Magura made in Taiwan - should it matter??

I just took delivery of a new Magura fork. It looks great and has had amazing reviews. Despite the saga of cracking Thor lower I really like Magura products.

But... my heart sank when I saw the 'Made in Taiwan' sticker on the end of the box. I know Taiwanese facilities have relatively high environmental and decentish labour standards and yet I am really disappointed to see the sticker. I make (sometimes stupidly) strenuous efforts to buy local, European or North American or from suppliers who have a verifiable environmental and social record - and Magura have always made such a thing about being German made. One thing I will say in thier favour is that the retail price of Magura has come down - so if I am getting the same quality then at least Magura is not doing what a lot of companies do, which is to pay sweatshop wages and charge premium prices at the consumer end. That still doesn't get over the whole globalisation/off shoring thing but it demonstrates a moderately less rapacious tendency.

Is there a fork company now which does not manufacture in Taiwan or China? I think Fox, DT Swiss and Marzocchi manufacture in Taiwan too. White Bros??

This morning I also received a beautiful set of Hope Race X2 brakes. If they had had a Taiwan sticker on I would be crying by now. Time to email Hope and try to get them making suspension...

End of rant (for now).

Sadly, I think even White Brothers have most of their forks made in Taiwan.
I believe that they still make the internals and assemble in Colorado, but all the magnesium forging of the crowns and lowers is outsourced along with the press fitting of the steerers and stanchions.

The only way to be sure of Euro/US manufacture would be to stick with some obsolete old weird stuff that doesn't work as well, like so many of us...

DTSwiss/Pace maybe?

All the best,

Formula?

They're about to release a suspension fork. And very nice it is too. The fork below is the tweener (27.5") model but there's nothing to say that they won't release a version for the non bandwagon-jumpers among us. You could easily bung a 26" wheel in there anyway

I have no qualms whatsoever about buying from Taiwan. It's actually quite expensive to manufacture there compared to India and China. It's quite a special place, very dynamic and stuck in an interesting place politically.
Taipei is definitely one of the coolest cities I've ever visited though you need to go local to appreciate it, amazingly talented and hard working people and the 'countryside' (Taiwan is tiny) is beautiful. There's certainly people who have it tough in Taiwan but it's a far cry from sweatshop... I happily buy from there over China.
That's a broad stroke and while I appreciate the whole buying local thing, if there's one thing the Taiwanese know how to build other than laptops it's bikes. The engineering and manufacturing specification is still German, and that's what you're paying for.

All good to hear from someone who sounds like they have firsthand knowledge. I do appreciate that Taiwan is a very distinct place (in all senses) from China and India (especially India - I lived there for 2 years as a student).

I suppose my main point was (and is) that as someone who is a UK-based craftsman I like to buy (and sell) as locally as possible. My point wasn't meant as racist or reactionary - just to express the disappointment at the loss of a 'local' (European in this case) manufacturer.

Formula by the way are I believe headquartered in Italy and manufacture in Taiwan.

OK, I was just googling around on a tea break:

There's German:A.:
Standard telescopic, double crown and linkage versions from them.




Also from Germany: Parafork:

Also the 'lefty' linkage Italian Leonardi Alike 110:

And the far more normal FRM Airway forks:


All Euro I think.

All the best,

Thanks for those.

Not sure I can handle the look of some of them - possibly a bit too industrial for me.

I bought the Magura thinking it was European made. It's got fantastic reviews so I'll be keeping hold of it. I think it was the surprise of it not being German that bothered me more than the made in Taiwan thing - if that makes sense.

Next time though... I'll be having one of those xcite upside down jobbies.