Not the Raleighs we've got...

[AndreZA]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2007/tech/shows/london07/london071/IMG_3319.jpg

 

Nogal a cyclocross one

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2007/tech/shows/london07/london071/IMG_3320.jpg

 

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2007/tech/shows/london07/london071/IMG_3321.jpg

 

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2007/tech/shows/london07/london071/IMG_3322.jpg

 

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2007/tech/shows/london07/london071/IMG_3324.jpg

 

Why doesn't ours have the badge anymore?

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2007/tech/shows/london07/london071/IMG_3326.jpg

 

 

All from http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech/2007/shows/london07/?id=results/london071

 

 

 

[GIRR]

wow the overseas raleighs are nice!

[Mudsimus]

Q about the badge....me thinks. Because all the department store Raleigh still have that badge...

[SlickSticker]

Hea, they do have nice bikes overseas, pitty they dont have a beutifull country like ours to cycle them in...

[_Daemon_]

 

Hea' date=' they do have nice bikes overseas, pitty they dont have a beutifull country like ours to cycle them in...[/quote']

 

Yup those Alps in France really sucks....

 

[Mar]

Damn striaght!!!

[Red Zone]

These bike also come with useful writing on them like, Race on the top-tube, in case you forgot why you bought the bike, and carbon aero fork, so that the bike shop knows where to put it in case they took it off and forgot. 

[Jules]

I'm just guessing here, but doesn't Probike have the South African rights to put the Raleigh brand on just about any bike that it buys from factories in Taiwan?

[linnega]

Raleigh is a Porbike owned brand in SA.  They could have called their "elite" range any other brandname but took the risk and stuck with Raleigh as a known brand. 

 

Muddee - what's the difference.  The supermarket bikes are also from Probike, whether the elite bikes carry that logo or any other shouldn't mean anything.

[SlickSticker]

linnega - Do you think that people get scared of buying Raleigh due to the fact that they produce the very bottom of the range bikes too? Im tskling Pick n Pay specials range here.

[Mrs Colonel]

My Raleigh has a badge

[averageguy]

I think that you will find that Raleigh in South Africa is at the cutting edge of bicycle technology. The other Raleigh regions have been trying to keep up with what has happened to Raleigh here in the last 7 years. The elite bikes for this country are all designed here and serve the purposes of the local customers.

[Mudsimus]

The elite bikes for this country are all designed here and serve the purposes of the local customers.

 

And how does this "purposes" differ from anywere else in the world?

[Christie]

 

I think that you will find that Raleigh in South Africa is at the cutting edge of bicycle technology.

 

Being made from carbon does automaticaly mean cutting edge technology. Some examples of what is the cutting edge imo:

 

Scott Addict, 790 grams including seatpost. Not such a great innovation, the CR1 weighed 860 grams in 2004, when other frames ridden in the TDF still weighed 1500 grams, but still worth a mention.

Trek Madone - integrated BB, headset design, ISP design (too bad about the chunky clamp)

Cervelo Soloist SL - proper aero frame, but light too

BMC SLC - Easton tubeset with carbon dust mixed into the epoxy matrix (called CNT)

Cervelo  R3 SL - not pretty, but a well executed, optimized design

Specialized Transition carbon - Nice innivation with the top tube & chainstay design. Integrated brakes are nice, too.

 

Raleghs are OK, but you need a big R&D budget to be cutting edge.

Christie2007-10-19 23:30:32

[linnega]

 

linnega - Do you think that people get scared of buying Raleigh due to the fact that they produce the very bottom of the range bikes too? Im tskling Pick n Pay specials range here.

Probably, but they shouldn't.  The supermarket bikes, even if produced in the same factory (which does happen), are different animals.  Low grade alloys, carelessly welded together.  The Elite Raleighs - even the alu alloy ones - are significantly better finished and made with the same type of tubing that we saw at the Tour de France 5 years ago.

 

[linnega]

 

I think that you will find that Raleigh in South Africa is at the cutting edge of bicycle technology. The other Raleigh regions have been trying to keep up with what has happened to Raleigh here in the last 7 years. The elite bikes for this country are all designed here and serve the purposes of the local customers.

Cutting edge is stretching it.  Dedaccai tubing is decent but not cutting edge.  Innovative in the way that it is available to be joined in whatever way you choose and branded with your name - but certainly not innovative compared to what is out there.  As far as I am aware' date=' Raleigh in other countries has had LBS type bikes for longer than Raleigh locally, and what Probike have done here had been done in the UK with brands like PlanetX and some of the bikeshop house brands.  Also, I believe Probike is no more than the marketing and distribution company.  They have little input, if any, into the design of the bikes, and certainly don't have the R&D capability to design bikes to "[suit'] the [needs] of the local customers".