Coolwall : Raleigh or Saracen
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Interesting to see that the favour seems to be with Saracen.
I always liked them because they were uncool and a bit of an enigma.
Since the scanning and subsequent mass upload of all the Saracen catalogues from the decent years between 1987 and 1998 most of the info is there for all.
That in it self is pretty cool and does show that Saracen did sometimes take an unconventional approach to it's bike specifications.
The link with Halfords goes all the way back to 1990... possibly earlier with the 'Eiger' models.
Ultimately I don't think that the Halfords link was the problem. Market forces meant that Saracen increasingly tried to create a bike for every market sector. Some of the catalogues have a bewildering array of models to choose from, but they veered more and more to the lower end of the scale which ultimately devalued the brand. The heritage and innovation was forgotten and 'Saracen Cycles' went into administration in about 2006.
Saracen was no longer a cool enough brand to survive.
The new company, 'Saracen Bikes' has seen a huge improvement in it's image under the ownership of Madison and with Manon Carpenter as a World Champion.
I'm also fond of Raleigh, especially the old 'Special Products Division' with the 'Dyna Tech' and 'M-Trax' sub brands.
Some of them were very cool, possibly made cooler by the way that the SPD burned brightly and then quickly faded away.
Great innovative bikes and marketing and a world class race team.
Much has been written on the demise of SPD. A real shame. Unfortunately big Raleigh bled it's offspring dry.
I have about 20 Saracen's in my collection and only 4 Raliegh/Dyna-Tech/M-Trax. Perhaps my allegiance is pretty obvious.
Interesting to see that the favour seems to be with Saracen.
I always liked them because they were uncool and a bit of an enigma.
Since the scanning and subsequent mass upload of all the Saracen catalogues from the decent years between 1987 and 1998 most of the info is there for all.
That in it self is pretty cool and does show that Saracen did sometimes take an unconventional approach to it's bike specifications.
The link with Halfords goes all the way back to 1990... possibly earlier with the 'Eiger' models.
Ultimately I don't think that the Halfords link was the problem. Market forces meant that Saracen increasingly tried to create a bike for every market sector. Some of the catalogues have a bewildering array of models to choose from, but they veered more and more to the lower end of the scale which ultimately devalued the brand. The heritage and innovation was forgotten and 'Saracen Cycles' went into administration in about 2006.
Saracen was no longer a cool enough brand to survive.
The new company, 'Saracen Bikes' has seen a huge improvement in it's image under the ownership of Madison and with Manon Carpenter as a World Champion.
I'm also fond of Raleigh, especially the old 'Special Products Division' with the 'Dyna Tech' and 'M-Trax' sub brands.
Some of them were very cool, possibly made cooler by the way that the SPD burned brightly and then quickly faded away.
Great innovative bikes and marketing and a world class race team.
Much has been written on the demise of SPD. A real shame. Unfortunately big Raleigh bled it's offspring dry.
I have about 20 Saracen's in my collection and only 4 Raliegh/Dyna-Tech/M-Trax. Perhaps my allegiance is pretty obvious.
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I would love a Raleigh 'Lightweight' or Dyna Tech road bike.
I was never that keen on the Techniums though for some reason.
drcarlos":2op09t8o said:
I would love a Raleigh 'Lightweight' or Dyna Tech road bike.
I was never that keen on the Techniums though for some reason.
walleater
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It's a bit like asking which is cooler, Dawes or Coventry Eagle
I initially thought Saracen due to two nutters carrying them up Kilimanjaro and also the fillet brazed frames circa 1990(?). But then the Raleigh team bikes of the Baker / Timmis era were pretty rad. I can't make up my mind! I'd go with Raleigh if we included Raleigh USA and the Tomac connection but I'm assuming this is just the UK Raleigh. I didn't think that the two were in fact closely related but could be wrong.
It's a bit like asking which is cooler, Dawes or Coventry Eagle
I initially thought Saracen due to two nutters carrying them up Kilimanjaro and also the fillet brazed frames circa 1990(?). But then the Raleigh team bikes of the Baker / Timmis era were pretty rad. I can't make up my mind! I'd go with Raleigh if we included Raleigh USA and the Tomac connection but I'm assuming this is just the UK Raleigh. I didn't think that the two were in fact closely related but could be wrong.
