Pinned Look what the postman brought today !

The true difficulty becomes, given that so much manufacturing is occurring in China, alternatives are fading from view, everyone was in such a rush to send them their manufacturing and technology, now they own that space and the Chinese are as capable of excellent quality as anyone, not bashing on Apple but they haven't manufactured anything in years, perhaps decades, they only design in California - the quality of their products is excellent even with the eye watering prices - however Foxconn have an appalling reputation for worker treatment.

I'm typing this on a 12 year old Macbook Pro, chucked some parts at it to speed it up, 100% reliable, I won't own an iPhone though - too expensive.

China isn't silly either, they've got their eyes firmly set on education, something which we've been neglecting increasingly

The Toyota Corolla is today coming out of Thailand - no dip in quality there, those cars have a legendary reputation for quality and dependability.

Lufthansa get their aircraft serviced in China, with German management and quality control, I remember the Chinese aircraft engineer being interviewed and asked about his German manager, rolled his eyes and muttered the equivalent of 'sticklers for details, annoying'

It will all balance out when Chinese wages grow sufficiently that their prices inevitably rise

 

Gold plated or made from unobtanium?

 

Pure unobtanium...sold at a loss....no markup..

 

Try Ducati... $800AUD for a fairing nose cone on a 1200 Multistrada. Broke because the tabs at the front are too long and thin for their purpose of holding up the rest of the front/side fairings and break.

Even the Japanese can be horrible on parts pricing. New fuel pump for my carby R6? $600 AUD, $350 US from Japan.

 

I agree, given good design plans, China have been increasingly able to manufacture high quality items. Now however, they are rapidly innovating themselves see Huwawei etc. they are able to make have products that meet and even exceed the flagship specifications of other manufacturers. I'm keen to see how they progress as they increase wages.

 

$600 - OUCH

 

Yes, apparently Huawei have spent billions, potentially tens of billions on the 5G research and now with all of the posturing, it's just so the rest can play catchup - the security argument is a furphy, it's all more concerned with a network being capable of being hacked by the Five Eyes - they all want access

 

Where one has monopoly over the production of an item, one will price such at item at a cost that exceeds the demand. Once again, giving another point to China, who will likely produce a near identical fairing nose cone, or fuel pump at a fraction of the cost.

 

Sometimes at a fraction of the quality. Cheap enough to buy 10 and hope one works, for small stuff.

 

hahah agreed. "Bro corona virus is caused by 5G", "Huawei is a massive security threat and we cannot allow them to install 5G". Classic excuse instead of admitting that they cant allow anyone but themselves to spy on everyone.

 

The chinese just go caught doing it. Or at least so we are lead to believe. And who says the cold war is over. The names have just changed to protect the innocent.

 

About the only alternative is South Korea for that and I don't think Japan manufactures much electronics domestically anymore because no-one could afford them

 

Don't forget what the NSA did under G.W. Bush with all of the spying on their own citizens, it's happening here also to a slightly lesser degree, metadata retention was the thin edge of the wedge

 

Call it an amusing, entertaining, well thought out discussion and informative diversion in these strange times because the post from China has been delayed...

 

And on the topic of mail, these arrived yesterday with the airbox for $150.


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I often source Moto Guzzi parts from a German company called Stein Dinse. Trouble is , many/most of their pattern parts are sourced in China and reports are surfacing of some quality control issues. I once purchased an oil filter strainer whose plastic parts simply melted once the oil heated up to running temp. They did send out a warning about this part, and eventually replaced it, but sadly, it arrived after the incident. Fortunately the good old guzzi oil pressure warning light flashed before my eyes when I was only a few ks from home and no permanent damage was done.
I think in general the world needs to be fairly careful about Chinese expansionism and the Chinese communist parties tentacles infiltrating politics, business and social structures. They know world domination is not possible,atm, by military means but have a very active policy of spreading their political and commercial influence as far as other countries will allow them too. The Chinese govt is answerable to no one but themselves and atm have a moderate, by communist party standards at least, leader. This can change in a heartbeat. Right now, in Darwin, the main sea port is leased for 99 years to Chinese interests. There are a few influential Australians doing extremely well out of this arrangement and arguing black n blue that there is "nothing to worry about n nothing to see here". I seriously suspect they are wrong.