Raleigh losses.

[doctor-bond]

P5 was a Statesman’s car that you might be able to get if you worked hard or were lucky. P6 was (probably) a triumph of mass produced engineering (first production monocoque?) But it was essentially a plodder - a narc’s ride.

SD1? Pornographers car - no, wannabe pornographer’s car.

 

[bikeworkshop]

SD1? Pornographers car - no, wannabe pornographer’s car.

Or Special Branch.

I struggled with "ashes to ashes" gene's audi - I mean, I was there in the 70s, coppers didn't drive audis.

Just not realistic

 

[Mark south wales]

im not surprised, I've just come off the web site, china on line. you can buy a Chinese bike, Dutch style, all the trimmings, for 43.75 pounds, I know its no Voodoo or GT, but when you consider, that's where most of the frames and parts are made any way, it would be suicide to have a bike factory in the west! you can bet with automated production, robot welding etc, Voodoo frames cant be costing no more than $40 each to make.

and lets be honest, the designs may be coming from the brands, but with modern cad cam tech, all you have to do, is input the parameters you want material and function, the AI, will take charge of final optimum design for strength V weight V material. the only way today, for ANY heritage brand to survive, is via bespoke, custom hand made bikes..... but then again, you can put a riders measurements into a computer and it will still produce the perfect size frame for a pro rider.

same again for generic budget kids bikes. all sizes all relivant to age and size, not geographic location. you can guarantee 100% of all bike brands, are having something in there bike from Asia, even if its the paint, rubber, bearings, cranks, grips etc. and with the likes of uk tax, shrink flashing and soaring unemployment. prices are gonna keep rising.

only way heritage companies will survive, I set up there own china factory, like UK had, with hong kong and India, or sub contract to an Asia factory and buy in, off the shelf, generic parts.... you can actually pin point the year it all started in 1982 when Raleigh farmed out its first from Bridgestone in Japan, for its Raleigh USA bikes... biggest mistakes was selling all there bike making gear in 1994.

TI India, formerly TI Raleigh, are still making BSA, Phillips, Sun, Hercules, Triumph and they are actually dam good. You can still buy a brand new Raleigh Superbe as the BSA Roadster, for 114 pounds, ironic... that it was TI India supplying chains etc to Raleigh from the 60s and 70s and now they are essentially Raleigh, with ALL the original tooling, just without the name!

 

[Woz]

Or set up production in Portugal.
https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/2024-11-24/portugal-top-for-bicycle-manufacturing/93709

Ironically, there are Taiwanese companies owning and investing too in the Portugal "Velo Valley".

 

[Woz]

https://cyclingindustry.news/portugal-bike-valley-europe-manufacturing/

 

[Mark south wales]

https://cyclingindustry.news/portugal-bike-valley-europe-manufacturing/

just read the articles, yup, european makers, need to shift there, take the monopoly away from asia, if they dont, it will be a global take over.

 

[Woz]

just read the articles, yup, european makers, need to shift there, take the monopoly away from asia, if they dont, it will be a global take over.

Yup. If you had a brain about yourself in Europe today, it is a no brainer.

While it may not be the UK and all the former glory of Nottingham etc. etc. etc. There needs some serious consideration beyond "it is only a double diamond frame". I am also aware the French are trying to dust off Gitane at a new plant, to kind of offset a fairly good handbuilt market into a popular market again.

Agree, in todays world anything closer to home with diplomatic and sensible ties can only be a good thing.

 

[Mark south wales]

Yup. If you had a brain about yourself in Europe today, it is a no brainer.

While it may not be the UK and all the former glory of Nottingham etc. etc. etc. There needs some serious consideration beyond "it is only a double diamond frame". I am also aware the French are trying to dust off Gitane at a new plant, to kind of offset a fairly good handbuilt market into a popular market again.

Agree, in todays world anything closer to home with diplomatic and sensible ties can only be a good thing.

when rover closed, we lost in gwent, lucas pontypool, they was doing all the braking systems, excide batteries, teaves ebbw vale doing clutchs, saunders valves doing the valves, trico doing the wiper systems, bosch doing the engine management stuff, ford in bridhgend they eas making the k series engines for land rover n rover, and bor warner was doing the gearboxes, plus all the supply chains, auxillary work like laundry, food, newport steel works, ebbw vale steel, pontypool, etc cleaning etc, about 50,000 jobs went from the area. nothing has come into replace it, we have about 75% unemployment, if you factor in, students, pensioners, school levers, ex miners, steel workers. skilled people crying out for work.

there is a skilled workforce that would love to be able to get there hands on a bike assembley line, but even liz truss, gave the rights to bsa to tata as a sweetner for port talbot, and india still shut the plant. we all need to start buying british and stop buying asian, it hemeraging the country.

 

[bikeworkshop]

when rover closed, we lost in gwent, lucas pontypool, they was doing all the braking systems, excide batteries, teaves ebbw vale doing clutchs, saunders valves doing the valves, trico doing the wiper systems, bosch doing the engine management stuff, ford in bridhgend they eas making the k series engines for land rover n rover, and bor warner was doing the gearboxes, plus all the supply chains, auxillary work like laundry, food, newport steel works, ebbw vale steel, pontypool, etc cleaning etc, about 50,000 jobs went from the area. nothing has come into replace it, we have about 75% unemployment, if you factor in, students, pensioners, school levers, ex miners, steel workers. skilled people crying out for work.

there is a skilled workforce that would love to be able to get there hands on a bike assembley line, but even liz truss, gave the rights to bsa to tata as a sweetner for port talbot, and india still shut the plant. we all need to start buying british and stop buying asian, it hemeraging the country.

Trouble is, consumers like Cheap.

And the Internet chants that mantra 24/7.

I think there's been an upsurge in people asking to pay more for local and quality in the last few years, but it's not looking like it's enough to bring back uk manufacturing.
Fingers crossed though.

 

[LondonClassic]

when rover closed, we lost in gwent, lucas pontypool, they was doing all the braking systems, excide batteries, teaves ebbw vale doing clutchs, saunders valves doing the valves, trico doing the wiper systems, bosch doing the engine management stuff, ford in bridhgend they eas making the k series engines for land rover n rover, and bor warner was doing the gearboxes, plus all the supply chains, auxillary work like laundry, food, newport steel works, ebbw vale steel, pontypool, etc cleaning etc, about 50,000 jobs went from the area. nothing has come into replace it, we have about 75% unemployment, if you factor in, students, pensioners, school levers, ex miners, steel workers. skilled people crying out for work.

there is a skilled workforce that would love to be able to get there hands on a bike assembley line, but even liz truss, gave the rights to bsa to tata as a sweetner for port talbot, and india still shut the plant. we all need to start buying british and stop buying asian, it hemeraging the country.

You make a good point about the supply chain jobs that are below the headline. Borg Warner, Ford, Lucas - all massive concerns in their own right. A bike assembly line is way smaller than most of those second tier suppliers. In the past there was (poncey word alert) the ecosystem of auto, aero, defence, marine, civil engineering etc and hundreds of sub component factories. The bike industry in the the midlands had everyting on its doorstep and nestled in between lots of heavy industries.
And if you started from scratch now in the UK you'd be buying rims from Kinlin and hubs from Formula and ready made frames - all from the Far East. The bike valley in Portugal looks like a minor miracle but it does sit on a century of bike building and crucually they're both a lower wage economy than the UK and in the EU, which makes them a great bet for outside investment.