Raleigh lowers prices

[Longbarn Killer]

Hmmmm. Blast from the past.

Brandon Els is now a director at Rush Sports.

Probike became Scott SA. Raleigh became Axis, Axis is now also defunct.

Brandon Els is also the one who paid to have an Emma letter sent to Fandacious when FanD tweeted about smelling a dopey stench around Kevin Evans. FanD wasn't wrong.

Are they? Didn't know that.

[ChrisF]

Anybody remembers the "Raleigh Rapport" road bike from the early 80's ?

 

Had a nice 50km round trip to school and back on that bike. 

[PhilipV]

Are they? Didn't know that.

I stand to be corrected.

I see they have a tiny range left. Will edit my post accordingly

[Tim Brink]

Anybody remembers the "Raleigh Rapport" road bike from the early 80's ?

 

Had a nice 50km round trip to school and back on that bike. 

Peugeot Rapport. My first gravel bike (true story). 27x1/14 steel rims, that accelerated in wet weather braking. Suicide brake levers. 

[PhilipV]

Brandon Els is a director at Rush Sports. Rush now markets Signal bikes as their generic entry level, the space where Raleigh was.

[Danger Dassie]

THREAD REVIVAL!!!!

 

well not really, was searching for something else and this came up.

 

10 years later, how are Raleigh doing, did they crush Silverback like they said they would?

Probike Raleighs were the business, Robbie Powell (designer) and co did an exceptional job with them.

The Raleigh licencing was pulled and transferred to another agency (with massmart affiliations) who attempted to import Raleigh along with a few other brands. That died out and even though Raleigh can be found in Game nowadays at a price point, the quality leaves much to be desired.

 

Els pushed back and started up Axis bikes to fill the gap, with Robbie Powell and Phillip Erasmus managing product design etc... They brought out some great products and the bikes handles really well. 

I did my first stage race on the Axis A10 at the 2012 Cape Epic.

 

Not long after under Brandon Probike became a direct subsidary of Scott Sport as Scott Sports Africa. Brandon sold up his share after some years and moved on for a while. He then came back into the industry as a director with Rush Sports. Think we're all familiar with the successful trajectory they're following.

Especially with the Apex/Signal range, which falls under the scope and expertise of Phillip who came over from Probike/Scott.

Robbie Powell by the way runs his own suspension servicing and tuning workshop (RBC) in PE with great success. 

 

Els might not be to everyone's soft serve flavour, but in my brief experience he is an astute businessman, sharp marketer and supports his staff.

 

SA has a solid group of industry professionals and brands who punch way above our market's weight and are well respected internationally. 

Victor Momsen

Mark Hopkins

Cliff Beckett

Patrick Morewood

etc etc ... there are few I'm forgetting.

 

 

[BigDL]

Anybody remembers the "Raleigh Rapport" road bike from the early 80's ?

 

Had a nice 50km round trip to school and back on that bike.

That was my commuting bike from Hilton to PMB and back for a couple of years at high school. Machine of note

[ChrisF]

Peugeot Rapport. My first gravel bike (true story). 27x1/14 steel rims, that accelerated in wet weather braking. Suicide brake levers. 

 

Now you have me wondering ....     

 

100% sure it was a Raleigh.

 

Bought at OK Bazaars in Stellenbosch, 1982.  I got money for a train ticket to get to school, so if I cycled I had lots of pocket money ... 

 

 

BUT, was it a "Rapport" or the "Tour de France" model though ... 

[Longbarn Killer]

Anybody remembers the "Raleigh Rapport" road bike from the early 80's ?

 

Had a nice 50km round trip to school and back on that bike. 

As Tim said, it was a Peugeot Rapport. I wanted one when I was a student. They were R599 at OK. My friend had just started cycling and I wanted to join him, but I decided to keep that money to buy a car.

 

I eventually got my Peugeot 10 years later, but it was the Mirage. Lightest bike I've ever owned. Bought it from a second hand shop for R350. Then it was stolen from my bike rack at the Herald Cycle tour.

 

A friend has a brand new, unridden Peugeot Rapport. He was quite a cyclist in his day. His dad bought it for him new and had it sprayed in provincial colours as a gift. He never got to ride it and it still hangs in his garage. I tried to get him to sell, but he declined.

[ChrisF]

Had to resort to Google ...    

 

 

It was the Raleigh Tour de France, complete with the tow-clips -