Where are the Brit Bikes?

[spandex]

Col
I do have to say I will be the one of the first to say that Mickle is wrong BUT I will hold my hands up and say that Mickles knowledge in this area is the best I have known and I think will ever know.

 

[bonj2]

Honestly who gives a sh!t? We're all happy to buy electronics, white goods, cuddly toys, motorbikes, cars etc from the far east. Why should we be precious about where we get our bikes from? The Taiwanese do a brilliant job producing bikes for us. Would I rather my hard earned went to Mrs Woo of Taiwan or Mr Bloggs of Nottingham? Mrs Woo actually, she needs it more and she works harder and produces a better product.

Because people in britain LIKE BRITAIN. It's not because of the fact that they've analyzed all the countries in the world and they have come to the rational conclusion that, yes, actually - Britain is the best. It's for the, justifiably unapologetic, bias that we favour it because it's the country we live in.
It's for the same reason that most english football fans will generally tend to support england at football, and the scottish scotland, etc.
They don't cheer on brazil because actually, those brazilians do a damn fine job of kicking the ball into the net and why should we be precious about where we get our football from?

I can't speak for anybody else, but also, for me, personally - it's for the same reason that I couldn't give THAT much of a toss WHAT goes on abroad. News articles, TV programmes, books, etc. are immediately diminished to at most 50% the interest level they would have been otherwise if they are solely about something going off in some other country, than if they are in britain about somebody I can relate to.

People can't identify with Mrs Woo in a far off land with her weird life. She'd probably rather be out in the sun anyway, picking rice and mudpacking and living the simple life like she used to before she was rounded up and sent to a bike factory. Imagine it - one minute you're tending to the farm with all your lovely hand reared chickens fluttering around the place enjoying the sunshine, the next you're sitting on a production line being bollocked because some silly bit of carbon isn't in precisely the right place.

 

[bonj2]

To be fair they have improved their quality control this year but those who still hold Raleigh in high esteem are living in the dim and distant past. They have been living off their reputation for years. Some of their bikes are ok and their VFM has improved but they're so effing 'corporate' and arrogant that Ill never ever see them in a good light. What they did to Sturmey workers will never be forgiven.

sturmey archer produced hub gears, they should never be forgiven for that.

 

[col]

To be fair they have improved their quality control this year but those who still hold Raleigh in high esteem are living in the dim and distant past. They have been living off their reputation for years. Some of their bikes are ok and their VFM has improved but they're so effing 'corporate' and arrogant that Ill never ever see them in a good light. What they did to Sturmey workers will never be forgiven.

I can see your point, but my knowledge is very limited when it comes to the nuts and bolts, and just go on feel and if it works for me, and going on it costing more than any other bike Iv had, hoped it would be good.

Col
I do have to say I will be the one of the first to say that Mickle is wrong BUT I will hold my hands up and say that Mickles knowledge in this area is the best I have known and I think will ever know.

I also have the feeling he knows his onions, thats why I asked the question, and I suppose was hoping he would answer the way he did for my own benefit.

 

[spandex]

sturmey archer produced hub gears, they should never be forgiven for that.

You are right They should never be forgiven for that

BECAUSE

They will will be thanked for it.

 

[Ant]

Hub gears were the best thing ever if you were a 10 year old boy on a Raleigh in the 70s.

They were absolutely bomb proof. You could spend the entire day riding around in the woods getting bits of foliage and small furry animals stuck in them and they just kept working. The only maintenance they ever needed was the occasional squirt of oil in when you could remember. You never had to adjust them, or clean them (much) they just kept on doing what they were supposed to do.

I think I must have had my first proper 'racer' for about a year before I bent the rear derailleur and had to replace it, it seemed to constantly need attention compared to my old Sturmey Archers.

 

[mickle]

I know a thing or two about shallots, but onions? Don't have a clue.

 

[summerdays]

If that's the case, then we may be closing in on the reason for the dearth of proper road bikes on UK roads.

There was a similar issue here for a couple of decades, when shops stocked mountain bikes to the exclusion of all other designs, but recently there has been an explosion of road bikes and hybrids, cruisers, "comfort" bikes, etc.

Any decent shop will now have a selection of all kinds, unless they've decided to specialize in one area.

There are still enough MTBs out there however (I mean, Canada is still one of the world capitals of mountain biking) only used on road, so we sell a lot of 26" slicks!

I didn't poke my head in too many bike stores in the UK in '07, but maybe you can report/concur here what most shops stock.

I was talking about the person with very limited knowledge about bikes and how they might go about buying bikes.

I was talking to friends recently who had just bought themselves bikes. But they couldn't even tell me the make, what sort of brakes they had etc, but they had bought them in the LBS in Chepstow (so at least they went to an LBS rather than a supermarket). They just went into the shop, explained they just wanted it for leisure riding and left it to the shop to guide them.

Equally I was talking to my brother in law at the weekend who could only name one bike shop near-ish to him. Bike shops are often tucked away from the main road or major shopping areas. You have to go looking for them rather than just stumble across them.

As to what any individual bike shop stock ... seems to depend on what brand allegiances they have and what presumably sells.

I know a thing or two about shallots, but onions? Don't have a clue.

I can tell you this much ... they all taste yuk!

 

[spandex]

I know a thing or two about shallots, but onions? Don't have a clue.

What about all the cooking lessons I gave you

 

[Amanda P]

No-one has mentioned Moulton.

Moultons of both flavours (Moulton Moultons and Pashley Moultons) have always been built and assembled in Britain (with, it's true Shimano or Campag or SRAM components). You can go to Bradford on Avon and watch the guys doing it. Both of them. (Actually I think there are four or five at BoA).

Moulton's latest incarnation combines the manufacture and marketing of both types of bike.

Thoroughly British, in design and construction. Quirky and innovative, like all the best British stuff.

 

[ChrisKH]

No-one has mentioned Moulton.

Moultons of both flavours (Moulton Moultons and Pashley Moultons) have always been built and assembled in Britain (with, it's true Shimano or Campag or SRAM components). You can go to Bradford on Avon and watch the guys doing it. Both of them. (Actually I think there are four or five at BoA).

Moulton's latest incarnation combines the manufacture and marketing of both types of bike.

Thoroughly British, in design and construction. Quirky and innovative, like all the best British stuff.

And expensive.

But I do like 'em.

Not sure where Brompton's source their frames and parts (some from Far East surely) , but fairly certain they're assembled in the UK.

 

[skwerl]

Ah, yes. Me bad! I should've remembered Hope ... but not too tuned to the MTB scene. Some of my MTB riding colleagues at the last shop I worked at used Hope brakes. I'll have to get their assessment.

You also forgot Royce
http://www.genisysconsulting.co.uk/royce-uk/

 

[skwerl]

Because people in britain LIKE BRITAIN. It's not because of the fact that they've analyzed all the countries in the world and they have come to the rational conclusion that, yes, actually - Britain is the best. It's for the, justifiably unapologetic, bias that we favour it because it's the country we live in.
It's for the same reason that most english football fans will generally tend to support england at football, and the scottish scotland, etc.
They don't cheer on brazil because actually, those brazilians do a damn fine job of kicking the ball into the net and why should we be precious about where we get our football from?

I can't speak for anybody else, but also, for me, personally - it's for the same reason that I couldn't give THAT much of a toss WHAT goes on abroad. News articles, TV programmes, books, etc. are immediately diminished to at most 50% the interest level they would have been otherwise if they are solely about something going off in some other country, than if they are in britain about somebody I can relate to.

People can't identify with Mrs Woo in a far off land with her weird life. She'd probably rather be out in the sun anyway, picking rice and mudpacking and living the simple life like she used to before she was rounded up and sent to a bike factory. Imagine it - one minute you're tending to the farm with all your lovely hand reared chickens fluttering around the place enjoying the sunshine, the next you're sitting on a production line being bollocked because some silly bit of carbon isn't in precisely the right place.

yep. living hand to mouth in poverty with no knowledge of anything beyond the next hill, no healthcare or schooling and no chance of improving your lot. Sounds great. Apply your argument to the rest of us and we'd all still be digging around in the mud.

 

[bonj2]

yep. living hand to mouth in poverty with no knowledge of anything beyond the next hill, no healthcare or schooling and no chance of improving your lot. Sounds great. Apply your argument to the rest of us and we'd all still be digging around in the mud.

The bike manufacturers don't do it out of the kindness of their hearts to give a better life to the workers in these far off eastern lands, they do it to make the same bike for a cheaper overhead than what they could in britain.

 

[skwerl]

The bike manufacturers don't do it out of the kindness of their hearts to give a better life to the workers in these far off eastern lands, they do it to make the same bike for a cheaper overhead than what they could in britain.

Correct. Do you think employers in the UK (or elsewhere) exist out of a philanthropic desire? No. They exist to turn a profit, which is why more and more production (for Western companies) is being off-shored to the East.
I'm fairly sure that the Taiwanese aren't forced to work for the likes of Giant. They're still free to roam the mudflats with their chickens if they so desire. Maybe they'd don't get paid what they should/could (who does?) but they are there by choice.