It's probably cheaper to do a straight steerer than a tapered one. So you get cheaper frames. And once you feel like upgrading you can buy our £300 fork, and none of these Chinese imports. Win-win
i Doubt the cost of headtube itself has anything to do with it, more the fact that mitering a a downtube to fit a tapered headtube is a much more time consuming task than it is for a straight headtube.
It's probably cheaper to do a straight steerer than a tapered one. So you get cheaper frames. And once you feel like upgrading you can buy our £300 fork, and none of these Chinese imports. Win-win