MooreLarge (Forme / Tern / Lake shoes / others distributor) into Administration

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BrumJim

BrumJim

Forum Stalwart (won't take the hint and leave...)
Location
Selly Oak, Birmingham
Looks (blind guessing) that the company was brought down by over-purchasing lower market brands to bolster sales and profits. When the cycling market got over the COVID hump, the cheaper end would have suffered more, as impulse and desperation purchases (I'm not paying THAT much for a second hand bike) tailed off.

Looking for a new bike for my son. The existing school bike is getting a lot of bad press for its weight and slowness. The bike I am looking at is a Cuda with 26" wheels. All those on the site now, nearing the end of the auction period, are going for more than £85. Add buyers premium and VAT, and postage (plans to go to Port Talbot, but not in the near future), and I will be paying sensible money for a half-decent bike, rather than a fire sale bargain.
 
B

bonzobanana

Guru
Sallar55 said:
Has all the good gear been moved on and its the dross at the auction?
Click to expand...

Pauls Cycles has some of their bikes under the Forme brand. Some decent offers on mountain bikes there starting with 120mm travel forks, hydraulic disc brakes and fairly decent gearing for sub £300. It's about a 3rd off their original full retail price. The Forme bikes look very similar to the offerings from some of the big brands like the Cannondale models in fact the frame looks identical with only a variation in the dropout design. Not sure who is the actual manufacturer it could be fuji-ta as they make a lot of Cannondale and Specialized mountain bikes as well as many other brands.

https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/bikes/forme/instock/onsale/adult
 
B

bonzobanana

Guru
Broadside said:
I agree, there is no real benefit going with this auction. I’ve been watching it fairly closely but have been amazed at the poor quality of stuff they are selling. I’m actually now not surprised that they went under. I am looking elsewhere for CX frames now and have given up on this auction.
Click to expand...

I guess its down to perspective but I don't consider a lot of their products poor quality just not performance bikes. As with most things the sensible purchase is in the middle of pricing and not at the extremes either way. I mean its the cheapest bikes that sell in the highest volumes and if you go into Decathlon now you find they have bikes with saddles welded to the saddle post, plastic derailleurs and only 28 spokes causing more out of true issues in use. They seem better than those.

The folding bike they have been selling at the auction seems decent with even a suspension seat post to give a more comfortable ride when those small wheels hit a pothole etc. Decathlon offer much inferior folding bikes again with horrible plastic derailleurs, single wall rims, low spoke counts, weird lump of metal in front of the headtube that serves no structural purpose. I actually thought it was a really nice folding bike and some people were picking them up for about £100 delivered a few months before they went into administration. Saying that I'm a strong believer in hub gears for folding bikes but many are ok with derailleurs with folding bikes especially fair weather only riders.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MCJDoKbRjA
 
IanSmithCSE

IanSmithCSE

Guru
Location
Worcester, Worcestershire
Good afternoon,

Anyone fancy a wheel truing aide, the typical internet price seems to be around £60-£70?

https://www.johnpyeauctions.co.uk/E...ING-STANDCOLOUR-BLACK-RRP-99-TAGS-ACCESSORIES
1682178644302.png

I got curious and started browsing around the site and found this;
1682179384897.png

Delivery £85, plus VAT!

Bye

Ian
 
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IanSmithCSE

IanSmithCSE

Guru
Location
Worcester, Worcestershire
Good morning,

Unlikely to be a bargain but there are a number of these coming up
1682849944137.png


Maybe of interest if you are seriously looking for this type of bike, but probably not as a well it was cheap so what the ..... purchase.

They are starting at around £500-£600 mark (£800-£950 delivered) and seem to be selling at around £1,500-£1,700 retail so not much room for it to be worthwhile.

https://off.road.cc/content/review/bikes/2022-forme-monsal-1-review-9983 has a review.

If these go for less than £100 in total then they may be a good pub bike, they do have Microshift "STI" not butterfly shifters. Carbon Steel frame and forks, weight 15kg approx, now that a good nostalgia blast.
1682850422968.png


Bye

Ian
 
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B

bonzobanana

Guru
IanSmithCSE said:
Good morning,

Unlikely to be a bargain but there are a number of these coming up
View attachment 687600

Maybe of interest if you are seriously looking for this type of bike, but probably not as a well it was cheap so what the ..... purchase.

They are starting at around £500-£600 mark (£800-£950 delivered) and seem to be selling at around £1,500-£1,700 retail so not much room for it to be worthwhile.

https://off.road.cc/content/review/bikes/2022-forme-monsal-1-review-9983 has a review.

If these go for less than £100 in total then they may be a good pub bike, they do have Microshift "STI" not butterfly shifters. Carbon Steel frame and forks, weight 15kg approx, now that a good nostalgia blast.
View attachment 687602

Bye

Ian
Click to expand...

I have one of those Barracuda road bikes which I bought from their ebay outlet. It cost me something like £90-100 delivered when you take into account topcashback, nectar points etc. There was a 20% off code at the time. I'm not 100% sure but I think in the end I paid about £92.

I watched the John Pye auctions previously and saw my bike go for £62 and £70 I think but didn't follow all of them which I think would have made it around £150-160 delivered. However maybe as the auctions go on the high bids are reducing and could go lower.

I was impressed (remember the £90-100 bit) with the bike, good paintjob, solid welds, everything seems decent except the brakes which are simple caliper brakes not dual pivot. I bought it for an ebike conversion which I haven't done yet. I'm going for a front hub motor and the wheels already come as 36 spoke so that makes life easier with pretty much all hub motors requiring 36 spoke rims. The rear wheel will be replaced with a freehub wheel so I can use a 11-34T 7 speed cassette. Typically when I've done this on other bikes not only is it much stronger but shifting is super reliable as there is no wobble with freehubs and its only 7 speed with huge shifting tolerances.

I think the bike was made in Bangladesh if I remember rightly probably by the Meghna group who are huge in Bangladesh for bike exports. They make a lot of the Cube bikes. The factories are a bit basic and tolerances at the wider end I guess but perfectly fine for steel bikes. The factories are more labour intensive with less sophisticated equipment. Probably the cheapest bike factories on the planet currently but a small drop in quality compared to Cambodia and Vietnam who are probably the next worse. For a basic steel bike surely not a problem though as much easier to manufacture.

f3.jpg


https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/germanys-cube-teams-meghna-make-high-end-bicycles-1632277
 
IanSmithCSE

IanSmithCSE

Guru
Location
Worcester, Worcestershire
Good evening,

There are quite a few of these closing within a day and they might be a little bit too specialist for those still looking and running a retail operation, of course they might not!:laugh:

FORME CALVER SL CYCLOCROSS FRAMESET​


1683915139640.png


1683915305500.png


Bye

Ian
 
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