I am going to say something very controversial here. I do not blame the Chinese. I blame the American industry. Joe Blow sees a rising demand for an item. He then gives that item to a guy who is a foreign trade rep. who takes it to China and says "make one just like this, as cheap as you can, and as many as you can". The Joe Blow brings them in by the container, stores them in a warehouse, and sells them to anybody who printed up a business card and calls themselves 'distributers'.
Along the whole supply chain, not one box is opened and examined between leaving the factory to arriving on the end user's door step. No one in between gives a fying fluck and the situation gets worse. Engineering schools USED to teach QC/QA. No more.
So, we used to see an Amercan forged and machined stroker crank and it worked. 440 Source buys one of those cranks without a single ounce of knowledge of what it takes to make a good crank, sends it to China and tells them to "make one just like it". The Made in USA guy goes under. WE are very stupid people and it's because immigration has dumbed us down to third world country status. The Third World: where American medical companies send their knee replacement parts that failed FDA tests and expired medicine to. They're poor and stupid down there so, no problem. Now that they're all here, the bar has lowered so badly, it's now a total mess and it's only going to get worse.
Aweee, who cares? I don't anymore.
< Sent from my tablet >