Blimey I’ve wasted a long time reading this thread…
The debate is an old one now, and as much as people often like to state their support for “British Products” their personal beliefs are often significantly watered down when it comes to parting with more cash for a frame.
You simply will not produce a comparable product in the UK for the same price as the far east, I actually think the “British Brand – Far eastern manufacture” isn’t a bad business model when you’re trying to sell to a market where Value for money does actually count… Say what you like Dialled, Cotic, On-one, DMR, etc all sell products that meet both the functional AND cost expectations of their customers…
Most of the sprouting on this thread have assumed an “All in house” approach which if you’re even going to attempt production of most products in the UK is a Non starter, to produce a batch of 100 frame you have to consider there is something in the region of 2000(?) individual operations (bending, mitring, welding/brazing, aligning, painting, etc) and whilst having a one stop shop for all of these quite different tasks would be nice those few that do exist and not really geared up for large batches (frame builders), what we do have in this country still are a few businesses that specialise in certain operations Machinists, sheet metal/tubing cutting and bending, fabricators, paint shops/platers. If you were going to try and batch manufacture a frame in the UK you would have to be mental not to try and source the different operations from different suppliers, the major advantages are you don’t have to locate skilled trained up labour, you don’t have to absorb the cost of production errors/reworks (suppliers is liable) you don’t have to layout money up front for tooling/machinery, you don’t have to find production premises (you may have to find storage though for the finished products), operations can be carried out in parallel/smaller batches to shorten lead times and get products to market faster. In short good procurement and delegation is what would give you a fighting chance of hitting a key price point with a UK manufactured bike frame.
The Major downside is of course that each business you deal with will add a margin to the services they provide but unless your start-up is incredibly well funded there is no way you could bring all the work required to manufacture something as complex as a bike frame under one roof from day one…
I’ve never worked in the bike industry but I have worked in manufacturing/engineering and I’ve yet to work on any product where all parts and processes were sourced from one location or business.
Of course all of the above manufacturing services can be found under one roof…. In Taiwan
Of course the first consideration is marketing, which is not just placing the odd advert or chucking up a website; But the primary function of establishing an actual market for the product, you might want a 650B Soft tail with an Eccentric BB but are there more than 3 other people on the planet who want one too? And if there is a demand what price point is it at? And does the “Made in the UK” label hold any sway with your target market? This should be your starting point, and sometimes there’s a gap in the market for a reason…
