The decline of British bicycle building
Posted by: Jonathan Gorse on 12 April 2005
In a week which has seen the collapse of Rover I have been dusting off my beloved Raleigh Royal 531 tourer (1985 vintage) and putting it side by side with my 2002 Scott Boulder MTB. Quite frankly the quality of ride, paint and metalwork on the British handbuilt tourer is far beyond the standard of the US machine. What a crime that Raleigh and so many other great British bicycle firms have disappeared and the market has been saturated by by garish American branded crap which in reality is made in Taiwan. It also seems that since the decline of the British manufacturers cycle prices have gone through the roof and hence I suspect that many bikes are no longer honestly priced but incorporate a far higher price margin for the brand.
It's not hard now to spend £2000 on a bike built on a production line in Taiwan and marketed as a premium product by the USA majors - but is it worth £2000? On the other hand a similar amount will buy a handbuilt machine tailored to the riders size and weight, specced to an individuals requirements, painted any colour you like and assembled by hand by a craftsman in England - why do so many people prefer the former?
The article here makes interesting if sad reading on the incredible rise and fall of Raleigh: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~hadland/raleigh.htm
As an aside I'm wondering whether to change the frame on the Scott to something steel rather than alloy and have it painted in a colour of my choice by Mercian. I have seen British made Reynolds 853 MTB frames from around £400 - views?
Jonathan
It's not hard now to spend £2000 on a bike built on a production line in Taiwan and marketed as a premium product by the USA majors - but is it worth £2000? On the other hand a similar amount will buy a handbuilt machine tailored to the riders size and weight, specced to an individuals requirements, painted any colour you like and assembled by hand by a craftsman in England - why do so many people prefer the former?
The article here makes interesting if sad reading on the incredible rise and fall of Raleigh: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~hadland/raleigh.htm
As an aside I'm wondering whether to change the frame on the Scott to something steel rather than alloy and have it painted in a colour of my choice by Mercian. I have seen British made Reynolds 853 MTB frames from around £400 - views?
Jonathan
Pashley ?
My 3-quid shopping bike. 
quote:Originally posted by Nime:
My 3-quid shopping bike.
I did something similar to one of my old mountain bikes by fitting rigid forks and a carrier plus I also went a step further and fitted slicks as well. It made a pretty decent general purpose commuter etc. and I wish I'd kept it as I could do with a cheap utility bike for carrying about on the back of the motorhome. I tend to use my Cotic at the moment but I'm always concerned that'll get nicked (or components will).
My current utlity/commuter is this:
but it's not totally ideal as there is limit to how much weight can be carried using a seatpost mounted rack.