BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

is bedford western PA or central PA?

If the state is split in 3rds (western, central and eastern) Bedford seems like it would be right on the border of western and central.

How long will it be before Cannondales are sold in department stores with Huffy and Mongoose?

bedforders are most likely steelers fans.

When everyone has finally lost their jobs, how will they be able to afford a new Cannondale, or any bike for that matter?

3rd world country wages would be OK in America if everything did not cost so much more than things do in the countries where people make 3rd world wages...

if only economics were so simple

At least we bikers are ahead of the game... If you can ride a bike you found and spent $20 in parts on, then ride to Philly in 2-3 days spending less than $2 to get there...

I almost welcome the chance to become homeless and be forced to travel with a bike and a tent. Maybe I watched Forrest Gump too many times, exept I hate runn ing.

the messageboard scooped the post gazette on this: http://postgazette.com/pg/09096/960929-100.stm

In all honesty, it is common belief that Taiwan actually has better carbon technology.

75% of the supersixes that my friend's team had last year (12 bikes) cracked.

If you can make a BETTER PRODUCT for cheaper, why would you not? To save jobs? Do Americans really want assembly line jobs anyway?

Yes it sucks Americans are losing their jobs. Yes it sucks that a PA manufacturer is closing some doors. We can complain, but how many of us are going to grad school for engineering?

while i follow you on the better for cheaper thing, there is also the investment that the company wants to put into a facility. is there a difference in the production aside from better technology? are the workers less careful or in tune to detail here? they could update the facility so that it's using similar technology as the Taiwanese ones. but if the plan all along was to get rid of this plant and the relatively expensive work force to begin with, why bother investing in the facility?

Do Americans really want assembly line jobs anyway?

that's a pretty silly question. do americans want service industry jobs? in a time where jobs are hemmoraging in a region where there are no jobs, every job loss hurts.

It is not just service industry and assembly line jobs being affected. Computer programmers (low and high-end) are losing jobs because people in India will do the same work for $5 an hour or less.

Most of these masters degree holders need to make a certain amount just to pay off their college loans, not to mention how inflation is on the rise, especially at the grocery stores.

Then you have IBM, (the same IBM that built the machines Hitler used to run the concentration camps). IBM is offering to relocate employees being laid off to India.

They will pay for your move and give you a stipend to get you set up, but then you are required to accept working for indian wages to keep your job.

Basically, they will ship you out to India, but you will never be able to afford a plane ticket home unless you keep a year's salary in savings (just in case you want to fly back to America that is).

http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/outsourcing/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=213000389

Certain jobs will always be safe here in the states, but don't be surprised if some of the engineers coming out of grad school lose jobs to people on the other side of the world, or start having to accept lower and lower salaries as a result, and then have trouble paying back their school loans.

No easy answers to the economy, and I agree with the fact that if I own a business and can get what I need cheaper somewhere else, I am going to go elsewhere to get it.

The problem here is that with the influx of money being pumped into our economy out of thin air by the FED, the resulting inflation and rise in prices, combined with lowering of wages to 3rd world levels will do much more damage to our people overall than the gains being made in the countries benefiting from the outsourcing of our labor.

here's an article with video about the jobs lost. lots of footage of the inside of the plant. i like the wheel machine

http://wearecentralpa.com/content/fulltext/news/?cid=79632

it's from wearecentralpa.com so i guess that clears that up

I've toured the Bedford facility... that wheelbuilding machine was pretty wild. Hozan I believe.

those workers were smiling in the video

there's an even cooler video here, produced by the discovery channel about the cannondale factory.

http://bike-pgh.org/2009/05/14/pas-dced-secretary-george-cornelius-calls-for-action-to-keep-cannondale-handmade-in-pennsylvania/

That sucks! In all fairness I should point out, though, having been there recently, that Taiwan is not a 3rd world country. The standard of living is roughly on par with, well, western PA. They have also not neglected their infrastructure and industrial base over the last 30 years, and they have the world's most efficient national health-care system. At this point manufacturing in Taiwan is dominated by high-tech, high-value items much the same way it was in Japan in the past.

Our government in the USA made a conscious choice over the last 20 years to favor inventing complex financial death-traps over, like, actually building stuff, as the main driver of the economy. "Free trade" combined with no investment in human capital has caused us to fall behind countries like Taiwan that we used to deride as unsophisticated makers of cheap knock-off products.

I've often wondered how much more competitive we could be in manufacturing if we had national health care. Pretty much every other industrialized country does, which puts US manufacturing behind the 8 ball to start.

At this point manufacturing in Taiwan is dominated by high-tech, high-value items much the same way it was in Japan in the past.

Yes. And the proof is in the pudding--Rivendell is now selling two bikes that are manufactured in Taiwan.

still, did you watch the discovery channel video that i posted?

Yes I did. It was cool. I'd love to see Cannondale stay here, but I don't think Dorel has any interest in all in doing so. Bikes under $800 or so were moved to Taiwan a few years ago, everyone knew that was the beginning of the end. I'd put $20 on Cannondale disappearing in 5 years or less.

You mean like GT, Schwinn, 3T and Cinelli ?

Eric wrote: "I've often wondered how much more competitive we could be in manufacturing if we had national health care. Pretty much every other industrialized country does, which puts US manufacturing behind the 8 ball to start. "

Yes, but then the current billionaire insurance folks would have to go to bed without their supper. Either that or maybe, like, do some work or something.

We're talking about what Limbaugh calls "basic economic freedoms" here, dude

Mick

OMG wheel machines