What are considered to be the best brands?

[Beebo]

Russell and Jo seem to be the most popular Brand's at the moment.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Russell and Jo seem to be the most popular Brand's at the moment.

You're awfully close to a yellow card ...

 

[zizou]

De Rosa bikes look lovely...however under the paintwork the De Rosa R838 is exactly the same frame made in the same factory with the same quality carbon as the Ribble Stealth for about £1000 less (this frame can also be bought unbranded and direct from China for even cheaper than the Ribble price). It is a similar story with quite a few of the prestige Italian brands like De Rosa, Colnago and Pinarello, many of their bikes aren't made in Italy - some of them are painted in Italy and that is enough to earn a 'made in Italy' sticker on the frame. It makes sense in terms of the economics involved and the quality probably doesn't suffer either - the Taiwanese in particular are world leaders on carbon fibre - but to me it seems a bit like dishonest marketing with a major price premium solely for the 'heritage' of the brand.

So at the superbike brand level i'd probably go for something like Time - still handmade in France, lifetime warranty on frames and they make some awesome bikes.

In terms of mass market manufacturers then i'd go for Specialized, good bikes and their warranty and manufacturer support is really good - which is a big selling point for me and is a big reason i also like Hope and Oakley as brands - good products, and if something goes wrong i have confidence in the company to sort things out without too much hassle.

 

[dellzeqq]

There used to be more to this. Ten years ago half the bikes on the TdF were Colnago C40s, most oversprayed with the names of other sponsors. Now Colnago are abandoning tubes (and the Master Section, which was their great breakthrough) for monocoque construction there's less and less to distinguish them from Specialized or any other made in Taiwan brand. The same could be said of Pinarello. (De Rosa I've never ever rated). The C59 may be the last to use the Master Section.

There are subtle differences in geometry, although geometry has now gone beyond the dimensions of triangles - it's in the shape of the frame elements that great advances have been made. And, I'm afraid, it's your hands, your bottom and your feet and lungs that will decide which is best. In a general way I've noticed that Specialized riders seem to be able to relax on the bike, but that's just my impression.

Then there's the spooky stuff. I now ride a C50, having cracked my C40. It's lighter than the C40, but nowhere near as good at cornering. I've no idea why. Both are superb, but, again, whether one could make a case for spending a thousand pounds over and above a Roubaix is open to question

 

[kevin_cambs_uk]

For example Trek frames are widely known to be made by Giant, and as Giant are the largest bicycle manufacturer in the world I suspect they make frames for many other companies too.

Sorry I just read the above statement and thought, mine isn't.

But great article, and mine is all made in the USA and no where else!

 

[bennydorano]

I hated my Specialized, love my Bianchi - perfect.

 

[gbb]

I'm starting to feel that to a degree alot of this "so and so is better than that brand", is a load of cobblers.

I have thought this for a while about other things, for example I'm really keen on fish keeping. I always brought big brand filters and such in the past because they were "better". Last aquarium I got, I decided to take a punt on an unknown Chinese thing (filter), it was 60quid new/delivered and at that price I figured it didn't matter to much if it was cack, I'd go buy an ehiem of fluval or something. My £330 Eheim and 180quid Fluval on other tanks have gone wrong in the same period of time, the "crap" 60quid one is still going perfect.


It seems that Raleigh have a dodgy name in the bike world, however there's a lovely Raleigh race bike (forget the model now) down the LBS I am really tempted by, it's fitted with decent groupset, is seriously light and when I've cocked my leg over it feels considerabley more comfortable than the Trek and Specialized stuff it's next to.



I think alot of the time it comes down to what you like and what you don't like, nothing more.

Broadly speaking, i think you're right (in a bike sense)
For most of us buying an 'average' roadbike (not your uberbikes etc) i dont think we'll really understand or see the difference. Each brand will be subtley different, some aspects worse, some better than the competition.
IMO, if you take the major manufacturers Bianchi, Orbea, Trek, Specialised, Giant et al...i dont think there's a great deal different in any of them.