Yoshimura Enters Mountain Bike World With USA-Made Flat Pedals

 Look up "Turbo Spoke."

 Brass knuckles though?

 You don't make the sounds with your mouth like the rest of us?
GENIUS !

 get a 2 stroke!!

 Next years April fools joke, high end spokey dokes, they come in carbon or titanium, MSRP $499

 HAHA!

 Seriously...I’m cooped up in my house like a lot of people, losing my shit and now I don’t know what is real...this could be a legit product launch, but who knows?!?!?!
C’mon PB. It’s too much.

 This ones harder to call. It could be legit but it’s April 1st.....

 Unless pinkbike went through the trouble of building a fully functioning website this one is believable.....

 @YoshimuraCycling: Can I ask a few detail questions? Not aimed at disparaging if you answer one way or the other, but it's just nice to understand product manufacturing.

So it said they're made/manufactured in Cali. What parts are you machining yourself in house from raw material? Which parts are you sourcing from piece parts makers? Which parts are bulk items that are from overseas?
I always like to understand what is actually made here versus what pieces of a component are made here in the US versus the pieces that have to be sourced outside the US and then assembled with the bits made/machined here.

Not looking all the way down the chain to "where did the block of alloy come from". I think it just clarifies it since there are so many different ways to announce a product's origin.

 @jsnfschr they hit Instagram a while back. I doubt they would set up an april fools joke that far in advance?

 I thought the same so I had to click the link. Unless they created a web page and also now a PinkBike name, which I still wouldn't put past the PB staff, I'd say its legitimate. Had a yosh exhaust on my R6. Loved it. Might have to get these to continue the brand consumerism.

 @ReformedRoadie: srs though you cant launch a legit product on April 1st.

 @blowmyfuse: www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/plain-language/bus03-complying-made-usa-standard.pdf

 @MattyBoyR6: we legit!

 @blowmyfuse: USA 6061, out sourced seals and Japanese bearing. USA bushing, CNC machined proprietary steel spinal (stronger the 4130 and 4140 Cro mo. Heat treat in so cal. Pins made and anodized in so cal

Only overseas product is the Japan bearing. We felt this was the best way to offer them.

 @YoshimuraCycling: Really appreciate that. I worked for a turbo manufacturer as a piece parts buyer and was surprised at all the high end stuff we ordered from local and regional machine shops, but then was keenly aware that we had exactly ONE supplier in the UK that made these very specific, insanely tight tolerance bushings for the turbine wheels and my first question to my superior was "What if they mess up?" He said "they don't".

3 months later, I found myself at a precision table with a micrometer checking them for out of spec and it was a disaster.

Ever since I like to know where the bits and pieces come from and not b/c I think it will cost you downtime. Just the parts sourcer in me likes to see how close to home things are.

Thank you again. Cool stuff!

 Daggers 180 T macs 170.... please dont act like pricing is something new...

 $$$$$$ No concave, quick pass.

 @pargolf8: still always surprises me that flats are more expensive than clipless, just seems wrong!

 @pargolf8: Ht me03 263 grams $160

 @jj12jj: i agree man. One up aluminums can be had for 120. Sadly i feel its the best “bargain” but ive broken two sets of composites so i dont buy them anymore

 @reverend27: i like the ht’s alot im just so skeptical of change haha. Im always just sticking with what i know

 @pargolf8: because Yosh..

 @pargolf8: and a pair of Shimano M520 spd’s can be had for $60 CAD. I guess pretty minor overall paying for flashier looking pedals, they don’t exactly ware out

 My wife had Azonic pedals with aluminum pins...they were slicker than goose shit after a year...and she’s not an aggressive rider.

 100%. I've scraped/smashed steel pins into nothing with a single bad pedal placement on a fast punchy climb or a rocky descent. With aluminum, I'm absolutely sure that New England trails would demolish most of the pins in about 2 rides.

 I've been wondering with these pins that thread in from the bottom once the pin gets mashed how do you replace it? Based on what the pins look like on my top thread in I can't imagine the threads back out easily or the pin is even straight enough. Do you use a dremmel and cut off wheel?

 @MattyBoyR6: I think you just learn your lesson and buy some chesters...or the $20 knock off version of chesters.

 @MattyBoyR6: exactly you have to use a Dremel and sometimes that still can't get the real bent pins out. I have since moved over to composites. Doesn't feel as solid and nice as aluminum but my wallet feels better

 @Vutt73 @unrooted thanks. I'm on a 5 or 6 yr old pair of Forte pedals and looking to replace since I can't find a new spindle. The one I have is bent from a rock strike. I've replaced a lot of pins over the years and there are fewer & fewer threads that still work.

 As an old machinist I cant stand seeing ads that say this. Like "billet" is a type of material worth more lol

 @Asuhhdude: Deffo more than cast then cnc machined to give it nice finish...

 @Mondbiker: And deffo less than forged and then machined to tolerance. Doesn't change the fact the term "billet" is often thrown about as something magical that automatically makes better parts.

As an example, I'd much rather have forged wheels on my car than fully machined wheels. Forging can align the grain structures in the material to add massive strength. While machining a billet (just a solid block) means the internal structures of the material may not align with the freshly cut surfaces in the most ideal way. So a proper good forging better utilizes the material, where the same part machined from a billet will have to be slightly overbuilt (just bigger, more bracing, etc) to reach the same ultimate strength.

People love to talk about "billet engine blocks", but can't really tell why it's better than a cast block. A cast aluminum block is plenty strong, since engines don't usually fail because the block just explodes. More likely they'll melt a piston, bend a rod, spin a bearing (and then throw a rod through the block, even if it's a "billet block"), stretch head studs and blow a head gasket, etc etc.

(Castings aren't usually machined _just_ for looks, they're machined to fit tolerances that a casting just can't meet, and the nice looks are a bonus since it's already in the milling machine)

 @just6979: Hmmm, stock cast alu engine blocks typically use aftermarket strengthening of some kind when chasing big numbers, especially open deck designs, billet block is typically made for performance from the get go so it´s ready to go, and more often than not lighter than OEM cast equivalent and I don´t know exact numbers but if you add all upgrades to the stock engine billet stuff might actually be good value too And yes, forged wheels are nice thing to have if you have deep enough pockets, not sure it forged parts are really necessary on bike though, I don´t see too many stem or pedal body failures these days.

 Thanks for that.

 @Mondbiker: You don't compare an open deck mass-market cast block with a performance block machined from a billet. You have to compare a performance closed-deck cast block with that machined block.

Yes I know forged is expensive, but that's because it's better! And that's the point: "billet" is thrown around as something awesome, top of the line, but it's just another technique. And like any technique, it has advantages and disadvantages in various situations. A bike probably doesn't need a forged stem, but for maximum strength to weight, forging is often unbeatable for parts like that, or cranks, for example. Shimano's technique for "nearly finish-quality with one-hit" forging on the new XTR cranks is awesome, and can pretty much only be beat re: strength-to-weight with very very high end composites (another technique that is better at some things than others, but is often touted as a magical thing that makes everything better).

 $190 bucks and aluminum pins. . . . . FMF rules!

 @truehipster: LOL !

 @truehipster: that made me laugh

 not even close...

 We will see what is next for us. We don't want to rush anything. Our whole reason to do this is to make fun cool stuff. Once we HAVE TO make the next thing it will be different. We for sure don't want to make me too stuff. We have a whole composites part of our factory here that is at our disposal. We will see what happens next, but for right now we want to make Chilao Pedals and make them the best we can - right in our shop.

 @YoshimuraCycling: fair enough, I appreciate the reply.

 coming back to this comment. i hope you know we make stems now, LOL! and have been for a while. cheers!

 @collintimmermans: I'm still waiting for the RS-12 full Ti exhaust for my 23 YZ450....

 @jomacba: oooooooooooooooooooooo

 It's not that easy to find aluminium pedals with sealed bearings, good grip and a low profile for 50 €. More like 80 € in my experience. But compared to something like that, the performance difference is... none.

 Made in California is a big part of it. A lot of people wont care, but a lot are willing to pay extra for something made domestically. No huge performance difference over a 70-$100 Chinese pedal.

 @Nobble: As much as we have been doing destruction testing and listing to local riders and shops, We think the durability of our Chilao pedal will be above the 70-100 imported flat pedal. Time will tell.

 I'll give you my components production when you pry (or take) it from my cold, dead hands!

 That's why they did alloy pins! Since they will all snap clean off on the first ride, it will be very easy to extract them, since you don't have the un-thread the part that sheared off!

 @just6979: BINGO! and shaves 30-40 grams per pedal.

 They definitely look the business. They've been posting teasers on Instagram for many weeks now.

 @Trudeez: that's what I call a well prepared April 1st

 Mtb and bar posing?

 @fracasnoxteam: after market everything!

 you support local bussiness. If your mom would work in eg. chainring factory, would you buy cheaper taiwan part or part from factory that employes your mom?

 @dumr666: but if it's not someone you know or care about, why do you care whether it's someone down the road from you, or in a different city, or a different state, or a different country? It's basically arisen from a sense of superiority bordering on arrogance, on the presumption that only western countries could reliably produce high quality goods, because years and years ago that was actually true, and "made in Taiwan/China/Japan" (depending how far back we want to go) used to mean "pretty much guaranteed to be a piece of shit". Taiwan's quality of manufacture is as good as anyone's right now, in fact actually much better than a lot of places. Turns out your nationality is not much of an indicator of how good your work is.

The real benefit of domestic manufacturing right now comes from the ability to have actual end-users doing the design, prototyping, testing and manufacturing under one roof - it means that experienced designers who actually ride the products they're making can prototype, test and oversee manufacturing of the parts. That leads to faster development of better products. There's also a lot of legit IP concerns in high end manufacturing (aerospace and medical in particular). As automation becomes a bigger and bigger part of manufacturing though, I think it'll actually trend back towards western countries doing more of their own manufacturing, because as labour costs become a smaller and smaller part of the total overhead, there's less to cut out by going somewhere with cheaper labour. And you can buy the same CNC machines, robots and tools for roughly the same prices anywhere in the world.

 @dumr666: So the Slovene advises the Croatian to support local business by buying US products... A better joke than Yoshimura making pedals! Cheers to your mom.

 @KNS: wooooosh....

 @Socket: nothing to do with superiority. The reason I like made in the UK or made in Taiwan is because I'm British and I lived in Taiwan for more than ten years. If more stuff is made in those countries, more of my money is going into the pockets of people in those countries. More money, more tax paid, lower unemployment, better public services.
On the other side of it, by buying made in China you are likely to be bankrolling the Communist Party of China and all that that entails, not to mention perhaps doing someone from your community out of a job. If they happened to get paid to design or engineer stuff that has been copied by a Chinese factory so much the worse.
As an example, I live near the Hope factory. People who work there could have bought something from the company where I work, helping to pay my wages and helping the government to have more tax revenue. I have seen pedals made in China that are exactly the same as the Hope ones but at a fraction of the cost. I'm sure they work in exactly the same way. Imagine if everyone went and bought those. By extrapolation we could say that intellectual property theft and undercutting could put Hope out of business. They go bust, a hundred people out of work. Unemployment benefits are paid out instead of taxes being paid in. That's why buying local is a good thing. It's not about racism or superiority at all from my perspective. It's about supporting the local economy and by extension the local community. A secondary concern is that I don't like to bankroll dictatorships that quite literally put us all at risk.

 @dumr666: Glad I'm from a third world country.

 @Socket: sounds awfully familiar to “made in Germany”.

 Whats the difference? - Ask again when this covid-19 situation is over.

 @chyu: nahh..more like 3.5 world country in some area..

 I think quality control and time to market are the big advantages. They can R&D, iterate and bring stuff to production much quicker and keep a much closer eye on quality control. The prices are gonna be higher and it's gonna be a high-end product because of the labor costs, but it is what it is.

 China-made products are cheap at the expense of the environment.

Read labels and vote with your dollars. A lot of times it’s unavoidable, but I try to avoid buying products made in China.

 @Socket: dude there’s a LOT more than dick waving when it comes to the, local production of goods, has the benefits of adding local jobs, increasing tax base, more likely to support local trail initiatives. Same as buying from your local bike shop or getting coffee from a local coffee shop, at the end of the day the majority of profits stay in your country town city. It’s a lot more than local pride, it’s local jobs, and local jobs buy houses, go to restaurants, buy cars...

Read up on we are one for a text book study of how local manufacturing has lead to a pretty steady growth of new jobs in Kamloops BC. I am pretty dam sure that’s a lot of new skilled manufacturing jobs, because there isn’t a lot of carbon fibre manufacturing going on in the BC interior.

 Because fvckin global factory and shipping pollution, human rights, organ harvesting on Falun Gong and genocide by Han Chinese. Don't support that. Your ONLY vote is your dollar. That is all they care about.

 @endlessblockades: you'll see. In three months the CCP will be seen as the saviours of the world, rather than the body that made it ten times worse. Ministry of truth.
Decouple, dexouple, decouple!

 @jaame: No doubt!

 @dumr666: Thanks!

 @roma258: And we are trying to keep our workers working while making some fun stuff!

 @jaame: good answers, thank you for an intelligent response - they aren't things that factor in hugely for me, because where you see one person being put out of a job in your country, I see another person (usually in a poorer country) gaining employment. Supporting the local economy and government makes sense where all else is equal, and like you I am not a fan of the Chinese government, but equally I don't have such disdain for Asian workers that I think it's "better" for someone in the country I happen to live in to have a job than for someone elsewhere in the world to have a job. The thought process you're describing IS actually quite nationalistic (and there is not necessarily anything wrong with that, nations exist for good reasons), whereas I see in many regards globalisation and global competition leading to a huge amount of benefit to the human race, especially poorer/developing countries who are given access to the same marketplaces we have access to. For example, have a look at how much absolute poverty has dropped by worldwide in the past 20 years thanks to global economic growth.

I am fairly well aware of the shortcomings of my way of thinking regarding global markets too - we don't have a coordinated global government or economic overseer that keeps everybody's interests equally in mind, which goes back to why nations exist to begin with.

However, the original question was about what makes it a superior product because of where it's made - the answer is "not necessarily anything".

 @Honda750: I work in manufacturing in BC and have visited We Are One's facility in person, I'm very much aware of how it currently stands. All jobs are local - to somewhere. Basically, if you're opposed to imports, you're also inviting opposition to your own exports from anyone elsewhere, and deleting the export sector of nearly any market drastically shrinks the market and makes businesses less efficient because they are necessarily smaller. And then at what point do you say it's local enough? Same continent? Because this Yoshi stuff isn't made in Canada either. Same country? What about the provincial sales tax? People in Toronto aren't supporting my brother's restaurant in Vancouver. Same city? I don't even live in a big city - that limits our market enormously. What if I just say "I'm only buying stuff made by people I personally know and like?" Obviously impractical.

Unless you're somebody I know and care about personally, I don't prioritise your job, your house, your car etc over the same opportunities/assets of any other random person anywhere else in the town/city/country/world. Partly because it's needlessly exceptionalist as mentioned previously, partly because fighting human nature when it comes to seeking the best value in their purchases - the best argument, as Jaame raised before is that local tax revenue benefits you a lot more than tax revenue elsewhere. But even that economic self-benefit argument falls apart if the discrepancy in prices between imported & domestically sourced goods is sufficient; there's no point paying triple for a given product just so that you see more benefits from your tax dollars locally. A secondary, totally reasonable argument is that you don't want to play any part in propping up China's dictatorship (or whatever other malevolent economy). If you prioritise that really highly though, fair play to you.

 @Socket: I agree with a lot of your sentiment. I don’t care about someone I don’t know from my area having a job in and of itself. I want that person to have a job because then he’s less likely to be on the dole, causing trouble down the local pub, thieving, begging on street corners, mugging people or whatever else he has to do to get enough money to survive. For me it’s purely selfish and on a community level. I want my kids’ school to be well funded. I want the streets to be clean with a good surface. I want the local parks and open spaces to be modern and well managed. That’s it. It makes my life better if everyone in this area has a job. I don’t particularly care about someone living three miles away any more than I care about someone living three thousand miles away. It’s all about me and my family. And yes, we do need to look after ourselves with good financial decisions. For example, I don’t use Hope pedals because they are overpriced and there are plenty of great made in Taiwan options that I can afford. If I didn’t have the Taiwan connection then what would I do? I would look for the best cost to value I could find, which would still probably be made in Taiwan. Hubs though, Hope are worth the money.
It’s not easy is it? On the one side I hate the CCP with a passion. On the other side nobody else cares about it seemingly, they just want cheap throwaway goods which all happen to be made in China (outside the bike industry at least). That’s as far as it goes for most people.
What’s the answer? The only thing I can think of is for a cultural shift to take place in which people value the ability to buy good quality serviceable parts that they fix instead of replacing. Only then could we see the cost of local manufacture be justified in the eyes of the many. Sadly, with the consumer culture we currently have, I doubt that will happen.

 @jaame: all good points, cheers for the discussion.

 HMMMMM....

 How appropriate. A mountain bike with Ohlins suspension, and Yoshumira pedals. Now all we need is for Brembo to release a MTB brake and the circle will be complete.

 @Mick-e: I've already got the Ohlins, I'll have to think about this one...

 @Mick-e: ooh i like that. Red calipers with little white Brembo logo... yes please!

 @Mick-e:

Excel rims and Dunlop tires.-

 I’m sure they made a set of mtb brakes at some point in the past? @Mick-e:

 @CrispyNuggs: But Monobloc nickle calipers with carbon / carbon rotors and pads for downhill race bikes?
Starting price $1000 per set. With a little effort we could get a new MTB up to $20k.
Even dentists won't bite at that one.

 I'm looking for them too !

 YoshiKote

 @YoshimuraCycling: thank you!

 @YoshimuraCycling: the first teaser photo of these led me to your site in search of them... ended up buying more parts for my streetbike!! Hey what’s with no shipping to Canada BTW?

 @Honda750: We should be shipping to Canada!!! HANG TIGHT!

 @Honda750:Shipping to Canada is on now!

 Jokes on you, its real

 @oregontradesman: the joke would be on anyone who purchases these in the first place especially for 200