For a bit of fun: a wholly British bike..........

[Alan Whicker]

Superstar Components have some British made pedals in their catalogue. Can't find them on their (rubbish) website though.

Velosolo have a lot of British made singlespeed kit on their site. Any CNC-equipped engineers (of which there are still many in this country, particularly in't North) could bang out components until the cows came home - if punters were prepared to pay for them.

I though Giant were Dutch based?

 

[ufkacbln]

yea giant is taiwanese, i thought it was usa too but when i got one i looked it up lol.

Giant is a story in itself...

The US manufacturers started getting frames etc made in Taiwan because it was cheaper. The Taiwanese then simply used all the skills and techniques learned from the US companies into their own brand - Giant

 

[Baggy]

Don't forget Royce components!

Seconded! Their hubs are beautiful and I aspire to own a bottom bracket.

 

[betty swollocks]

Seconded! Their hubs are beautiful and I aspire to own a bottom bracket.

Royce were in my original list.

Brit bike not poss then?
Difficulty seems to be rims, spokes, and chain?

 

[craigwend]

Cooper bikes ???


well nearly...

http://www.cooperbikes.com/road-bikes.html

 

[Beardie]

and brompton frames are welded in taiwan, they are only painted here.

I'm pretty sure you're wrong on that. I have just spent 15 minutes trying to trace the magazine article I read about Brompton and their determination to keep frames built in Britain. I'm still looking, but I recall that they work on the principle that if they outsource frame production, it is easier for someone to plagiarise it. There were some bikes made abroad by some unauthorised manufacturer, but Brompton took legal action and had them all destroyed.

 

[aberal]

Did Dunlop used to make bike tyres?

 

[mickle]

I'm pretty sure you're wrong on that. I have just spent 15 minutes trying to trace the magazine article I read about Brompton and their determination to keep frames built in Britain. I'm still looking, but I recall that they work on the principle that if they outsource frame production, it is easier for someone to plagiarise it. There were some bikes made abroad by some unauthorised manufacturer, but Brompton took legal action and had them all destroyed.

All Brompton frames and sub-frames are brazed by hand in London before being trucked up the M4 to Wales for powder coating.

 

[Kirstie]

Hmm i'm sure there was a far east connection. I set brompton bicycles as a business case study in a course I was teaching a few years ago and i could have sworn that factoid was in there. apols if I'm mistaken. Also apols for missing royce in the original list. i did look for it. I'm clearly going insane and quite possibly blind as well

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Hmm i'm sure there was a far east connection. I set brompton bicycles as a business case study in a course I was teaching a few years ago and i could have sworn that factoid was in there. apols if I'm mistaken. Also apols for missing royce in the original list. i did look for it. I'm clearly going insane and quite possibly blind as well

They allowed some frames to be produced under licence for the Japanese market I think, a few years back. The quality was not felt to be right, so they stopped. You will still find some of these frames knocking about occasionally.

 

[Bromptonaut]

IIRC some of the Ti components on the Xtype B's are foreeign but possibly E Europe rather than Far East.