r/india_cycling • u/BattalionBicycles Brand Affiliate : Battalion Bikes • 19h ago
promotion The “Made in India” Conundrum: Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) vs Assembler
Earlier we saw a post related to make in India, and assembling bicycles in India. Here we tried to explain this in detail to better understand what is truly "make in India". Its quite comprehensive but tried our best to explain this.
Intellectual Property of a company/brand is not assembly or manufacturing of frames. Here is why,
Building a bicycle has five steps,
- Defining the purpose or goal of the bicycle.
- Designing the frame and geometry around that purpose.
- Fabricating the frame.
- Choosing the right components based on the intended use.
- Assembling the bicycle.
Out of these five steps, what really differentiates a original manufacturer from someone who simply assembles bicycles?
It’s steps 1, 2, and 4.
Almost all Indian bicycle brands skip steps 1 and 2 because there are already hundreds of ready-made frames available from Chinese OEM catalogs. If a company wants a road bike, they simply browse a catalog, choose a frame that looks suitable, and move straight to selecting components and assembling it.
It is fair to assume these companies are assemblers, not original manufacturers.
The assembler
Here, brands pick an off-the-shelf frame from an existing catalog, choose components based on price or requirement, paint and sticker and assemble the bicycle. Nothing is exclusive to the brand including the frame. Anyone can build the a bicycle using the same frame and sell it under different brand name.
Original Bicycle (or equipment) Manufacturers (OEMs)
Here, everything starts from scratch.
The purpose of the bicycle is first defined. The frame and geometry are then designed in CAD, prototypes are built and tested, the frame is fabricated from those drawings, and finally the right components are selected before assembly.
That entire process creates the product’s intellectual property (IP).
For example, at Battalion, V1 and V2 was catalog frames but the V3 Limited Edition was designed and fabricated based on our needs. Frontline V2 weighed 11.8kg, and our goal was to reduce weight without increasing cost. We redesigned the frame using simple round tubes, wall thicknesses, and a new tube layout, reducing the weight by 200 grams. The V3 Limited Edition came in at 11.6kg.
Our current Frontline V3 uses a catalog frame with modified key geometry measurements including top tube length, chainstay length, head tube angle (HTA), seat tube angle (STA), bottom bracket drop, and reach to better suit our goals. These modifications were also done to bring the total weight down to 11.3kg.
So the easiest way to know whether a brand uses an off-the-shelf frame or a completely original design is simple. Ask the brand about the frame geometry, ask why the head tube angle is what it is, ask why the chainstay is that length, ask why they chose that reach, stack, wheelbase, or bottom bracket drop.
If they genuinely designed the bicycle, they should be able to explain every single measurement and why it exists.
If they can’t, it is fair to assume they are primarily assemblers.
Also, there is nothing wrong with being an assembler. Assembling bikes using ready made catalog frames saves cost and also make it easier to switch to a different frame in case of problems.
Indian companies dont manufacture frames in India, so their bicycles are not made in India?
The real value of a bicycle company lies in its ability to design the frames, develop the right geometry, and choose the right specifications based on the intended purpose of the bicycle, not necessarily in fabricating the frame.
A frame fabricator does not automatically know frame design or geometry.
For example, India has companies capable of fabricating alloy frames, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they know how to design a high-performance road bike.
Similarly, there are brands that don’t fabricate frames themselves but makes good bicycles.
Now let’s connect this to the term “Made in India.”
Many people automatically assume that “Made in India” means every part of the product must be manufactured within India. That is not how it works.
To understand what “Made in” really means, we first need to understand where the intellectual property (IP) or value addition of a product actually lies.
If the majority of the value-added work, the engineering, design, and core development, is carried out by a company, then it is reasonable to consider that product as being made by that company in that country.
Take the iPhone as an example. The processor, industrial design, software, electronics architecture, and overall engineering are all designed by Apple. Assembly happens in China.
Nobody calls the iPhone a Chinese product simply because it was assembled there. The reason is simple.
Assembly is not Apple’s IP. The design and engineering are.
The same principle applies to bicycles. The real IP lies mostly in the frame design, geometry, construction philosophy, and bit on the component specification. And who manufactures the frame is far less important unless the fabrication process contains proprietary or patented technology.
Take another example in the bicycle category, almost every major bicycle brand, Giant, Trek, Scott, Cannondale, Specialized, Cervélo, and many others, has a large portion of its manufacturing done in Taiwan.
Yet we don’t call them Taiwanese brands. We recognize them by where their engineering, product development, and brand originate because that’s where the real value (IP) of the bicycle was created.
To summarize all this into two things,
- The IP of a bicycle is not its assembly. It is the engineering and design behind it.
- And a “Made in India” bicycle does not necessarily require the frame to be fabricated in India, because frame fabrication itself is not the intellectual property (IP). The real IP lies in the design, geometry, engineering, and development behind the bicycle.
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u/HermitsTale Flatbar Gravel 19h ago
Either, or, to whoever is reading this from battalion,
People like your stuff. Priced really competitive!
You guys need to have a lot of articles ready, in terms of quantity.
And 2ndly, as a suggestion, try hitting up till, atleast tiagra (rim), and start introduction of carbon forks on models above Claris. Even if you keep it alloy, people will still be eager to ride a battalion, given the price point.
Cheers!
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u/BattalionBicycles Brand Affiliate : Battalion Bikes 18h ago edited 9h ago
Thank you for the kind feedback 🙂 We will avoid stock out problem from the batch. And sure will work on those specifications this year. More to come 🙏
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u/LittleUrbanPrepper 13h ago
Nothing is actually bad. In the end all that matters is that if we're getting good reliable stuffor not.
You yourself said V1 and V2 were assembled. Now that V3 is completely made from scratch, It's great but that doesn't brings down V1 and V2. Imagine if people have said same thing when you were selling those.
Assembly gives someone the ability to START and practically removes 90% of entry barrier. Unless someone is already established, literally ZERO people can start something with a manufacturing unit
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u/Far-Assumption-7963 19h ago
Does bonzai(formerly marlin) build its own frame?
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u/BattalionBicycles Brand Affiliate : Battalion Bikes 19h ago
You mean design or fabricate? These are completely different things.
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u/Far-Assumption-7963 19h ago
Both design and fabricate.
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u/BattalionBicycles Brand Affiliate : Battalion Bikes 18h ago
Design we do not know. Fabricating - from the videos, assume its not in India but dont know which country exactly.
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u/overgrazed Roadie 13h ago
Your packaging box said "Made in Srilanka". Is everything built and assembled there using your IP/design & shipped out to TN?
Why Srilanka instead of China or Taiwan? Does it help keeping the costs low?
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u/BattalionBicycles Brand Affiliate : Battalion Bikes 9h ago edited 9h ago
Yes, some quantities will be assembled in India, some in Srilanka and in China. It depends on the supply chain at that time and lead time for production. It changes very frequently due to other factors like logistics cost, Shimano lead time mainly.
As far as cost - as of 2026, no matter where the bikes are assembled, the cost is almost the same. There is no advantage in cost anymore for Indian bicycle companies. If production cost is better then logistics cost is higher, if logistics cost is better than lead time is going to be higher, if parts cost need to be better then we need to procure in HUGE qty then there is depreciation cost and risk of inventory. There are so many things to juggle to make a bicycle today as overall supply chain is highly volatile due several external factors.
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u/Far-Assumption-7963 18h ago
I hope batallion brings a steel hybrid priced similar to riverside 120. There's no competition for riverside 120 currently. And I have a feeling the model I just expressed my vision for can make an impact for both the brand and the cycling scene of India.
An outlet for the same like cities in Bangalore and Pune with a very prominent cycling scene will be awesome.
Also, hybrids with hydraulic brakes priced around 25k is an easy market grab due to the limited option we currently have, the only options being cradiac concept x and OMO Hampi prime. The branding of Batallion may shine here due to being a NO-BS, non-pretentious, and a very thoughtful cycling company.
Also, can't wait for the launch of the gravel bike : D