delta5

@actonca: Looks like their site has been through the Google Translate grinder a few times, because they claim "the system has no moving parts". Would love to know what they're actually trying to say, and what industrial one-way clutch they're using. Def high quality bearings, better than the Enduro trash most everyone else is slapping in. https://www.lavellebikes.com/hub

@barp: Me too, when I first heard it. Certainly has a different meaning in the US. The story behind it is simple/amusing though: Founder's initials are W.P. so that's the name. Got the nickname "White Power" because the powder coater he initially used, in the Netherlands, did medical supplies, and their only color was white.

Renting and $15? Might be able to rent a kids bike for 10min for that much. If you're lucky. Made more sense for us to buy decent bikes for the older kid, pass them down to the younger, then sell after. Cheaper than renting. We do the same thing with snowboards. Kids get to take some pride in caring for their tools too, which is a good lesson.

Make it rasta colors and name it Pawel. Or purple and call it Exactitude, or Chimp. Watch the "vintage" guys drool. (I'd be one of them)

@Skerr: Slave labor can happen in all sorts of countries. I'd be careful with Garneau being "Italian made". Take a tumble down the rabbit hole that is Chinese manufacturing in Italy using Chinese illegal immigrants. It's quite fascinating. Smartwool uses Chinese merino suppliers. India is frankly no better than China when it comes to working conditions, as well as how they deal with people of differing religions. You seem to be ignoring the supply chains. China is an absolutely MASSIVE producer of cotton and raw cloth. As I mentioned above, they also produce wool. Start following supplies for clothing and they almost always involve China. Especially many Euro brands. Finally, at the end there you kinda go off the rails on a moral rant about Tibetan monks and elephants? Every country sucks. The country I live in is a prime example. The country my parents are from isn't particularly great either. Germany, Czechia, Italy, and Egypt all have morally reprehensible qualities too, whether cultural or regime-related. Tibet's also had some darkness in its past.

@TStruckMTB: Not that bold. I built a bike little over 10yr ago with the stated goal of "100% USA", for supporting local manufacturing and environmental costs of transport. That not-so-slowly slipped to North America, then finally to countries with high quality-of-living and who pay living wages for manufacturing. The "worst" I had on my bike was Taiwan for fork/shock/dropper, because there was no air shock actually made here, and Euro stuff was (and is) too pricy even for my crazy goals. It's actually much easier now to have a 100% non-China bike these days at a reasonable budget. Heck if you stretch a little bit, it's easy to have a 100% Euro bike. Though I agree with PhillipJ about Samsung+Vietnam, and I'd love to hear how ALL of his clothes are "100% slave trade free". I try to follow that in my own wardrobe and know exactly how nearly-impossible it is. Edit: "nearly-impossible" because I'm just not wealthy enough to do it. Don't want anyone under the impression that I succeeded at that.

North Shore Billet would like to have a word...

Yep, those welds are something else. Mom-in-law does house and estate cleanouts. Couple of years ago, she told me she has some bike parts for me to look at, to keep or throw away. I come around and she hands me a pair of Erikson ti seatposts. Sold one, kept the other and stuck it on the DH bike. I *still* check out the beautiful welds in it every time I pull the bike off the rack.