setup… hell just my RockShox fork cost 3 times what most 26" MTB hack bikes go for and that’s OEM pricing, retail would be closer to 6-8 times the cost of a complete “bike” from Carrefour etc. and for the “cheap uber alles” local market, it’s going to be the Carrefour junker every time… Hopefuly like Feiren said earlier this recent rise in popularity of cycling might drive a stronger retail/aftermarket environment in TW…[/quote]

As reinforcement to your comments:
I first went to Taiwan in January 2004. At the end of Feburary I bought my first road bike, a Giant TCR-2. It was quite nice for what I would consider an upscale entry level bike. I think I paid about $32,000NT for it. By the way, taking into account the component differences between the US and Taiwan for this model, the net price difference was $50US to $80US.

The following weekend I went out for my first serious ride of around 25 miles. When I came back, I stopped at one of my favorite expatriate joints for an early dinner. The bar maid said “Very nice bike, how much you pay?”. I told her $32,000NT and she said “You could have scooter for that!”. And that is the thought process that the bike industry in Taiwan is up against.