The tides of time
It's funny how things ebb and flow over time
Saracen used to be awesome
Muddy Fox used to make cracking bikes with real style
Both of them just kept cutting costs back and making bikes in cheaper ways each season
I swear I can see the trend happening with the big US originated names now like GT, Kona, Cannondale, Specialized, Trek
It's short termist, you'll sell a huge quantity of bikes to kids and people with racks on the back of their VW Sharan, but you will ultimately kill off your top end buyers interest and have no prestige
Saracen are trying to turn back (making top bikes in the UK again), I wish Muddy Fox would get it together too
Personally I feel if you want to have prestige and sell rubbish, you should create a sub-brand for the rubbish stuff and make sure it really isn't very rubbish at all, just cheap and made in Asia
It's how it's done in the Guitar world by the likes of Fender and Gibson
Of course the bike buying public don't understand that suspension and disk brakes that actually work would cost money, they think they can expect that technology on a £100 BSO... Buyer stupidity complicates things...
I'm not 100 sure but I have a feeling Diamond back are a Raliegh brand now?
If they are that would explain a lot
Raleigh shut down their Nottingham plant yonks ago
Between then Raleigh and Falcon own most of the old Brit brands
And for the most part they use them as labels for their tripe
Ah well! At least we have the past to look forward to