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Low-cost overseas competition prompts call for safeguard measures from Ottawa
By STEVEN CHASE
Monday, June 20, 2005 Page B1

OTTAWA -- Canada's two largest remaining bicycle makers -- their factories threatened by lower-cost foreign imports -- begin a last-ditch effort today in Ottawa to seek emergency protection from Asian rivals.
Procycle Group Inc. and Raleigh Canada Ltd. are asking the federal government to slap a 48-per-cent tariff on foreign bike imports to stop the bleeding of manufacturing jobs to China, Vietnam and other Asian nations. They warn a failure to get temporary safeguard protection could spell the end for "the vast majority" of bike manufacturing in Canada.
The case should set a precedent for how Ottawa responds to the new economic reality where Canadian factory owners are trying to decide whether to keep production going locally or move it offshore themselves.

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That Globe & Mail article didn't mention Montreal's Dorel Industries though. Dorel owns Pacific Cycle. Pacific Cycle owns the Schwinn, GT, and Mongoose bike brands (the really crappy stuff sold in Sprawl-Mart among other places); all of which are made in China/the Far East. Dorel would probably be opposed to huge tariffs on their bikes.

[ 21 June 2005: Message edited by: Snuckles ]

The only reason China can make bikes cheap is because they have 100's of millions of people willing to work for very little with no protection for workers and no environmental standards. And you want good decent people in our country to compete with that? That's a disgrace.

I'm sure NDP official policy is to support this effort on the part of bike manufacturers here in Canada,

Cervelo is another one, but their bikes are high end and the people buying them aren't looking for cheap bikes made in China, they are more of a niche market.

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Originally posted by Cougyr:
This smells like a cry to subsidize inefficiency. I haven't bought a Canadian made bike since I was a kid. There's a reason. Sorry to sound so callous, but that industry needs to take a good look at itself.

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I have a CCM Excel I brought new seven years ago that I use daily (I'm 55) on our un-maintained gravel roads and have NEVER had a problem other than a pin on the rear sprocket shear off - but that was my fault. I grew up with a CCM bike, my brothers both had Raleighs, and NONE of us ever had problems with our bikes. My grade school CCM lasted me 20+ years by adding seat and handlebar extensions.

One being forced to compete with economies where there are few if any labour standards at all. That kind of competition just isn't fair.

Secondly, yes I would agree that over the long run its going to be difficult to compete in the "low-end" bicycle market.

So it would make some sense to me for there to be some kind of transitional funding or transitional "protection" to help the industry make the shift from "low end" bicycles to perhaps more "high end" bicycles.

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Originally posted by Leuca:
I'm ashamed of my lefty babblers here. Making bicycles for a living pays better than a McJob or working at WalMart or some other minimum wage job, manufacturing is an extremely important part of our economy and it is extremely important to maintain a strong manufacturing base for alot of reasons.

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Leuca, I agree. We do need good manufacturing in Canada. Our trade agreements should all require mininum standards for a whole lot of things. Instead, they all favour the downward spiral.

The Canadian bicycle industry has had troubles for a long time, in my opinion. (I'm sticking my neck out here.) I don't think that the price of labour or lack of protection have anything to do with it. It's more like being stuck in a time warp. They have to change.

On a hopeful note, I think the rising cost of fuel is going to move the advantage closer to home. It will also be good for the bicycle industry. Thet will probably do more to inject some health into it than any government meddling.

Consumers speak with their dollars, when it comes to purchasing based on labour practices or quality or any factor.

I can appreciate how some people would go to Canadian Tire to spend hard earned money on a beginner bike, and a government rebate would be great for people that need a cheep mode of transportation, but government rebates or harsh tariffs on foreign made bicycles offer no incentive for Raleigh to improve the quality of their bikes, so consumers do not benefit in the long term.

Also, Raleigh is foreign owned and has been manufacturing bikes for 125 years, and have been manufacturing in Canada for only 30 years. They are years behind and out of touch with market trends, with the latest technology. The only thing going for Raliegh bike owners are accessible, affordable parts that are also shitty.

[ 22 June 2005: Message edited by: TemporalHominid ]

Canada does in fact have quite a few high-end bicycle companies: Devinci, Cervelo (as mentioned), Argon18...isn't Kona Canadian? Some of these offer entire ranges of bicycles in the same way that giants like Trek and Cannondale do. (Cannondales, incidentally, are all made in the US)

The problem is that the companies mentioned here have gone off the model of building good bikes, and are joining the race to the bottom to produce something with two wheels at the $150 price point. This is a losing battle, and is the reason why Raleigh UK had to close up shop and move. Problem is, the average consumer would rather pay for $150 for something whose wheels spin in Canadian Tire, ride it twice, and put it in the garage, rather than $300+ on something that'll last for 10-20 years with a little care.

Edited to add: Oh, I forgot to thank you for the CCM link. Sad to see the once proud name of CCM being sold at Walmart. Maybe I brought the last CCM bike (Excel) before they were brought out by Procycle. In that case, I'll hang on to it - it's perfect for here, anyway. Next summer or later this year I'm going to buy a super lightweight mountain bike from that independent dealer in Sept-Iles.

By the way, that dealer in Sept-Iles is a very succesful businessman. He owns the only sporting goods shop east of Baie Comeau in Quebec - all winter long he deals in ski, skating, and hockey equipment; I've seen him in winter using his 4wd yellow Hummer H2 to transport huge loads of hockey equipment to the tournaments in Sept-Iles and beyond. And his is the only independent bike shop in Quebec east of Baie Comeau - he has a huge market to himself. Wonder if he'd like an investor or partner? I'd love to be part of a bike shop.

[ 22 June 2005: Message edited by: Boom Boom ]

High-performance, super-light bicycles for athletes and serious road training are another matter altogether, but most utilitarian cyclists don't need them. In Montréal, many who do own them also own a beater to do the chores, go to work and school etc.

I suspect part of the problem Procycle and Raleigh Canada are having is they're locked into the concept that they need to be producing a broad range of bicycles in high volumes. If they identified some niches that have been ignored by most North American bike manufacturers (like quality commuter cycles at good prices) and retooled themselves to pursue those niches, they could probably survive, the but ideology of producing bicycles for all market niches is going to do them in in the face of competition from China, Taiwan, etc.

I have Brodie in mind when I type this, although I went into a bike store and told the manager I would spend a thousand bucks to spend if I could find a bike that was made in Canada. He pointed me to a row of bikes that had removable stickers saying 'made in China', on top of the permanant 'desinged in Canada' ones. I said that I wanted a bike that was actually made here, and he said there was *no way* I was going to find one unless I had it custom-built, which would cost more than $1000. "The workers were asking for too much, it was putting them out of business to make the bikes here" He actually said that. Since then, I have discovered a very reliable actually Canadian bike company and I think I'm going to end up spending between five and six hundred dollars on a bike made here, rather than more than that to increase someone's profit margin.

I think the big thing that needs to happen is publicity. The companies are out there, but they aren't easy to find... I know that many student groups are quite involved with reycled bikes, but lots of students get new ones too, and the 'sensible' type of bike is proliferating, atleast in my stomping grounds. Hmm.

(Edited to add: I'm at the end of my work week and a long night shift, so pardon forany non-relevance or gibberish)

[ 22 June 2005: Message edited by: Amy ]

Who's the manufacturer, or what brand is it? I might be interested in one, as well