What a city bike is made of
A TIG-welded step-through steel frame, a steel fork, a pressed-steel conical headset and a cartridge bottom bracket. Double-wall aluminium rims on 13-gauge spokes, reflective 28×1.75 tyres, a 44-tooth steel crankset and a half-inch chain. A hi-rise Dutch bar with a quill stem, a PU saddle on steel rails and springs, steel mudguards and a front carrier. The coaster brake hub and magnetic LED lights are bought in.
The process chain
Tube cutting, mitring and bending feed jig welding, alignment, phosphating and powder coating for the frame. Rims are extruded, roll-formed, joined and drilled. Spokes are drawn, headed, thread-rolled and coated. Tyres are compounded, calendered, built and vulcanised. The bike ships 85% assembled, packed in a carton for final set-up at the destination.
Why Ludhiana
Ludhiana makes bicycles and their parts at scale: frames, forks, rims, spokes, cranks, chains, saddles, tyres and mudguards all have specialist makers within a short drive. One cluster means one inspection trip covers almost the whole bike, and sub-suppliers can be audited in days, not weeks.
What drives the cost
Steel grade and weld labour in the frame, paint and coating quality, the imported coaster hub, and the SKD level. SKD packing sets carton volume, so it drives freight per bike as much as assembly labour does. Frame sizes and colours add setup time and stock.
What we inspect
Weld penetration and frame alignment, fatigue tests to ISO 4210, paint adhesion, rim runout, spoke tension, braking performance, carrier load to ISO 11243, and lighting approval marks for the target market. Before loading: a pre-shipment inspection, a carton drop test and a container load plan.
Example teardown for illustration. Standards named here are the ones we usually check against; your drawing and target market set the exact scope.