Meet Your Maker: KT Taiwan's Massive Hub Facility - Taipei Cycle Show 2024
Meet Your Maker is going to be a new series for the site, highlighting the people, places, and things that bring you the bikes and components you love. Today we have another installment from Taiwan, this time focusing on a large-scale component manufacturer.
KT Taiwan is a massive hub manufacturer, with a focus on the mid- to high-end OE market. They make hubs for dozens of companies, to a variety of specifications and finish levels. The massive company had fairly humble beginnings in the 1940s, as a failed frame fabricator turned hub manufacturer. Their hub business saw its biggest boon when the United States government required that all kids' bikes come spec with coaster brake hubs, driving the need for that specific assembly through the roof. KT was positioned to answer the need, and geared up to satisfy the massive orders being placed.
Most of the hubshells start off as simple bar stock, imported from Dubai.
Cut to length.
And cold forged into shape.
The initial shaping process is simple and brutal, with alloy stock smashed into shape by a series of massive cold forging presses. These get forged one by one, with each piece of stock loaded by hand.
Smusher #1.
Smashing station.
Various work holding jigs, forms, and a big hammer.
Operation one.
Operation two.
These forging machines live in a massive warehouse adjacent to the machining and assembly areas, but they're not alone. In the same bay live the machines that put KT on the map, critical to older and less relevant products that still sometimes see use.
These are the machines that brought us here, thanks to our friend Joseph at Ponderosa Industries. Joey is a mechanical engineering consultant in Taichung, and mentioned KT's "dinosaur machine" a number of times during dinner one night - prompting this visit to see it for ourselves.
The dinosaur machine is literally too large to photograph completely, but it all revolves around these 5 shaping heads.
The heart of the beast.
More internals.
Mostly mechanical, with a little GameBoy computer readout providing some interface.
It makes these, 40 of them a minute. The steel hubshell for a coaster brake, which were at one time the lifeblood of KT. At this point they only turn the machine on once per quarter, when a run of coaster brake hubs is needed.
The other titan in the room is old Aida here, a freewheel sprocket cutting machine.
The business end.
And the part that is safe to touch.
From here, hub blanks head to the machine shop, where a series of operations take the blanks down to their final shape.
Machining on the left, assembly on the right.
Ratchet hub internals.
And some very fancy Marameter plug gauges for quality control.
This is what I will be referring to as the spoke poker, a press dedicated to stabbing spoke holes in hub flanges.
One by one, side by side.
One of the punch heads up close.
Of which they have a very wide variety.
The small parts storage at KT was quietly impressive, given the massive quantity of ingredients they have to keep track of.
Some finished hubshells laid to rest.
I have questions about this hub.
Goods ready to go.
The assembly zone, a quiet and methodical process.
A sealed bearing press.
And its vintage counterpart, for loose-ball bearings.
This machine tests for resistance in finished hubs.
And this one applies the perfect amount of grease.
Another vintage machine, simply dubbed "the money maker." This was the assembly line for coaster brake hubs.
Screw-on freehub tightening machine.
Lockrings.
One of the finished products. This is KT's highest end mountain hub, with 612 points of engagement.
There are three engagement options available for their ratchet hubs.
Finished hubs.
All laced up.
Since their inception in 1947, KT Taiwan has been a family-run business. Now entering their third generation of the dynasty, Hubert (father), and Alex (son) are making sure things operate smoothly and that they're ready for the next coaster brake boom.
Grandfather, father, son.
Hubert is quite fond of these beautiful fish.
A signed Ritchey, given to Hubert by Tom as thanks.
Full bloom in the company garden.
Ball is life at the company court.
Rig of the day.
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This was awhile ago, so im sorry if any info is wrong. It was a paper about differences between Chinese and Taiwanese mindsets so its also out of context slightly.
The issue is that most north Americans dont understand enough about Asia to know the important differences between Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam or China etc
Bang on. And realistically these countries have manufacturing capabilities and techniques that we can't offer in the US. Unless you're making hubs (sub frames, forks, brakes, etc) at low volume, there really isn't the pipeline to support high volume manufacturing outside of China and Taiwan.
That said, I do love the article and feel the art and quality of forging is getting too little appreciation (compared to CNC for instance). This is great stuff we're seeing here and the huge quantity of quality hubs they're able to pump out implies they're getting tons of people on bikes. For some, bikes are recreation. But for many (including me) they are an essential means of transport to get to school, work, shops and friends.
Glad companies like these are around.
But something made in the US is usually not completely made here. Parts or materials may come from somewhere else. The reason i9 has done well is not because they are American made but because their designs were innovative and high quality. I have lots of their hubs because they are the best not because they are made here. Now more companies make similar hubs but I still think they are the best.
Hope to see more “behind the curtain” pieces!!! And maybe more food pics
Yet at the same time, obviously a repressive regime has a huge i nfluence on how people can and dare to express themselves. I don't question there are amazing, beautiful and kind people living in both China and Russia. Thing is, those who dare to stand up and speak out won't be able to do so for long.
European/American production of quality, innovative, precision and with current safety rules is something completely different, and it can also be seen in the products.
perfectly stated and on point
With that said, I 100% will pay a reasonable (hard to define) premium on a small, family owned, craft type product supporting a hard working company here in the US. I do a lot of trail work / sawyering and needed a new axle, I could go down a buy an axe from Home Depot / Saw shop, made overseas or spend another $50 and buy a made in USA axe like Council....out of principle I bought US, quality is probably not $50 better, but it's $50, felt like the right call, but again, always tough to tell...
Could be for a high end stroller, or for a trailer (Thule or such)
Still wondering
And for nitpicking, those "Marameters" are actually a Mahr 'Millimess" dial comparators (1 micron/division linear indicators), the gold standard in mechanical measurement.
It looks like quite a clean shop, for having manufacturing going on. No oil leaking on the floor? Pffft.
Does Dubai do a lot of metal trading?
Which is still almost always never enough despite being in the right place. Especially if it's a Quando cup and cone hub.
Undocumented Guatemalan child labor in a state so red it's orange.
@joebiden: 'to get rich is glorious,' not work. Shareholders, Chinese factory owners, and M&A firms have been celebrating this for decades. Work is sold to suckers and Guatemalan teens
in other news I love having the joebiden name on PB.