Factory Cost Index: What Chinese Carbon Bikes Really Cost

Factory gate prices for Chinese carbon bikes are public — competitors publish them on their own storefronts. This page puts those quotes side by side, then shows what happens to the money between the factory gate and a customer’s card being charged.

$630–860Factory quote for a carbon gravel bike, 13-speed wireless, alloy wheels

$1,799Retail for a full-carbon road bike with Shimano 105 R7120

43–48.5%US duty on China-origin complete bicycles, 2026

62.5%EU duty — 14% tariff plus 48.5% anti-dumping

What Chinese competitors actually charge

Both TWITTER and SAVA publish retail prices, and TWITTER’s factory arm publishes FOB prices on the same models. That makes the factory-to-retail spread visible instead of guessed:

Brand	Model & build	Factory (FOB)	Retail	FOB / retail
TWITTER	Gravel X — T900 carbon, 13-speed wireless, alloy wheels	$630–860	$1,628	39–53%
TWITTER	Gravel V3 — carbon, 24-speed, alloy wheels	$685–895	$1,628–1,898	36–55%
TWITTER	R15 Pro — full carbon, Shimano 105 R7120	est. $650–780	$1,200–1,300	50–65%
SAVA	A7L PRO-105 — full carbon, Shimano 105 R7120	est. $900–1,050	$1,799	50–58%
SAVA	Gelaro S6 — carbon gravel, Shimano GRX610	est. $1,000–1,150	$1,999	50–58%
SAVA	M-FALCOH — carbon, Shimano 105 Di2	est. $1,500–1,700	$2,999	50–57%
BXT	Gravel-055 — carbon, GRX-600	$818	$1,599	51%

Two things to read off this table. First, “carbon” is not one price: the same material spans $630 to $1,700 at the factory gate depending on carbon grade, wheelset and groupset. Second, the FOB-to-retail ratio sits at 50–58% for anything with a Shimano groupset and a real warranty — TWITTER’s lowest ratios come from builds sold direct with alloy wheels and no dealer margin in between.

Same bike, two markets

SAVA sells a full-carbon 105 R7120 road bike for ¥7,599 on JD.com in China — about US$1,070 — and $1,799 on its US store. Same frame, same groupset. The $730 difference is not greed: it is export freight, US duty at 43–48.5%, payment fees and a support operation in the destination market.

The cost stack on a US$2,299 carbon gravel bike

Take a carbon gravel build at $2,299 retail — the price band where most Chinese direct brands sit, and where Meihanda’s own Phantom P10 sits. Factory gate $1,150 (50% of retail). Four routes:

Route	FOB	Freight	Duty	Landed	Margin left
United States, sea freight	$1,150	$20	$503	$1,809	21.3%
United States, air freight	$1,150	$230	$593	$2,109	8.3%
European Union, sea freight	$1,150	$20	$731	$2,037	11.4%
European Union, air freight	$1,150	$230	$863	$2,379	−3.5%

Landed cost includes payment processing (2.9% + $0.30) and a 3% after-sales reserve. Duty is charged on goods plus freight, which is why air freight raises the duty bill as well as the freight bill.

And now the same maths on a US$1,599 alloy bike

Same distance, same duty, same freight — but a factory gate price of $818 instead of $1,150:

Route	Landed	Margin left
United States, sea	$1,293	19.1%
United States, air	$1,593	0.4%
European Union, sea	$1,457	8.9%
European Union, air	$1,798	−12.4%

The pattern that decides brand strategy: duty is a percentage, so a more expensive bike carries more absolute duty — but it also carries more absolute margin, and the fixed costs (freight, payment, support) shrink as a share of price. A $2,299 bike keeps 21.3% into the US; a $1,599 bike keeps 19.1%; a $599 bike keeps nothing. Cheap bikes are not a volume strategy, they are a financing strategy — you are funding duty with working capital.

What this means if you are starting a brand

Start at $1,500+, not $800

Below $1,500 retail the duty line eats the margin before marketing. Every Chinese brand that survived past year two moved upmarket — SAVA now starts its carbon range at $1,299 and most of its range sits at $1,700–2,900.

Ship by sea, always

Air adds $230 per bike and $90 of extra duty. On the alloy bike that is the difference between 19.1% and 0.4%. Air is for samples only.

Check the anti-dumping rate before you price the EU

48.5% for all-other-companies, 0–19.2% for named producers. That single number decides whether an EU launch makes sense.

Cite this data
Meihanda Factory Cost Index, October 2026. Competitor prices from public storefronts: TWITTER (factory listings and retail), SAVA (savadeck-bike.com, JD.com China), BXT. Freight: 2026 China–Europe container benchmarks. Duty: US HTS 8712 with Section 301 and the 12.5% forced-labour tier; EU Regulation 2025/2146. Reuse with attribution and a link to meihanda.com/factory-cost-index.

Sources

TWITTER Gravel X / V3 factory listings: $630–860 and $685–895 FOB, MOQ 1 — first-bicycles.com
TWITTER Gravel V3 RS-24S retail: $1,628 (list $1,898) — e-smartway.com
SAVA A7L PRO-105 R7120: $1,799; Gelaro S6-GRX610: $1,999; M-FALCOH 105 Di2: $2,999 — savadeck-bike.com, 2026 line-up
SAVA full-carbon 105 R7120, China domestic: ¥7,599 — JD.com official flagship store
BXT Gravel-055: $818 wholesale / $1,599 retail
Sea freight China → North Europe, 40ft: $2,300–$4,500 (2026); ~300 bikes per 40HQ
US: HTS 8712.00.15 (11% MFN) / 8712.00.25 (5.5% MFN), +25% Section 301, +12.5% forced-labour tier
EU: Reg. (EU) 2025/2146 — 48.5% all-other-companies, 0–19.2% individual, extended five years

Every number here moves when the build moves.
Tell us your target retail price and market — we will show you the platform and specification that leaves an actual margin. OEM & ODM terms · Duty calculator · Talk to us