# Look carbon road frames are made where?



## acid_rider (Nov 23, 2004)

Must be FAQ.....

Just out of curiosity - are all 2004/2005 *carbon* framed *road* bikes from Look made in France? Taiwan? Vietnam? other places? a mix of? Or are they made elsewhere, shipped to France to be "finished off" and then sold as "Made in France"?

thanks


----------



## ChristianB (Jul 27, 2004)

Not sure abt the 2005 range, but earlier (2003 or 2004) they had a press release stating that parts of their production had moved to some north african country. I think it was Tunesia, but Im not sure. Seems to recall though, that it made sense, as it was a former french colony.


----------



## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

ChristianB said:


> Not sure abt the 2005 range, but earlier (2003 or 2004) they had a press release stating that parts of their production had moved to some north african country. I think it was Tunesia, but Im not sure. Seems to recall though, that it made sense, as it was a former french colony.


Yep, most are made in Tunesia. They used to source their lower end frames from Asia but I'm not sure if they still so since they moved production to Tunesia..


----------



## acid_rider (Nov 23, 2004)

*aha, kind of makes sense*



Dave Hickey said:


> Yep, most are made in Tunesia. They used to source their lower end frames from Asia but I'm not sure if they still so since they moved production to Tunesia..


I get it - the former French colonies - Morocco, Tunisia, Algiers.....

so what is the quality like compared to Made in Taiwan or Made in EU/USA then? 

and if it's made is Tunisia/Algiers/Morocco then where does the premium price come from? Labour is cheap over there, if TV/news is to be believed..... I am now starting to think I am better off with proven Taiwan carbon quality from Specialized (for example).


----------



## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

acid_rider said:


> I get it - the former French colonies - Morocco, Tunisia, Algiers.....
> 
> so what is the quality like compared to Made in Taiwan or Made in EU/USA then?
> 
> and if it's made is Tunisia/Algiers/Morocco then where does the premium price come from? Labour is cheap over there, if TV/news is to be believed..... I am now starting to think I am better off with proven Taiwan carbon quality from Specialized (for example).


I'm extremely biased so I might not be the right person to ask  LOOK has been making carbon frames longer than anyone. The factory in Tunisia is owned by LOOK. It is not a subcontractor...The Specialized is a good frame but LOOK has been making their frames in Tunisia before Specialized even started selling their current carbon frames


----------



## sirbikealot (Apr 8, 2005)

Dave Hickey said:


> I'm extremely biased so I might not be the right person to ask  LOOK has been making carbon frames longer than anyone. The factory in Tunisia is owned by LOOK. It is not a subcontractor...The Specialized is a good frame but LOOK has been making their frames in Tunisia before Specialized even started selling their current carbon frames


Like Dave said

Look just spent 30 million dollars creating their own factory in the former french colony of Tunisia, they have the majority of their frames made here, all of the forks and most of the pedals are made in France, every Frame is painted in France

they created thier own factory to
1. maintain the highest quality of workmanship
2. they know that their technology will be ripped off in the southeast if they were to make anything there, by having it in Tunisia, they can ultimately control who sees what all the time


----------



## ManBehindTheCurtain (Apr 28, 2002)

*France did not have colonies*

I suppose that this is semantics, but the French did not refer to the overseas areas that were governed from Paris as "colonies". They were departments of France. So they never had colonials. All of the residents of Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco et al. were Frenchmen, citizens of France.

I am not sure that the net effect is any different but I think referring to Algerians as Frenchmen sets a better standard than referring to, oh say, residents of the Indian sub-continent by all of the various derogatory names used by the British. It just sounds better.


----------



## fred (Sep 17, 2004)

*Word Games*



ManBehindTheCurtain said:


> I suppose that this is semantics, but the French did not refer to the overseas areas that were governed from Paris as "colonies". They were departments of France. So they never had colonials. All of the residents of Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco et al. were Frenchmen, citizens of France.
> 
> I am not sure that the net effect is any different but I think referring to Algerians as Frenchmen sets a better standard than referring to, oh say, residents of the Indian sub-continent by all of the various derogatory names used by the British. It just sounds better.


You are correct, the net effect is no different......Just ask the French "citizens" who live in Polynesia, or in other French "departments", how much they feel like citizens.


----------

