Raleigh Bikes

[knersis]

I think it will be worthwhile for Raleigh to sell their lower end / High end bikes under a different name.

 

Most new cyclist make the association with crappy supermarket bikes if you mention raleigh.

 

It's like telling a Lexus customer he is riding a normal Toyota or Mercedes Benz selling a Tata under their name.

 

Just my 2 cents ...

 

[barrykm]

Thanks to Jan for the interesting responses.

[Jan Begemann]

Having real life statistics, for e.g.?number of carbon frames manufactures vs. number of brands, etc.?will go a far way to address peoples questions/ignorance.

Raleigh? You willing to publish these? And I'm not talking Brandon's marketing talk.

The factories in Taiwan and China don't even allow me to take pictures. If I would start publishing who's frame is made by which factory, I would put Probike in a very difficult position and myself out of the business for the rest of my life.

But I can say, that there is another brand in market (not Silverback), very successful and well presented in SA, that is using the same frame factories as we do. Not just on one model, on nearly all models. Their frames look totally different to ours, and even technically they don't have much in common, except being bike frames. Looking at the designs you would never expect these 2 brands using the same factories. And believe it or not, neither they nor we did this on purpose, it just happened by accident. For the first years we didn't even know about it.

What I want to say is, that if you do your own designs, the influence from the factory is very little, especially on aluminium frames. The look, geometries, tube dimensions etc. only depend on what you ask for, the factory at the end is just the one forming and welding tubes according to your specifications. And they don't even care what you ask for. If you give a frame drawing with 2 downtubes and no seattube, they build it. If you send them a drawing of your garden furniture, they build it, and the only query you'd get is, that this stuff doesn't fit in a bicycle box.

[Jan Begemann]

I think it will be worthwhile for Raleigh to sell their lower end / High end bikes?under a different name.

 

?

 

Most new?cyclist make the?association with?crappy supermarket bikes if you mention raleigh.

 

?

 

It's like telling a Lexus customer he is riding a normal Toyota or Mercedes Benz selling a Tata under their name.

 

?

 

Just my 2 cents ...

 

?

 

 

 

We are aware of this problem, and I agree with you. It's just not that easy to decide which is the right way to go.

 

 

[Red Zone]

I used to ride an Alu raleigh, got a bit bored with it and upgraded to a felt, I felt (no pun)that the felt had a significantly stiffer frame. I used to feel the raleigh snaking around when I sprinted or squishing under my peddles when climbing out of the saddle. The Felt is rock solid and takes off like a rocket. I also found the spec of some of the raleigh components a little disappointing.

[Gobbo]

DITTO            

[NotSoBigBen]

Foe you should rather use pedals, they are far much more rigid than 'peddles'  

[Iwan Kemp]

Thanks again Jan. What you're saying is that even though you use the same FACTORY the end result is two very different bikes?

 

I also think it might be worthwhile to sell higher end stuff under a different name. Then again, if you guys didn't have the frame issues having top-end frame under the same umbrella as the mid to lower stuff will up their (mid to low frame's) perceived value.

 

Tricky one.

 

And just to set the record straight: I owned more than one Raleigh and I like the look of their carbon road frames. I like swoopy lines. I test rode a Team Ltd during summer 07/08 and decided to go with another brand based on preference. At the same time I picked this "other" brand over a Bianchi, Look, Pinarello, Scott (at that stage my current bike), Giant and a couple of others.

 

My dislike in Raleigh started with the frame issues and the way it was handled.

 

A big part of me riding a Morewood is cause it's local. I would love to support a local road bike company...but only if you buy what they sell.

[Ghostface]

What happened? I was enjoying this thread.

[ChrisH]

Don't worry. The same thread will be started again by someone else in a Month or so.

[Ghostface]

LOL. Too true.

[Shebeen]

I think it will be worthwhile for Raleigh to sell their lower end / High end bikes under a different name.

 

Most new cyclist make the association with crappy supermarket bikes if you mention raleigh.

 

It's like telling a Lexus customer he is riding a normal Toyota or Mercedes Benz selling a Tata under their name.

 

Just my 2 cents ...

 

We are aware of this problem' date=' and I agree with you. It's just not that easy to decide which is the right way to go.
[/quote']

Do a Spesh/S-Works split.

 

I'd keep the supermarket ones as Raleigh. Then find a fancy name for the elite bikes. I think someone once won the TdF on a Raleigh, but the name just doesn't associate with other top level brands for me.

 

[Shiny calves]

So are you guys trying to say that Raleigh bikes are like the Tata indy car of bikes?

[Iwan Kemp]

I'll never say that...Tata will sue me! Just kidding. No not at all.

[Eugene]

No body has ever won an SA Motorsport title in a Tata, but how many people have won an SA cycle title on a Raleigh?

 

Lets start.........Malcome Lange, David George, Jaques Fullard, Tiaan Kanemeyer, Kevin Evans, Cherise Taylor and probably a whole host of other people I don't know.

 

Plus, if you were to count total wins in any SA race since Raleigh came on the scene, I rekon Raleigh will be right up there with the highest number.

 

If these bikes are good enough for the pros, they are good enough for us.

[AndreZA]

No body has ever won an SA Motorsport title in a Tata' date=' but?how many people have won an SA cycle title on a Raleigh?

 

?

 

Lets start.........Malcome Lange, David George, Jaques Fullard, Tiaan Kanemeyer, Kevin Evans, Cherise Taylor and probably a whole host of other people I don't know.

 

?

 

Plus, if you were to count total wins in any SA race since Raleigh came on the scene, I rekon Raleigh will be right up there with the highest number.

 

?

 

If these bikes are good enough for the pros, they are good enough for us.

[/quote']

 

 

 

The fact that 90% of the SA road riders are in the MTN team gives them quite a good chance of winning it every time.