Raleigh is no longer British
Discussion
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/raleigh-cycle-sol...
mind i suspect they won't have too many people going, they only had 430 staff.
mind i suspect they won't have too many people going, they only had 430 staff.
jesta1865 said:
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/raleigh-cycle-sol...
mind i suspect they won't have too many people going, they only had 430 staff.
In one sense, Raleigh hasnt been "British" since they stopped building bikes in the UK around the turn of the millenium, very sad but it was obviously unprofitable to continue in the UK given the majority of their products are at the lower end of the market...mind i suspect they won't have too many people going, they only had 430 staff.
The good news is that Accell also own Ghost and Lapierre according to Bike Radar so hopefully they can re-energise the brand and transfer some technology across the brands. It would be nice to see Raleigh back with a vengence...
They lost their direction in the mid 90s but also had poor distributors who couldnt sport the market change.
pablo said:
They lost their direction in the mid 90s but also had poor distributors who couldnt sport the market change.
It seems to me that they started to loose their direction and market share way back into the mid 80's, with the first BMX boom, and like you say, failed to respond to trends like mountain bikes. It seems like either misplaced faith in their customer base, or arrogance that led them to believe they could keep pumping out dross like the Grifter and Mustang while the competition raced ahead.They have had a bit of a resurgence recently, with their road bikes getting decent reviews in the bike press, but I personally struggle to even consider their products when choosing a new bike, simply because of the baggage that their brand name carries. Shame to see ownership go abroad, but like the article says, they haven't actually made bikes here for many years, so no great loss. Having said that, I hope that all of their staff in UK will manage to keep their jobs, if not, good luck to them moving on.
Who knows? Maybe, with a bit of help from the other brands in the new owner's stable, Raleigh cycles could once again become a bike brand to aspire to.
Shame to see, but as has been said they did themselves no favours!
I bought a Raleigh bike for my daughter (on line) a few years back based on the reputation they used to have and it was complete junk. No headset bearings, just tubes pressed together, so much stiction is was almost impossible to ride. The rest of it wasn't much better.
I bought a Raleigh bike for my daughter (on line) a few years back based on the reputation they used to have and it was complete junk. No headset bearings, just tubes pressed together, so much stiction is was almost impossible to ride. The rest of it wasn't much better.
shouldbworking said:
Having once owned a raleign activator I would have a hard time considering owning one ever again.
Then again saracen retreated from BSO production to making real bikes again so anything is possible.
you would have the same opinion of any manufacturer if your only experience is a £200 bike though. Suspension was the biog craze, Raleigh needed a budget model to get the sales. Was the bike any good? no, was it trying to be? no.Then again saracen retreated from BSO production to making real bikes again so anything is possible.
Remember the likes of Trek and Specilaized started with mountain bikes then moved into road stuff which I would argue is far easier in comparison to a road bike manufacturer branching into off road stuff...
I even applied for a job with Raleigh once!
When I was a kid the bike to have was a Raleigh, the Arena being a must have bike.
Bmx wise they did pretty well IIRC, I had a Burner, as did many friends, the range seemed to have plenty of choice so their failure didnt "start" there.
Grifters and Strikers, predating the BMX's were also the bikes of choice. The company IMO started to loose it with the likes of the Bomber, a huge heavy bedstead of bike.
The classic Chopper, Tomahawk and Chippers were rather dangerous in hindsight. I wonder how may kids lost their front teeth with the front end washing out due to the tiny wheels! They were enough to put someone off riding for life!
I bought a road bike a while ago and looked at the 200/300 range thinking it would be nice to have another Raleigh - in the end I went for a Fuji as the build quality just showed the others up.
My son, for christmas, got a "proper bike" - an Islabikes cnoc 16, though his first bike was a Raleigh, as I thought it would be like the bikes I remembered. I was very wrong. Wheels that were out of line due to a frame that looked like the apprentice practised on and a front brake (only) that failed to give any stopping power. In the end I pulled the crank out and turned it into a balance bike.
With the likes of Islabikes, Raleigh in the UK needs to bring something new to the table, though once a reputation is damaged it takes years for people to forgive and forget.
Bmx wise they did pretty well IIRC, I had a Burner, as did many friends, the range seemed to have plenty of choice so their failure didnt "start" there.
Grifters and Strikers, predating the BMX's were also the bikes of choice. The company IMO started to loose it with the likes of the Bomber, a huge heavy bedstead of bike.
The classic Chopper, Tomahawk and Chippers were rather dangerous in hindsight. I wonder how may kids lost their front teeth with the front end washing out due to the tiny wheels! They were enough to put someone off riding for life!
I bought a road bike a while ago and looked at the 200/300 range thinking it would be nice to have another Raleigh - in the end I went for a Fuji as the build quality just showed the others up.
My son, for christmas, got a "proper bike" - an Islabikes cnoc 16, though his first bike was a Raleigh, as I thought it would be like the bikes I remembered. I was very wrong. Wheels that were out of line due to a frame that looked like the apprentice practised on and a front brake (only) that failed to give any stopping power. In the end I pulled the crank out and turned it into a balance bike.
With the likes of Islabikes, Raleigh in the UK needs to bring something new to the table, though once a reputation is damaged it takes years for people to forgive and forget.
Considering my earlier post, I went into my LBS and saw these two: http://www.raleigh.co.uk/ProductType/ProductRange/...
http://www.raleigh.co.uk/ProductType/ProductRange/...
and may have to eat my words. Not my thing, but if it's what you're into, they looked pretty good - better 'in the shop' than in the online pictures. Maybe the brand can recover if it can produce quality bikes with value for money.....
http://www.raleigh.co.uk/ProductType/ProductRange/...
and may have to eat my words. Not my thing, but if it's what you're into, they looked pretty good - better 'in the shop' than in the online pictures. Maybe the brand can recover if it can produce quality bikes with value for money.....
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