US gray iron production is in nearing terminal decline from a confluence of foreign dumping, steel tariffs (we use the same scrap steel inputs as steel mills, which has increased in price due to tariffs, yet have to compete at the China price), and boneheaded energy policy.
Sophisticated multinational customers are more than happy to go overseas with zero safety or environmental standards to save $0.05/lb, have the foreign supplier fill out all the sustainability and worker protection surveys with a wink and a nod, then get back to the real business of moving their stock to NASDAQ.
Wilwood probably just can't find anyone here to make low-volume cored parts like brake rotors at anywhere close to the China price.
Which perpetuates the large multinational argument against tariffs that "see, there's no one in the US who can make these parts so you HAVE to let me get them from China" argument.
One of the biggest arguments against a financial transactions tax -- that it renders American FIRE players vulnerable to foreign competition -- is, to me, its greatest advantage. Let the email-jobbers see what it's like to compete.
Timex: takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'. A slogan eminently memorable, yet actually is false, as my first wife managed to break the only Timex I ever owned when she wore it *once.* I bought my first G-shock after that.
Not sure what the Venn diagram of ACF and Cold War Motors fans is, but Rolling Heavy issue 21 has two of the vans from the channel and some artwork from Scott.
Sort of off topic, if you're a watch guy you might enjoy this detailed, animated explanation of how mechanical watches work: https://ciechanow.ski/mechanical-watch/
As a bit of a brake geek, I've often wondered about Wilwood's claim that their products are USA-made. Perhaps I can follow up on this next week for you at SEMA when I visit their booth :).
Just last week when I was riding with a friend in our Elana Scherr-free Baja trip, he recounted a tale of a mutual friend of ours who used to be an engineer at Wilwood. Apparently some of the castings they received from China were undersized so our friend and others had to go down to the port (I presume Long Beach) and do a bunch of measurements of blanks in shipping containers. They found that the blanks were indeed undersized in whatever critical dimensions they checked and rejected the entire lot of material. Apparently the Chinese supplier didn't want the blanks back due to shipping costs. I hope someone at least got a few bucks at the aluminum recycling center out of the deal.
The sheer number of things I could have accumulated because no one actually wants things back is astrounding. Sometimes it's aggravating because now it's landfill, but OTOH, I have a spare crock for my slow cooker because the heater died within warranty.
0. I see a lot more Wilwood in rally than on road racers; pretty sure that's what's on my Fiesta. Possibly because--at least in gravel spec--you need something that fits under 15 inch rims and you don't really *need* maximum stopping power.
1. The "attack helicopter parent" made me laugh in memory of that "I identify as an attack helicopter" thing that happened a few years back. But classically, helicopter parents do tend to get into attack mode....
Facebook and Instagram had to hurry up and write some specific enforcement into their pronoun bullshit a few years back; initially your pronouns could be "attack/helicopter" but then they changed it so you were free to live your truth as long as it was one of ten Approved Truths.
If we cut off trade with India, we'd probably stack 20 million bodies in the first month. Almost all of our medicine is made there now, which is a nightmare situation.
I am in the pharma manufacturing business and this is why I have, in the past, and hopefully never again, gone to India.
By volume, maybe. India makes a lot of generics and biosimilars. By importance, no. Biologics and injectables are primarily manufactured in USA, Europe and Korea. Anything made outside the USA could be made here, but the reason your generics at Walmart are $5 or $11 is because they are likely made in India.
We could do anything here done in china. I have said in this hallowed forum before the issue is we don’t want to, and I think there are positives and negatives to this.
I am a stickler for words. You wondered “how much could we produce here” and the answer is all of it. Would we need a whole lot of investment in infrastructure and capacity- no question yes we would, we couldn’t do it tomorrow.
"settled nicely into the $8.5-$12k range" hmm, I could pick up at least two very nice road bikes for that, or one very high end over priced bike (that wouldn't be any faster than the other two).
they made 500,000 of these watches and still people pay that kind of $$$ for them? and then have to pay more $$$ to get them serviced? lol, no.
Verstappen spent his weekend off before COTA racing a GT car in Portugal. Dude just wants to race cars. In a world where he wasn’t rich and mowed his own lawn, he’d be racing his neighbors on his riding lawnmower.
Hadjar is a complete and utter tool who needs to be bitchslapped.
Much respect to Marshawn Lynch for coaching youth football. He could just be hanging out on a yacht banging hot call girls and supermodels all the time. Can you imagine being a kid and having a former NFL star as your coach? Hope Coach Lynch can help make sure that kid doesn’t end up being a self entitled loser because his mom is such a narcissistic piece of shit.
I’m wearing a Submariner Date reference 126610LN as I type this and can say, if you’re gonna get a watch like this it’s best to just concede yourself to wearing it as much as possible. I’m currently drinking tea doing my best to look busy at my desk but I’ve also worn the watch snowboarding in the BC backcountry swimming, in the Adirondacks, hiking in the Catskills, dining at five star restaurants, drinking at no star dive bars, shopping on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, chatting up models at the Polo Lounge, avoiding getting stabbed on Skid Row, cosplaying intellectual at a Jay McInerney book release party in Manhattan, it’s seen the inside of the United States Capitol as well as the bedroom of a single mom’s worn double wide trailer and the gymnasium of my niece’s school where I attended her graduation from kindergarten. The only place I won’t wear this watch is at my funeral as I’d like to pass down this watch (along with some other watches I own) to my niece. I bought this watch brand new from an AD and while it costs more than I could afford I can honestly say it’s been worth every penny.
“Nine out of every ten dollars’ worth of value in a Wilwood caliper is probably generated in the United States.”
This would allow Willwood to claim made in USA for Certificate of Origin. In my opinion it is very questionable for them to not clarify that the items are finished and assembled in USA.
If you want a sub get a sub. If you want something that looks like a sub but is more unique, more usable and nearly indestructible, the ultimate sub is a DeepSea. And it doesn’t have the cyclops over the date.
GiroDisc. Made in the USA in Bellingham, WA.
Indeed. They pour them here. I have a full set.
https://girodisc.com/about/
Pinned! Thank you!
US gray iron production is in nearing terminal decline from a confluence of foreign dumping, steel tariffs (we use the same scrap steel inputs as steel mills, which has increased in price due to tariffs, yet have to compete at the China price), and boneheaded energy policy.
Sophisticated multinational customers are more than happy to go overseas with zero safety or environmental standards to save $0.05/lb, have the foreign supplier fill out all the sustainability and worker protection surveys with a wink and a nod, then get back to the real business of moving their stock to NASDAQ.
Wilwood probably just can't find anyone here to make low-volume cored parts like brake rotors at anywhere close to the China price.
Which perpetuates the large multinational argument against tariffs that "see, there's no one in the US who can make these parts so you HAVE to let me get them from China" argument.
One of the biggest arguments against a financial transactions tax -- that it renders American FIRE players vulnerable to foreign competition -- is, to me, its greatest advantage. Let the email-jobbers see what it's like to compete.
If you want to be stylin', buy a Rolex.
If you want to know what time it is, buy a Timex.
Timex: takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'. A slogan eminently memorable, yet actually is false, as my first wife managed to break the only Timex I ever owned when she wore it *once.* I bought my first G-shock after that.
Not sure what the Venn diagram of ACF and Cold War Motors fans is, but Rolling Heavy issue 21 has two of the vans from the channel and some artwork from Scott.
Sort of off topic, if you're a watch guy you might enjoy this detailed, animated explanation of how mechanical watches work: https://ciechanow.ski/mechanical-watch/
I like boobs and airbrushed van art but all I can find from that site is a link to UToob, which probably bans both these days.
The entitled Mom squirted out an angel who can do no wrong. Any contradiction to that is obviously racist.
Marshawn Lynch is “incapable” of being racist in the current lexicon (he’s black)
Japan still does a lot of raw steel forging. Absolute best quality available, but you'll pay for it.
From @F1BigData
After 18 GPs, George Russell has earned 5 more points than he did in 2025 (242 vs 237).
After 18 GPs, Kimi Antonelli has earned 277 more points than he did in 2025 (365 vs 88).
Prior to the Sunday's race at COTA, Red Bull had won 50 of the last 100 GPs
Charles Leclerc has a total of 6 podiums this season. 4 of which while starting from P4.
Max would crush the field with a car equivalent to Kimi's.
If he had just agreed to join Toto at Mercedes, he would pick up championships five and six (in Golden Child villain voice) *yust like that*
Indeed but every race would be: Max on pole, Max leads every lap, Max turns 3/4 of the field into a back marker.
so the "solution" is give Max a crappy car that stalls out on the straights.
We already saw that season in 2023.
As a bit of a brake geek, I've often wondered about Wilwood's claim that their products are USA-made. Perhaps I can follow up on this next week for you at SEMA when I visit their booth :).
Just last week when I was riding with a friend in our Elana Scherr-free Baja trip, he recounted a tale of a mutual friend of ours who used to be an engineer at Wilwood. Apparently some of the castings they received from China were undersized so our friend and others had to go down to the port (I presume Long Beach) and do a bunch of measurements of blanks in shipping containers. They found that the blanks were indeed undersized in whatever critical dimensions they checked and rejected the entire lot of material. Apparently the Chinese supplier didn't want the blanks back due to shipping costs. I hope someone at least got a few bucks at the aluminum recycling center out of the deal.
The sheer number of things I could have accumulated because no one actually wants things back is astrounding. Sometimes it's aggravating because now it's landfill, but OTOH, I have a spare crock for my slow cooker because the heater died within warranty.
Yep. Very typical of Chinese suppliers to cut corners / ignore quality until someone catches on.
Yeah, I’ve heard that a lot too.
It’s possible to do a Baja trip without Elena Scheer mooching along eating all the food?
0. I see a lot more Wilwood in rally than on road racers; pretty sure that's what's on my Fiesta. Possibly because--at least in gravel spec--you need something that fits under 15 inch rims and you don't really *need* maximum stopping power.
1. The "attack helicopter parent" made me laugh in memory of that "I identify as an attack helicopter" thing that happened a few years back. But classically, helicopter parents do tend to get into attack mode....
Facebook and Instagram had to hurry up and write some specific enforcement into their pronoun bullshit a few years back; initially your pronouns could be "attack/helicopter" but then they changed it so you were free to live your truth as long as it was one of ten Approved Truths.
Get a Seaquartz 30 and grow a mustache.
https://momentumwatch.com/blogs/momentum-blog/introducing-the-sea-quartz-30
Man... WHY does the new one have to be Chinese when the original wasn't?
wondering if all trade with China was 100% shut off, how much could we actually produce here? probably would shock many people.
If we cut off trade with India, we'd probably stack 20 million bodies in the first month. Almost all of our medicine is made there now, which is a nightmare situation.
Yeah, THAT is criminally stupid.
I am in the pharma manufacturing business and this is why I have, in the past, and hopefully never again, gone to India.
By volume, maybe. India makes a lot of generics and biosimilars. By importance, no. Biologics and injectables are primarily manufactured in USA, Europe and Korea. Anything made outside the USA could be made here, but the reason your generics at Walmart are $5 or $11 is because they are likely made in India.
I'd read somewhere that all the insulin comes from India now but I might be misremembering it.
I am sure they make it there. For the US I believe it is made in USA or Europe.
India makes a lot of biologics, oncology, etc but for local consumption and non-US exports, mostly Africa and the Middle East.
We could do anything here done in china. I have said in this hallowed forum before the issue is we don’t want to, and I think there are positives and negatives to this.
I think a lot of the equipment and capabilities are gone. For instance, our shipyards are 1/1000th the size of China's.
But we are still in way better shape than Europe.
I am a stickler for words. You wondered “how much could we produce here” and the answer is all of it. Would we need a whole lot of investment in infrastructure and capacity- no question yes we would, we couldn’t do it tomorrow.
yeah, I implied "tomorrow" or a short term. yeah, in 20-50 years we could do anything, assuming we survived.
"settled nicely into the $8.5-$12k range" hmm, I could pick up at least two very nice road bikes for that, or one very high end over priced bike (that wouldn't be any faster than the other two).
they made 500,000 of these watches and still people pay that kind of $$$ for them? and then have to pay more $$$ to get them serviced? lol, no.
Verstappen spent his weekend off before COTA racing a GT car in Portugal. Dude just wants to race cars. In a world where he wasn’t rich and mowed his own lawn, he’d be racing his neighbors on his riding lawnmower.
Hadjar is a complete and utter tool who needs to be bitchslapped.
Much respect to Marshawn Lynch for coaching youth football. He could just be hanging out on a yacht banging hot call girls and supermodels all the time. Can you imagine being a kid and having a former NFL star as your coach? Hope Coach Lynch can help make sure that kid doesn’t end up being a self entitled loser because his mom is such a narcissistic piece of shit.
I’m wearing a Submariner Date reference 126610LN as I type this and can say, if you’re gonna get a watch like this it’s best to just concede yourself to wearing it as much as possible. I’m currently drinking tea doing my best to look busy at my desk but I’ve also worn the watch snowboarding in the BC backcountry swimming, in the Adirondacks, hiking in the Catskills, dining at five star restaurants, drinking at no star dive bars, shopping on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, chatting up models at the Polo Lounge, avoiding getting stabbed on Skid Row, cosplaying intellectual at a Jay McInerney book release party in Manhattan, it’s seen the inside of the United States Capitol as well as the bedroom of a single mom’s worn double wide trailer and the gymnasium of my niece’s school where I attended her graduation from kindergarten. The only place I won’t wear this watch is at my funeral as I’d like to pass down this watch (along with some other watches I own) to my niece. I bought this watch brand new from an AD and while it costs more than I could afford I can honestly say it’s been worth every penny.
“Nine out of every ten dollars’ worth of value in a Wilwood caliper is probably generated in the United States.”
This would allow Willwood to claim made in USA for Certificate of Origin. In my opinion it is very questionable for them to not clarify that the items are finished and assembled in USA.
If you want a sub get a sub. If you want something that looks like a sub but is more unique, more usable and nearly indestructible, the ultimate sub is a DeepSea. And it doesn’t have the cyclops over the date.
The guy investigating willwood is doing good work, but he's clearly using AI to write about it.