Question about where Bianchi frames are fabricated / made

ibbz · Oct 20, 2020

A question about bianchi cycles
Are the frames of their higher end bikes actually fabricated in Italy? Or does the ‘made in Italy’ label mean assembled there? With the carbon frames and forks being fabricated elsewhere.
I think companies tend to do this - as long as the item is assembled in say England it’s labelled as made in England etc - but not sure about carbon road bikes.

jim haseltine · Oct 20, 2020

Carbon frames? I doubt it. To my knowledge the only carbon frame still being 'made' in Italy at the beginning of 2020 was the Colnago C64 and 'made' was pushing things - the carbon tubes and other components were sourced from suppliers outside of Italy then assembled in the Cambiago factory. Now that the company is owned by a Middle East investments group I suspect that has (or is going to) change.
High end steel frames are different(ish) - they're mostly made in Italy but as to whether they are actually made by the company which puts it's name on the frame is another question.

pigman · Oct 20, 2020

Re:

i'm led to believe that all (or 99.99%) of carbon frames are made in 4 or 5 factories in the far east to different manufacturers' (rather brand) specs. the ones that say "made in Italy" or whatever means the raw frames are shipped to Italy to be painted, refinished, assembled etc and are thus described as made in Italy. #

# Italy being one example, will be others

I think some American manufaturers, poss Cannondale do everything in-house.

ps i'm not in the trade, just going on what one bike shop told me

JSH · Oct 20, 2020

Re:

I have a 2019 Specialissima CV - the most expensive frame they do. Its made in the far east

ibbz · Oct 20, 2020

Thank you! I suspected as much.
It’s that an Italian mate of mine told me Luxotica only assemble their sunglasses In Italy to qualify for the ‘made in Italy’
I then assumed it was the same with carbon and possibly aluminium bike frames as well.
Not sure about the USA and Canada and expensive frames there.
Interesting about the specialissima! Now that I am surprised at!
I wonder whether their steel l’eroica is made in-house or like the Ti Raleigh is made in the Far East?

JSH · Oct 20, 2020

ibbz":vkt32h42 said:
Thank you! I suspected as much.
It’s that an Italian mate of mine told me Luxotica only assemble their sunglasses In Italy to qualify for the ‘made in Italy’
I then assumed it was the same with carbon and possibly aluminium bike frames as well.
Not sure about the USA and Canada and expensive frames there.
Interesting about the specialissima! Now that I am surprised at!
I wonder whether their steel l’eroica is made in-house or like the Ti Raleigh is made in the Far East?

Most carbon frames are manufactured in the Far East. They made a big deal of the Eroica being made in Italy whereas the Specialissima says designed in Italy. I think it is painted in Italy too

ibbz · Oct 20, 2020

Thanks
I’m also curious as to their 90ies aluminium and titanium Reparto Corse frames -

jim haseltine · Oct 20, 2020

Steel frames are certainly still made 'in house' by some. Those of more exotic materials are more likely to be built by specialist suppliers - working with titanium for instance requires specific skills and precautions - Ti machining swarf can ignite at quite low temperatures (<500 degrees) and can burn in just about anything other than an inert atmosphere.

mattr · Oct 20, 2020

I had an interesting read about the rules around labelling of source a couple of years ago.
Different rules for US/Europe/Middle east/Aus/etc, but all incredibly easy to circumvent.

Usually around added value and part number count. So in some cases, simply adding a sticker, or assembling the bike/frame, is enough to allow the change. Sometimes you need to paint it though!
And also loopholes around "made in" and "manufactured in".
But, all semantics. It doesn't actually make the slightest difference to what you're actually buying.

Woz · Oct 20, 2020

mattr":2kybg2d6 said:
I had an interesting read about the rules around labelling of source a couple of years ago.
Different rules for US/Europe/Middle east/Aus/etc, but all incredibly easy to circumvent.

Usually around added value and part number count. So in some cases, simply adding a sticker, or assembling the bike/frame, is enough to allow the change. Sometimes you need to paint it though!
And also loopholes around "made in" and "manufactured in".
But, all semantics. It doesn't actually make the slightest difference to what you're actually buying.

Many years ago I was involved in this for a different industry by accident. The amount of Cost of Sales came into the equation, ie. where is the bulk of % from, vague definitions of raw material origin vs. finished goods origin all muddied the water. For sure though, a company can not buy something from another country, and then just slap on a new sticker as that would be fraud.

Question about where Bianchi frames are fabricated / made

ibbz

jim haseltine

Retro Guru

pigman

Old School Grand Master

JSH

ibbz

JSH

ibbz

jim haseltine

Retro Guru

mattr

Old School Grand Master

Woz

Old School Grand Master

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