Evan's Cycles in trouble - ?

[Jenkins]

Slightly off tangent, but we used to have this discussion on the old BR forum, how does Fraser Group make any money?

Sports Direct probably subsidies a large part of the rest of the group.

 

[MichaelW2]

Halfords bikes have an extremely low recall rate compared to other brands despite their huge sales in the UK. Most of the premium brands have much higher safety recall rates. There are good reason for this. Halfords goes for a general spec for average people so tend to be much stronger with higher weight limits. So they are structurally much stronger. Higher performance bikes tend to have weaker components, butted tubes, carbon fibre parts, lightweight components so they can make lighter faster bikes. However there is huge crossover of bikes and you can see a Halfords £500 bike easily competing with a £900 Specialized bike for example for very similar specs. It really depends on what you perceive as quality, some might consider safety and reliability as quality others might consider being lightweight and more performance focused as quality. Carbon fibre frames for example which are open mould tend to be stronger and safer than the frames customised for a brand. Open mould are sold all around the world with lots of different brands and made in huge numbers over many years so get perfected and improved where as propriety custom frames are obviously manufactured in much smaller quantities and could be short-lived.

You shouldn't confuse perceived quality with actual quality. We all have are own perceptions on quality or bias but there is often real data that shows which brands are reliable. Warranty Direct did a study of car reliability years ago from all their warranty contracts data and German cars were by far the least reliable but many people perceive German cars to be good quality. Where as many people believe Japanese cars to be reliable and they actually are the most reliable. Different people have different views on quality some based on the evidence and some based on their own bias or accepting marketing.

Many premium brands spend a huge amount of marketing and sponsorship where as many budget brands don't so its easy to get manipulated. Most bikes feature the same components i.e. lots of Shimano products which are the same quality whichever bike you fit them too for the same actual product. A Trek mountain bike with Tourney gearing and freewheel is inferior to a Carrera mountain bike with Altus gearing and a casette even if they do sell at the same price. There is no magic in the Trek brand being slapped on at the factory like Fuji-ta who make a huge amount of bikes for multiple brands.

Ultimately unless you have a very high budget you will always get a better bike at Halfords for the same money or less because their margin is less and logistics are so much simpler. However there are real manufacturers mixed in with basically importers, Giant and Merida are real manufacturers so the logistics gets different because they actually manufacture their own products, frames, forks, wheels etc but they still have the same range of components fitted.

Also if you are a importer basically swopping manufacturers all the time to get a better price how can quality be consistent? Many brands moved away from having their bikes manufactured by Merida or Giant because they became too expensive so went to cheaper factories so there is a quality difference between years. Cannondale has used lots of different factories and some factories have created huge issues. I remember a video by sick/supreme biker on youtube where he shows the appalling manufacturing of the Cannondale bike he bought for a customer, the assembly was completely wrong at the factory. Cannondale of the past was jokingly called 'Crack'n'fail' because so many of their frames were breaking because they made them too light and weak.

I really don't think there is any tighter controls for the premium brands at these Asian factories, I see no evidence of it at all, no data that supports it.

One of the problems that Isla Bikes had was that they pioneered good quality children's bikes and no one else had even considered making them. They all made bad bikes whch sold well. Once she showed that there was a market for good biked, other people piled in because once you are making bikes on a big scale, making a new model with a big factory frame is a low cost , low risk activity.
Those Dragon's Den investors would not touch a business so lacking in protection.

 

[Big John]

Evans shop in Stafford now shut. We're swamped with bike shops so one had to go I guess.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Four pages in and no pedantic smartarse has asked ...

Who is Evan, and why are his cycles in trouble?

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

Four pages in and no pedantic smartarse has asked ...

Who is Evan, and why are his cycles in trouble?

We were all thinking it though 😉

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

Sports Direct probably subsidies a large part of the rest of the group.

Not anymore apparently. They used to but sales have dipped. According to some reports I read, brands like Flannels now chip in substantially.

As an aside, whilst looking I saw that he had bought out Gieves & Hawkes the Savile Row tailor last year!

 

[Dan Lotus]

It's his 'business model' to pick up the known names when they are on their knees, and hope people don't realise he has bought them and cheapened them to maximise profit. There's LOADS of brands out there, I can't be bothered to google, but the once (long time ago) well respected Muddy Fox, Airwalk, Slazenger, Karrimor, No Fear - are all now gobbled up and just used for their names - pretty sure I have all those correct, but could be wrong.

I can never forgive him for what he did to the once great Lillywhites in Piccadilly circus.

I went in there when it was still a proper sports shop, with skilled staff members, and a racket restringing service even.

Unbeknown to me, I revisited only a few years later to again get my racket restrung, to be met with floor to ceiling boxes of cheap trainers, and staff who had no clue what racket restringing even was, and clearly ashley wouldn't waste time on such an endeavour anyway that likely wouldn't make him enough profit.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I can never forgive him for what he did to the once great Lillywhites in Piccadilly circus.

I didn't realise Lillywhites was Mike Ashley. Not a shop I ever went to but I do remember its demise, the withdrawal of the Queen's warrant, and seeing the blank space on the wall where it had been.

 

[Punkawallah]

That bike on your avatar…. Ooooooooo… cool!

Fie, sir! Thou wilt turn mine head! :-) Since been upgraded - you may not approve:

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

Fie, sir! Thou wilt turn mine head! :-) Since been upgraded - you may not approve:

View attachment 792195

I would be more approving if it was parked in my front room. Nice job.

these older machines are so under rated. Each time I take my 1977 Centurion out I marvel at how nice it feels. Working for a Trek dealer I get to try whatever I want and the new stuff’s ride quality is no better.

 

[fossyant]

Just googled Evan's locally and there is one inside a Sports Direct in town, and the only other I can see is an actual store on the outskirts of Manchester. The Deansgate one shut ages ago alongside the Velodrome shop and the one that used to be next to the Ski Slope in Trafford. Bought my wife's Pinnacle hybrid and a tag-a-long from that store.

 

[raleighnut]

Fie, sir! Thou wilt turn mine head! :-) Since been upgraded - you may not approve:

View attachment 792195

Lovely, brake levers in the right place on correctly angled handlebars, wide flange hubs (Maillard?) a Brooks and 'suicide' brake levers. Not to mention all silver groupset......................a proper bike

 

[Punkawallah]

I would be more approving if it was parked in my front room. Nice job.

these older machines are so under rated. Each time I take my 1977 Centurion out I marvel at how nice it feels. Working for a Trek dealer I get to try whatever I want and the new stuff’s ride quality is no better.

View attachment 792196

Aaaand now I have another colour scheme in my head! Damn you, sir! :-)

Id agree with the ‘feel’ of older bikes. Test riding a variety of bike repairs at the shop lets me try a fair amount, but the only ‘modern’ brand I liked was Giant. Apparently I have expensive tastes :-)

 

[Punkawallah]

Lovely, brake levers in the right place on correctly angled handlebars, wide flange hubs (Maillard?) a Brooks and 'suicide' brake levers. Not to mention all silver groupset......................a proper bike

You and your ‘purdey mouth’! Hubs are Maillard, Suntiour VX mechs and 14-34 freewheel. It is my ‘out and about’ ride and tourer. The ‘hack’ is an older Dawes frame flat-bar’d for going into town.

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

Aaaand now I have another colour scheme in my head! Damn you, sir! :-)

Id agree with the ‘feel’ of older bikes. Test riding a variety of bike repairs at the shop lets me try a fair amount, but the only ‘modern’ brand I liked was Giant. Apparently I have expensive tastes :-)

You need one of these! A Project One Trek Madone. Custom iridium paint job, (4 grand that) upgraded carbon wheels etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. $23,000 out the door.

I have never been so afraid of scratching a bike as when I was building this thing. I had someone else test drive it.

I always find it mildly amusing that the higher the price, the less likely it is to come with pedals.

one nice thing is that the guy bought it actually rides it.