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I am not sure I should say too much here, but I am a supply chain manager, and know a lot about sourcing. I source manufactured parts both in the states and around the world. I have just read 3 pages of posts from a bunch of people who do not have much of a clue about sourcing, and I got a good laugh. Talk about jumping to conclusions, you guys get a lot of good exercise that way, don't you?
First of all - JAPAN is one of the highest cost countries, there is no way they will outsource there. The brakes are BREMBO and they are made in INDIANA as well as other US locations. As far as Showa, they have 3 plants in the US, the Sunbury, OH plant makes the motorcycle shocks (got that one on an internet search).
I have a huge problem with the MOCO buying all their motorcloths in China, and they do. But the majority of manufactured parts will not go to China for 2 reasons - cost and quality. Believe it or not, by the time you get things like stampings shipped to the US, they are cheaper to make here. Over 60% of the cost of a stamped part is raw material, the labor is minimal so it makes no sense to make in China. Same for castings, etc.
Now my guess is they will move the small stamped parts to local non-union stamping houses and save about 20%(I have been through that one).
The environmental issues with Chrome are real, and that is an issue. Not sure what they will do there.
There is an old saying, it is better to be quiet and have people wonder if you are stupid, than to open it and remove all doubt.
Unless you really know something, maybe you should take that advice.
Good post fellow Wisconsinite! I agree that the motorclothes coming from China sucks, and it's the main reason I don't buy Harley clothes. If it's going to be foreign made, I'm gonna buy a Tourmaster or Fieldsheer, cuz they're better and cheaper. If Harley wants to charge premium $ for their clothes, then they should treat them like the bikes and try to get them made in the States.
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All this talk about chroming being environmentally problematic - I'm sure it can be a problem but here in the NW we have a really good small operation known as Queen City Chrome (http://www.queencityplating.com/) and it's situated in Puget Sound, one of the most environmentally sensitive areas in the country. I think the environmental issue can be managed.
Fundamentally it's not that chroming and the environment are incompatible it's doing it cheaply that is incompatible . . .
