Fall from grace

[Neil G]

Top on my list has to be Klein, sad seeing teh demise of such a hallowed bike manufacturer

Coming a close second is Kona...I wouldn't even comtemplate buying one now which is pretty bad as the old ones are my favourite bikes

As for Halfords I'll agree that it's the staff rather than the products in there...seem to be pretty clueless.

 

[suburbanreuben]

Thanks Golden boy The only good outcome is that the lawfords cycling club is still going strong even though most members are in their 70s :shock:

I bet they're still quicker than you an'all!

 

[MikeD]

I'm not sure that Klein come into the "fallen from grace" camp. Killed off, yes, but the brand's reputation is intact.

It's sad that Suntour were so comprehensively usurped by Shimano in the early 90's shortly after Shimano 'stole' Suntour's Micro-Drive and called it Compact Drive.

Shimano-bashing is always popular, but Shimano was already massively dominant in the MTB market before compact drive came along. The simple fact was that Shimano stuff just worked better.

 

[mikee]

diamond back and british eagle

diamond back made some seriously good bikes in the early days
then faded ,tho they're doing a couple of nice retro inspired hard
tails these days

british eagle tried hard with the ALAN framed bikes they sold and the
lotus branded stuff ,the carbon ones being of more note ,the alloy
ones were just a generic asian frame
however look at the crap they sell now ,the margins are probably bigger
tho

 

[bigdawg]

are we talking fallen from grace or drop in the manufacturing principals that made the co name / sell out....??

Under the latter category is pretty much everyone that was trading in the mid 90's.

Butthen again if they hadnt, would we still be collecting the old stuff or just buying new becasue its as good?!

Personally for me any of the made in america / uk manufacturers that have either sold their name or just shifted production to the far east come under the category of 'quite sad'...

Oh and what happened to X-lite - theyve gone from cnc awesome parts manufacturer to degreaser seller..?!

 

[DM]

I'm not sure that Klein come into the "fallen from grace" camp. Killed off, yes, but the brand's reputation is intact.

I guess so, whereas other brands cheapened their brand to appeal to the masses. Either because they wanted to make more money (Chi-nnondale); because they just lost the plot (Cannondale bankrupting themselves by trying to make a motorcycle); or because they were clueless and produced embarrassing crap that customers rejected (Raleigh).

So any of the brands raped by Dorrel: Raleigh, GT, Cannondale.

Most of the brands assimilated by Trek: Bonty, Fisher etc. Decent stuff, just lacks the appeal of the old brands.

And Saracen.

I agree with Perry: Saracen produced so much crap for so long, that reviving the brand now is an uphill struggle. There are so few people who remember their decent early bikes that there's very little positive brand image to draw upon.

Saracen's manufacturing is all off-shored, anyway. And they back-pedalled on getting the top end 2010 steel frames made in the UK.

So, given that there's nothing to differentiate them between other brands & the name they're reviving is a zombie, beloved of chav kids, I'd be tempted invent a new, generic brand ID and throw money at that, instead. At least you're starting from zero with a new brand & not trying to overturn years of negative image.

Kona: I still think they produce good bikes - Just nothing that I would buy.
(I didn't know about the Halfords thing: HeiHei to Halfords is a pretty harsh comedown).

Their old bikes had non-standard specs & small variations between models that showed they were paying attention to the details. Now, they have a huge & mostly un-inspiring range of: Stuff.

Contrast the reborn Salsa, who have a small range of very nice bikes with lovely detailing, designed for specialist niches. Pretty much what Kona should have stuck with, IMO.

 

[MikeD]

At least a bottle of degreaser won't snap

 

[IDB1]

I was disappointed when Kona went to Halfords and I think they (Kona) also lost their path somewhere around the same time.

But I wouldn't villify a bike/brand just because it came from a particular shop..

I mean, KP Dry Roasted Peanuts from Aldi are the same as KP Dry Roasted Peanuts from Waitrose

 

[taffy]

i've been cogitating about this for a while and sadly have come up with the answer for me to just start a new thread "which brands haven't fallen from grace" !

back in the late 80's and early 90's there were hundreds if not thousands of bike manufacturers and part's makers - from 1 man outfit's to large (for the bike industry) corporations.

Sadly now most brands have either fallen from grace (GT, Diamondback, Raleigh - the list is long) or have been incorporated into a larger company and the bloodline watered down or finished (klein, Bontrager etc) or in some cases both!

 

[bigdawg]

I'm not sure that Klein come into the "fallen from grace" camp. Killed off, yes, but the brand's reputation is intact.

I guess so, whereas other brands cheapened their brand to appeal to the masses. Either because they wanted to make more money (Chi-nnondale); because they just lost the plot (Cannondale bankrupting themselves by trying to make a motorcycle); or because they were clueless and produced embarrassing crap that customers rejected (Raleigh).

So any of the brands raped by Dorrel: Raleigh, GT, Cannondale.

Most of the brands assimilated by Trek: Bonty, Fisher etc. Decent stuff, just lacks the appeal of the old brands.

And Saracen.

I agree with Perry: Saracen produced so much crap for so long, that reviving the brand now is an uphill struggle. There are so few people who remember their decent early bikes that there's very little positive brand image to draw upon.

Saracen's manufacturing is all off-shored, anyway. And they back-pedalled on getting the top end 2010 steel frames made in the UK.

So, given that there's nothing to differentiate them between other brands & the name they're reviving is a zombie, beloved of chav kids, I'd be tempted invent a new, generic brand ID and throw money at that, instead. At least you're starting from zero with a new brand & not trying to overturn years of negative image.

Kona: I still think they produce good bikes - Just nothing that I would buy.
(I didn't know about the Halfords thing: HeiHei to Halfords is a pretty harsh comedown).

Their old bikes had non-standard specs & small variations between models that showed they were paying attention to the details. Now, they have a huge & mostly un-inspiring range of: Stuff.

Contrast the reborn Salsa, who have a small range of very nice bikes with lovely detailing, designed for specialist niches. Pretty much what Kona should have stuck with, IMO.

Ive got one of them - couple of design points to rectify but other than that awesome bikes and way way ahead of theri time - the japs are just catching up now with what cannondale had in them - bloody noisy though :shock: