Rubbish brands that made a good bike?

[ishaw]

I was pondering this the other day. While we all covet nice retro brands and steeds, I was wondering if any brands that we would not usually consider when looking for that dream build had simply knocked one out of the park?

I don't expect any appollos or Argos specials, but are there examples of such things? I'm thinking more about frames than a bike hung with good parts that were cheap due to the brand.

I haven't got any examples myself, nor do I think a good brand gone bad counts either (Raleigh spring to mind in this category).

 

[My_Teenage_Self]

carrera actually had some decent bikes in their range in the 90s. There was some decent steel frames.

 

[ishaw]

They were actually a brand that did spring to mind. A mate had a really nice 531 racing bike and I remember the 531 steel MTBs, and estays. Did they start of good and go 'generic' or did they produce some nice frames against the run of play?

 

[Lhatch4]

Schwinn had the Homegrown made by Yeti. Mongoose had the Amplifier and a nice titanium bike built by TST for a couple years. You might say they were once good brands that went bad but I don't remember being amazed by either in their overall lineups.

 

[ishaw]

Just wondering if these count as the frames were made/designed by other brands (yeti and amp)? I had a mongoose amplifier once, very nice it was too.

 

[KermitGKona88]

They were actually a brand that did spring to mind. A mate had a really nice 531 racing bike and I remember the 531 steel MTBs, and estays. Did they start of good and go 'generic' or did they produce some nice frames against the run of play?

They started out very average, then made some pretty decent stuff, for a while their top frames were made by Merida. Then plummeted into complete sh!te...

 

[KermitGKona88]

Who made the Huffy frames that were actually raced (Road)...

 

[Tsundere]

Team Peugeot had Roberts bikes (I think D.O.G.S.B.O.L.X) with Peugeot livery. Worth keeping your eyes peeled for fillet brazed Peugeots.

 

[ishaw]

I'm not looking for another project, got far too many already, it was a thought that just came to mind as something I was watching made me think about this.

 

[mk one]

Raleigh springs to mind, and a lot of the nicer frames from companies were usually made by others but rebranded.