Source of inner tubes

Actually - fuck that reply  - you rock on mate.

Shame we can't see it. Was it supportive of the totalitarian regime that runs China, or against?

It was supportive of Edwards08's choice to refuse to deal with goods from one whilst happily buying from such bastions of civil rights such as Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia "with a clear conscience" without blinking. The tone was unhelpful though and, frankly, I couldn't be arsed continuing with it.

Your post had made me wonder if there were actually any "nice" countries, there is a list of "good" countries on Wiki, based on what they were doing in 2018, as some of those near the top have done some really quite iffy things, some longer ago than others.  At the top comes Finland, so Nokian is alright, I suppose, but they probably don't make their own inner tubes in country.  Very excellent studded bicyle tyres, they know snow.  But it would seem my Conti Spike Claw may never die, and the Nokians are double or more the price.

I like latex tubes, and they will have meant destruction of forest at some point, same for the latex in my tubeless gunk.  That's where the european dandelion obtained latex comes in, maybe.

If a country is too nice I suppose, someone would probably have invaded it and if the subjugated continued to be nice, stayed.

There is a also very little we can buy on that is completely virtuous, partly the nature of capitalism I suppose.  Some things less bad than others.  I do like to buy some veg from the Hardwick Veg Shack, very organic, don't even use manure, but how did they obtain their large estate on the banks of the Thames in south Oxfordshire?

ktache wrote:

There is a also very little we can buy on that is completely virtuous, partly the nature of capitalism I suppose.  Some things less bad than others.

Countries are inhabited and governed by humans. Companies are owned and run by humans. We humans aren't completely virtuous; we all have our foibles, particularly when incentivised to act iniquitously. So we shouldn't be surprised that it's difficult to buy products that don't adversely impact someone, somewhere.

fukawitribe wrote:

bastions of civil rights such as Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia

Quite.

OP, Tubolitos are made in Europe. Also, I hope you ride Campag; pretty much everything Shimano makes comes from China, whereas Campag manufactures the low end groups in Romania and the higher end stuff in Italy.

Interestingly, one of the reasons that northern Italy suffered so badly with CV at the start of the epidemic is that it hosts tens of thousands of Chinese workers in clothing factories. Working in Italy, in conditions not much better than those in their home country. This means that companies get low manufacturing costs, but are able to slap a "made in Italy" sticker on their goods.

The Chinese government's vast holdings of USTs will be inflated away over the next 5-10 years. The west won't allow China to export their deflation anymore.

The Chinese people are furious at their handling of coronavirus.

No cash + angry people = revolution.

Edward08 wrote:

The global impact of this virus, coupled with the absence of any form of apology from the Chinese Government, results in me trying to avoid purchases from China.

Apology ?

Presumably you'll also be avoiding purchases from the UK, US, Italy, Spain, France, etc., etc., etc. until they apologise for failing to control the spread of a highly contagious virus as well? I think your choices are going to be rather limited.

The Chinese govt has outright lied to the rest of the world. It's estimated that they under-reported the number of cases by a factor of forty. In January, they were still saying there's no evidence for human to human transmission. In December, they were arresting medical workers who reported suspicions of a new SARS-like illness.

Let me know when the governments of those more enlightened states do the same thing.

Any verifiable and reliable sources for that astonishing claim?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/11/coronavirus-wuhan-doctor-a...

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1217043229427761152

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-01/china-concealed-exten...

Exactly this.

Well not purchasing from China because you don't want to support a secretive, oppressive, uncooperative regime that exercises tight control over information is a fair enough position, but that isn't what you originally said. You said

Quote:

the virus originated in unhygienic cruel food markets in China, and was not properly controlled

which was unrelated to any of that.

If the nature of the regime is your main concern, then bringing the virus into it is a bit weird. As you say, they have a 'track record' that goes back decades - long before this virus emerged, so I'm not sure why you'd be avoiding purchases from there now any more than you would have been six months ago.

Except that, as I said, they don't seem to have been any more incompetent than many other countries that you'd apparently be happy to buy from (and why would incompetence at dealing with epidemics be a reason to boycott their goods anyway?). And by your own reckoning, dishonesty is nothing new for them. So where is the reason to be any more diligent now than before?

I don't think they tend to rush order them direct from china in 3 days.