September 22, 2026
A $5,000 Bike Shows Why It’s Hard to Build in America
This article was originally published in Bloomberg.
President Donald Trump’s tariffs are supposed to bring manufacturing back to America. But a bicycle factory in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains shows how the levies themselves often sabotage that goal.
Inside the Lauf Cycles plant in Harrisonburg, a half-dozen mechanics hover over ultra-light carbon fiber frames, threading chains through drivetrains, torquing down bolts and wrapping handlebars in tape. By assembling bikes here, in this former newspaper printing hall, the Icelandic company avoids tariffs the US slaps on imported bicycles — duties that run as high as 48.5%.
Decades of global economic integration mean that products built in the US, from cars to advanced battery packs, typically contain foreign-made parts. Manufacturers didn’t consider it an issue until Trump’s trade war and the Covid-19 pandemic exposed the risks of international supply chains.
But nearly all the parts that go into a Lauf bike — including the company’s signature shock-absorbing fork — come from abroad. Each faces its own tariff. In most cases, there are no US-made replacements available. Last year, Lauf briefly paid levies above 170% on its frames and forks because they were made in China. The tariff on Chinese frames has since dropped to 41% — still steep.
“This is the tariff that only US-based bike builders, such as Lauf, are paying, while those that assemble elsewhere can avoid it,” said co-founder Benedikt Skúlason.
Read the full article in Bloomberg.
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