working in the trade has taught me that if you want to make things in big numbers then taiwan seems to be the best place.
there are only a few builders whose bikes i would ride that are made elsewhere than tiawan.
take orange for example, the gringo's, evo8, crush, the 07 clockwork and the 08 prestige and the p7 are all designed in england by orange but are built in taiwan but orange go out there and check out the factory to approve quality, sometimes they are painted in england by orange but not always, for example the 07 clockwork they liked the frame but didn't like the paint so bob jackson resprayed all 200! and orange get the black p7's painted in taiwan but the other colour options are painted by them in their own paint shop.
all the other frames they do are handbuilt in halifax and painted there and i think these are great bikes and good quality but the welding isn't usually quite as perfect as some taiwan brands because alot of the tiawan bikes are "robot" welded where as these are done by hand, but i do like the limitedness of them. only about 3800 total each year all in.
also marin, again mostly the whole range is designed in england by atb sales design team(previously including jon whyte, now ian alexander is lead designer) these are great quality bikes, in 4 years i've only done 2 frame warranty claims both being replaced by marin (when it was really abuse!) the design technology in these bikes i think is superior to alot of other bikes although having said that i'm not mad keen on the geometry but the mt vision rides fantastic (but i'd still buy an orange!)
also giant make alot of bikes for other people, specialized (big hits), trek, scott etc but so do merida, ever noticed the similarity between a brain technology bike, a merida full suss and a halfords carrera lrs?
also a world cup sunday from ironhorse is very similar to a glory/faith from giant. coincidence? there are 2 models, frame from u.s and built bike from taiwan. each brand saying they designed it first, "dw link" from ironhorse or "floating pivot point" or "maestro" from giant.
cannondale always said they wouldn't go to taiwan becuase of copying, for example if you go to giant to get your prototype frame made and ask for 3 of them, they will make 9, 3 for you, 3 for someonelse and 3 for them to keep. in 98, the giant terrago frame was very much like a p7 of that time!
basically, both products from england and taiwan are great as long as the quality is checked regularly.
i also like some italian built road bikes but not all of them but they tend to be "showmans bikes" meaning that sometimes the paint is more important than the ride/weight etc, my fausto coppi galaxy (by masciagi, think thats how you spell it?) being an example, it does ride well but there are some small mistakes on the frame covered up by paint!
i don't think made in the usa has the same cache as it used to mainly because tiawan has caught up as opposed to the usa getting worse. and lets not forget that some santa cruz bikes are now made in taiwan so even the americans have seen the light of mass prodution costings!
obviousley there are other places stuff gets built but the crappy stuff tends to be china, viet nam, bangladesh etc, taiwans industrial revolution was more recent than ours so alot of their tooling was more adaptable to newer technology like hydroforming.
also note there are hardley any companies in europe building with aluminium, i can only think of orange, commencal and orbea, the rest build with steel, roberts etc, but those type of guys aren't big number manufacturers (doesn't stop me wanting a dogs bolx though)
thought i'd throw that lot into the debate and see what you guys think, my fingers hurt now coz i really do suck at typing!
my bed is calling, goodnight!
p.s the opinions epressed here are not intended to upset anyone i just thought i'd tell a few things that i know, basically a good bike has as much to do with the welder as anythingelse regardless of what country he is from or lives in!
:shock: 
