Taiwanese manufacturing is central to the bike industry - if you've designed something bikey and want to get it produced in quantity, the right shape and at a good price, Taiwan is where you go. For the most part, though, the design work is carried out elsewhere.
Which makes Element, brought to these shores by Riding high UK, somewhat unusual. Element is proud to be designed in Taiwan, and is now in its fourth year of producing frames and its own line of finishing components. It's a family-run business (started by a veteran of industrial engineering who got into bikes) and is very much involved with the grassroots level of riding.
The website lists too many products to mention here, so suffice to say it's worth heading over to www.ridinghighuk.com for a more in-depth look. Here, though, are a few highlights that have caught the BM crew's attention:
The clean-looking Triton is a 100mm travel frame with a linkage-driven single pivot setup. Fox RP23 shock for £999.99
The Nitron-Q raises an eyebrow of interest, with carbon seat and chainstays bonded to a 7005 aluminium frame. Dropouts are CNC'ed and geometry of the XC flavour
Onto the finishing kit, and there's a selection of flat and riser bars. Take your pick from carbon or aluminium, and a range of sizes to suit. Radium bars - £64.99
To build a decent set of wheels you first need to start with some quality hubs, such as these Technium XC SL items. They're precision CNC machined, feature sealed cartridge bearings and a triple pawl freehub in the rear hub. Weights; front 185g, rear 290g. £149.99
The £49.99 Neon Q stem has a 3D 7075 forged boby and CNC'ed clamp, and is available in the usual choice of lengths, rises and clamp sizes. Anodised finishg and titanium bolts shed the grams. Quoted weight for a 110mm is 110g. £49.99
Element's Carbon Spacers come in packs of five (1x3mm, 1x5mm, 1x10mm, 1x15mm and 1x20mm).£9.99
