Hover Fly
He, him, his
- Location
- Besides the lake, beneath the trees
Also Rudge, who had smaller bottom brackets, and some of the higher class builders (e.g. Carlton before Raleigh, Bates) who used Chater-Lea components with larger bottom brackets.
Mercian Cycles to close
- Thread starter DCLane
- Start date
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Also Rudge, who had smaller bottom brackets, and some of the higher class builders (e.g. Carlton before Raleigh, Bates) who used Chater-Lea components with larger bottom brackets.
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
be interesting to know who these 4 folk are , i wish them luck
T4tomo
Legendary Member
"local derby based businessmen" is all that's in the press releases, they presumably chose not to push their names out there.
biggs682
Itching to get back on my bike's
- Location
- Northamptonshire
Had a e mail earlier this week from the new owners touting for refinishing and general repair work , not quite sure how they got my email but hey ho
Hover Fly
He, him, his
- Location
- Besides the lake, beneath the trees
Minor point that may be useful, the phone number has changed from the old …..2468
Bonefish Blues
Banging donk
- Location
- 52 Festive Road
Two are registered as directors of the new entity on the.gov record.
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
dont recognize the names, with it being localish to me i wondered if i had heard of them
Bonefish Blues
Banging donk
- Location
- 52 Festive Road
No, nor anyone on ano forum either.
IanSmithCSE
Guru
- Location
- Worcester, Worcestershire
Good morning,
Time has passed since the anouncement and things are now probably what the new owners want them to be, so I thought that I would look around the web site.
A while back I posted .... and in many ways thought wow that is pretty cheap, just over £1,000 (ex VAT) for a 631 frame, so I can see how they could run out of money but it is still a lot of money for anyone not "into bikes". Even for those "into bikes" it is still a lot for a state of the arc (sic) frame.
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/mercian-cycles-to-close.297574/post-7204133
A custom frame is now £2,400, Audax frame and forks, 631 Reynolds oversize tubing including disc brakes price £2000 excluding VAT, this is up from £1,340 inc VAT. The site doesn't say or suggest anywhere that a standard specification build would cost any less.
A similar off the shelf frame is around £1,100+ depending upon tubing but there does appear to be a very limited selection, almost as it they are cancelled orders rather than a considered policy of keeping a few of the common frames in stock.
I also went to Woodrup and the Bob Jackson page is still a holding page, so no great rush for whatever was going to happen.
I almost don't get it, 631 is a very basic steel tube and it's not like we are in the 1970s when Reynolds could bluff the cycling community into believing that it is something special.
Of course I do get it, the cost of being in business is so high nowadays that you end up with prices that are so disconnected from the value of the product being sold, £400 tax on a steel bicycle frame!
At the other end of the scale McDonalds and the local chippie have a similar problem, you spend a tenner and end up with almost nothing to actually eat.
Bye
Ian
Time has passed since the anouncement and things are now probably what the new owners want them to be, so I thought that I would look around the web site.
A while back I posted .... and in many ways thought wow that is pretty cheap, just over £1,000 (ex VAT) for a 631 frame, so I can see how they could run out of money but it is still a lot of money for anyone not "into bikes". Even for those "into bikes" it is still a lot for a state of the arc (sic) frame.
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/mercian-cycles-to-close.297574/post-7204133
A custom frame is now £2,400, Audax frame and forks, 631 Reynolds oversize tubing including disc brakes price £2000 excluding VAT, this is up from £1,340 inc VAT. The site doesn't say or suggest anywhere that a standard specification build would cost any less.
A similar off the shelf frame is around £1,100+ depending upon tubing but there does appear to be a very limited selection, almost as it they are cancelled orders rather than a considered policy of keeping a few of the common frames in stock.
I also went to Woodrup and the Bob Jackson page is still a holding page, so no great rush for whatever was going to happen.
I almost don't get it, 631 is a very basic steel tube and it's not like we are in the 1970s when Reynolds could bluff the cycling community into believing that it is something special.
Of course I do get it, the cost of being in business is so high nowadays that you end up with prices that are so disconnected from the value of the product being sold, £400 tax on a steel bicycle frame!
At the other end of the scale McDonalds and the local chippie have a similar problem, you spend a tenner and end up with almost nothing to actually eat.
Bye
Ian
biggs682
Itching to get back on my bike's
- Location
- Northamptonshire
Good morning,
Time has passed since the anouncement and things are now probably what the new owners want them to be, so I thought that I would look around the web site.
A while back I posted .... and in many ways thought wow that is pretty cheap, just over £1,000 (ex VAT) for a 631 frame, so I can see how they could run out of money but it is still a lot of money for anyone not "into bikes". Even for those "into bikes" it is still a lot for a state of the arc (sic) frame.
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/mercian-cycles-to-close.297574/post-7204133
A custom frame is now £2,400, Audax frame and forks, 631 Reynolds oversize tubing including disc brakes price £2000 excluding VAT, this is up from £1,340 inc VAT. The site doesn't say or suggest anywhere that a standard specification build would cost any less.
A similar off the shelf frame is around £1,100+ depending upon tubing but there does appear to be a very limited selection, almost as it they are cancelled orders rather than a considered policy of keeping a few of the common frames in stock.
I also went to Woodrup and the Bob Jackson page is still a holding page, so no great rush for whatever was going to happen.
I almost don't get it, 631 is a very basic steel tube and it's not like we are in the 1970s when Reynolds could bluff the cycling community into believing that it is something special.
Of course I do get it, the cost of being in business is so high nowadays that you end up with prices that are so disconnected from the value of the product being sold, £400 tax on a steel bicycle frame!
At the other end of the scale McDonalds and the local chippie have a similar problem, you spend a tenner and end up with almost nothing to actually eat.
Bye
Ian
Makes this look very good value
https://www.facebook.com/share/1BAMs3pFuL/
IanSmithCSE
Guru
- Location
- Worcester, Worcestershire
Good morning,
Apart from the brake levers, even my £75 Raleigh Shadow in the 1970s had hoods!
Bye
Ian
Apart from the brake levers, even my £75 Raleigh Shadow in the 1970s had hoods!
Bye
Ian
Jameshow
Veteran
Good morning,
Time has passed since the anouncement and things are now probably what the new owners want them to be, so I thought that I would look around the web site.
A while back I posted .... and in many ways thought wow that is pretty cheap, just over £1,000 (ex VAT) for a 631 frame, so I can see how they could run out of money but it is still a lot of money for anyone not "into bikes". Even for those "into bikes" it is still a lot for a state of the arc (sic) frame.
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/mercian-cycles-to-close.297574/post-7204133
A custom frame is now £2,400, Audax frame and forks, 631 Reynolds oversize tubing including disc brakes price £2000 excluding VAT, this is up from £1,340 inc VAT. The site doesn't say or suggest anywhere that a standard specification build would cost any less.
A similar off the shelf frame is around £1,100+ depending upon tubing but there does appear to be a very limited selection, almost as it they are cancelled orders rather than a considered policy of keeping a few of the common frames in stock.
I also went to Woodrup and the Bob Jackson page is still a holding page, so no great rush for whatever was going to happen.
I almost don't get it, 631 is a very basic steel tube and it's not like we are in the 1970s when Reynolds could bluff the cycling community into believing that it is something special.
Of course I do get it, the cost of being in business is so high nowadays that you end up with prices that are so disconnected from the value of the product being sold, £400 tax on a steel bicycle frame!
At the other end of the scale McDonalds and the local chippie have a similar problem, you spend a tenner and end up with almost nothing to actually eat.
Bye
Ian
I'm guessing they are wanting to have a decent profit margin for the hours they are putting into making the frames.
Let's say it's 3rds materials / overheads / profit - wages.
That's £800 per frame which is probably a week's wages.
Seems fair enough.
If you want a cheaper frame then spa or genesis will get you one from the east....
The only way you could get it cheaper would be to open a factory in Nottingham and bang then out in 1000's. But that's not going to happen as its steel and not carbon..
Moon bunny
Judging your grammar
- Location
- Basking in my own brilliance.
The new frames from Pashley are just under £1600, with current fittings for disc brakes etc. I could be tempted.
IanSmithCSE
Guru
- Location
- Worcester, Worcestershire
Good morning,
Once you exclude the really exotic, and no longer available, tubesets like 953, there is a massive divide between the perceived "specialness" of frames made from Reynolds, Columbus etc.'s bike tubing and the reality of what it actually is.
And you really don't want to see just how cheap 525, 4130 CroMo, is.
When I was still at school Reynolds had an advert for 531 in Cycling refering to it as Manganese Molybedenum and making it seem very special. As I grew older I started to understand that it was just a mass manufactured alloy steel shaped for bike frame tubes.
In my mind the same also applies to making the frame, they can talk about 25, 50 or 100 years of experience but steel frame geometries were worked out 50+ years ago and haven't changed and Raleigh brazed 531 frames as a mass market product.
As you might guess from the above and my previous posts, I love steel frames but see the current prices as out of all proportion to what you are getting; Some mass produced steel tubes joined together in a pattern over half a century old using a technique that you can go on a course to learn in two weeks, one week for the frame and a second week for the forks.
I get why the operational costs are what they are, and as long as you admit to yourself that most of the price are for those not the actual product then it's your money and your choice.
It's very much like a Rolex without any jewels or gold, underneath it all there is a very well made product, but one that could easily be sold at say £1,000.
...... and remember the laughter as Raleigh tried to sell their 40th Aniversary 753 frames at £1,500, frames which carried their marketing and specification costs over a run of just 250 bikes?
Bye
Ian
I am way out of touch with the current Reynolds price list, but when I last looked (2013) 631 tubes were around £20 (top/down/seat) each and stays a bit less at around £15 each or around £220 for a frame set including forks
Once you exclude the really exotic, and no longer available, tubesets like 953, there is a massive divide between the perceived "specialness" of frames made from Reynolds, Columbus etc.'s bike tubing and the reality of what it actually is.
And you really don't want to see just how cheap 525, 4130 CroMo, is.
When I was still at school Reynolds had an advert for 531 in Cycling refering to it as Manganese Molybedenum and making it seem very special. As I grew older I started to understand that it was just a mass manufactured alloy steel shaped for bike frame tubes.
In my mind the same also applies to making the frame, they can talk about 25, 50 or 100 years of experience but steel frame geometries were worked out 50+ years ago and haven't changed and Raleigh brazed 531 frames as a mass market product.
As you might guess from the above and my previous posts, I love steel frames but see the current prices as out of all proportion to what you are getting; Some mass produced steel tubes joined together in a pattern over half a century old using a technique that you can go on a course to learn in two weeks, one week for the frame and a second week for the forks.
I get why the operational costs are what they are, and as long as you admit to yourself that most of the price are for those not the actual product then it's your money and your choice.
It's very much like a Rolex without any jewels or gold, underneath it all there is a very well made product, but one that could easily be sold at say £1,000.
...... and remember the laughter as Raleigh tried to sell their 40th Aniversary 753 frames at £1,500, frames which carried their marketing and specification costs over a run of just 250 bikes?
Bye
Ian
