bikeworkshop
Old School Grand Master
I still love mavic,
although it's like one of those relationships where, when you stop to think, you wonder why
Sometimes it's great...
Raleigh losses.
- Thread starter Rapparee87
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I still love mavic,
although it's like one of those relationships where, when you stop to think, you wonder why
Sometimes it's great...
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Raleigh as a brand name is a bit like your mum talking about working at Woolworths when she was a teenager or grandad talking about his old Rover
It's a bit old hat and needs quietly laying to rest
Nostalgia is all well and good but it's most famous model is from 50 years ago and irrelevant in today's world
Mavic have always been there with a big media presence, any race footage would have seen big text on vehicles or banners and so forth
Put it away in a cupboard or a coffin along with the torn flared jeans and sore bollox
It's a bit old hat and needs quietly laying to rest
Nostalgia is all well and good but it's most famous model is from 50 years ago and irrelevant in today's world
Mavic have always been there with a big media presence, any race footage would have seen big text on vehicles or banners and so forth
Put it away in a cupboard or a coffin along with the torn flared jeans and sore bollox
Also a brand. A strong brand. It get's somewhat ironic that a brand is stronger than it's output / turnover.
Memory for the bean counters does have value. Memory for some shit bikes and good bikes apparently is not calculable.
Rapparee87
Retro Guru
When we were kids a Raleigh was the gold standard. There was a factory in Dublin if I recall. We always had our Raleighs in our family. From ones with stabilisers up to a Chopper in the late 70s.
benjabbi
Bontrager Fan
There's got to be only so many times they can do a special edition Chopper before even the enthusiasts get bored. As for their normal bike range, gone are the days of every other town having a Raleigh dealer and there's nothing to set them apart from umpteen other brands. Not really sure why anyone would buy one over a Trek, Giant or Specialized these days?
A propos Mavic @Cloverleaf
https://www.bourrelier-group.com/nosactivites/industrie/
At least people at Mavic now know who is behind them.
While all sad, I don't think Mavic can be thrown in a bigger bath with Raleigh,
The Raleigh saga is sadly, I think, going like many. It is the brand name that's still got value, but the output and how it corresponds to todays want's and needs is sadly on a decline. You could add umpteen to the list in the same basket here - from Bianchi to Massi. Add Shimano to the list too.
Personally, I think the entire bike industry from top to bottom needed a real overdue wake-up call.
The industry rested on daft laurels via competitive cycling for too long IMHO and hardly gave a hoot for people "just riding".
https://www.bourrelier-group.com/nosactivites/industrie/
At least people at Mavic now know who is behind them.
While all sad, I don't think Mavic can be thrown in a bigger bath with Raleigh,The Raleigh saga is sadly, I think, going like many. It is the brand name that's still got value, but the output and how it corresponds to todays want's and needs is sadly on a decline. You could add umpteen to the list in the same basket here - from Bianchi to Massi. Add Shimano to the list too.
Personally, I think the entire bike industry from top to bottom needed a real overdue wake-up call.
The industry rested on daft laurels via competitive cycling for too long IMHO and hardly gave a hoot for people "just riding".
bikeworkshop
Old School Grand Master
I don't think they are up there with trek, giant or specialized since around 1986
benjabbi
Bontrager Fan
Exactly
Cloverleaf
Retro Guru
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Sounds like you buy into image as much as the next person. Media presence doesn't mean a brand is any good, or cutting edge, and nor does something being 'old' mean it needs laying to rest. The issue is that the brand of Raleigh has essentially ceased to have any meaning because it doesn't stand for what it used to and thus has alienated those who value the history, and has done nothing to bring new people into the brand for the last twenty years. Remember in the nineties with the RSP stuff? That got new people seeing Raleigh in a new light.
Sadly Rover was hampered in the same way by poor management and marketing, and asset stripped of many things. The 'new' Mini, i.e the Bini, was a product of Longbridge rather than Stuttgart and yet the it is/was (it's changed a lot since those early days) lauded while Rover is called 'old hat'; it's all about image and marketing. Nothing about Rover needed laying to rest, what it needed was an owner that didn't asset strip and then cut off the money for further development while creaming the profits and upcoming products. The issue in this country is there's very little patriotic pride in what we make and most things from anywhere other than this island are viewed as exotic and therefore better. It has often been the way and will likely always be thus.
The only new Raleighs I see for sale aren't in pukka bikeshops competing with the Treks, Giants et al. They're in the camping/leisure/towbar shops along with the crap-name folders and ebikes
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