They do exist, the manufacturers of Handlebars, stemstax rates and Griffen in the EU - you just have to find them. The variety of European manufacturers differs greatly depending on the structure of the parts. We have opted for the BIKE PROJECT: EUROPE on the search.
What's inside the headset & co.
Handlebars usually consist of a single piece of aluminium or carbon. Grips can consist of two pieces of rubber as well as metal and plastic parts, screws and bar ends.
Stems usually consist of a body, a front plate and six bolts. In addition to the shells and the bearing balls, a headset contains other small plastic or metal parts, lubricants and seals.
Manufacturers must either produce all these small parts themselves or - as in most cases - purchase them from suppliers. This is often done on a tight budget in favour of economic competitiveness. Although cockpit parts are not quite as small as Spring elements or Brakesbut their individual parts still come largely from the Far East.
Even if they are assembled in a member state of the European Union, cockpit components are therefore often made from Chinese or Taiwanese parts - not so good for the BIKE PROJECT: EUROPE. Although companies such as Jäger also produce screws specifically for mountain bikes in the EU, the quantities produced are significantly lower and the prices higher than the Asian competition.
A look at the list
Similar to frames, forks and wheels, many European cockpit parts are also produced in small series. These are often exclusive tuning products with a high price tag and low weight.
Companies such as Tune, OAK, Reset Racing, Sixpack, Intend, Three Rock Components and SB One manufacture aluminium stems and headsets in Germany. 77designz also mill their stems in their own country. However, the carbon handlebars are "Made in Canada" and come from We Are One Composites.
Acros has its carbon handlebars Bike Ahead in the vicinity of Würzburg. AcrosHeadsets are "Assembled in Germany", but the individual parts do not come from Europe. Bike Ahead also offers its own carbon handlebars.
Beast builds handlebars and stems from carbon fibre in Dresden, Schmolke does this in Constance on Lake Constance, MCFK in Leipzig and ax-lightness near Göttingen. In Spain, Darimo and Gemini manufacture exclusive lightweight carbon fibre parts. Stems and tuning parts from Extralite and Carbon-Ti come from Italy.
The European selection of handles is extremely small. Frozen produce small quantities in Dresden and Nevi make fine handles from birch bark in eastern Germany. Ergon have with the GXR recently introduced the first handle manufactured entirely in Germany. It does not require clamping and therefore only consists of two parts per grip, making domestic production economically viable. The ergonomics experts have long favoured "Made in Germany" for the rubber grip, but have so far shipped it to Asia for the production of the actual grips.
BIKE Project: Europe - Which cockpit parts are built in the EU?
Our list is not exhaustive and we look forward to receiving your additions. Do you know where other cockpit parts are produced in the EU? Then please send us an e-mail: eu-projekt@bike-magazin.de
Manufacturer / Company headquarters / Production site / Remarks
- 77designz / Billerbeck (DE) / DE / Stems from DE, handlebars from CAN
- Acros / Renningen (DE) / Renningen (DE) and Veitshöchheim (DE) / Stems not from EU
- Atelier Suji / Paris (FR) / Paris (FR) / Wooden handlebars
- ax-lightness / Duderstadt (DE) / Duderstadt (DE) / Carbon handlebars and stems from DE
- Beast / Dresden (DE) / Dresden (DE) / Carbon handlebars and stems from DE
- Bike Ahead / Veitshöchheim (DE) / Veitshöchheim (DE) / Carbon handlebars from DE
- Carbonice / Denkendorf (DE) / Denkendorf (DE) / Carbon handlebars and spacers
- Carbon-Ti / Brescia (IT) / Brescia (IT) / Topcaps and expanders from IT
- CloseTheGap / Ede (NL) / IT / Inner bar ends made of carbon fibre
- Cörrent Components / Lofsdalen (SWE) / Lofsdalen (SWE) and DE / Carbon handlebars from SWE, aluminium stems from DE
- Darimo / Llíria (ES) / ES / Carbon handlebars and stems from ES
- Ergon / Koblenz (DE) / DE / Rubber from DE, GXR completely from DE
- Extralite / Graffignana (IT) / Graffignana (IT) / Lightweight aluminium stems and top caps
- Frozen / Dresden (DE) / DE / Handles
- Gemini / Barcelona (ES) / Barcelona (ES) / Carbon handlebar/stem units
- Intend / Freiburg (DE) / Freiburg (DE) / Stems and headsets from DE
- Jäger Screws / Schwelm (DE) / DE / Screws
- MCFK / Leipzig (DE) / Leipzig (DE) / Carbon stems and handlebars
- Nevi / Görlitz (DE) / Görlitz (DE) / Birch bark handles
- OAK / Regensburg (DE) / Regensburg (DE) / Stems
- Reset Racing / Hanover (DE) / DE / Headsets from DE
- SB One / Munderkingen (DE) / DE / Stems from DE
- Schmolke / Constance (DE) / Constance (DE) / Carbon handlebars and stems from DE
- Sixpack / Vogt (DE) / DE / Stems from DE
- Syntace / Tacherting (DE) / Tacherting (DE) / Spaceforce stem from DE
- Three Rock Components / Dublin (IRL) / DE / Stems from DE
- Trickstuff / Freiburg (DE) / Freiburg (DE) / Trixer Gyro headset from DE
- Tune / Buggingen (DE) / Buggingen (DE) / Stems and headsets from DE
Why is the list of European cockpit parts so short?
As with all bike parts, the raw materials for the cockpit come from many different countries. Iron ore from Australia for steel bolts, bauxite from China for aluminium stems and carbon fibres from Japan for carbon handlebars are commonplace.
Individual production steps such as milling and anodising are often physically separated from each other and are carried out by different service providers. The smaller the component, the more difficult it is to trace the supply chains.
Although companies such as Unite and Hope mill stems in the UK and therefore in Europe, they do not do so in the EU. The Swiss company Da Pilten builds custom parts such as headset geometry customisation, and Ceetec also manufactures all kinds of add-on parts such as grips there. However, the Swiss are not part of the European Union and are therefore subject to the rules of the BIKE PROJECT: EUROPE excluded.
Newmen manufactures hubs in Germany, but stems and handlebars are mostly made in China. Even with Syntace only the hub and the Spaceforce-front boom model produced in Germany.
Our solution at the BIKE PROJECT: EUROPE
In the head tube of the Alutech Fanes 6.1 Frames turns an Acros headset. The fibre bearing shells come from Germany and the headset is assembled in Renningen, Germany. However, the ball bearings, centring rings, seals etc. come from Taiwan and China.
The Acros carbon handlebars were produced at Bike Ahead in Germany and the Grace FR stem from Intend was manufactured on a five-axis CNC milling machine in Rosenheim, Upper Bavaria. Standard grips, which are compatible with the twist grip of the Pinion gearstick would be compatible with the project bike are only produced outside the European Union. Ergon therefore supplies the bike with a shortened standard grip.
Jan Timmermann
Editor
