The Raleigh Story, BBC4 tonight, @ 11.10

[Mike_P]

Indeed. All that 'life continues' stuff at the end, and I'm thinking, ok, so we have a Dutch company that's using an old British name to sell Far Eastern bikes into the UK market - in what sense is that a continuation of Raleigh? Really enjoyed the stuff about the founding of the company tho' - given six months to live, saved by cycling!

They claim to still be designing the bikes in Nottingham so by far are not the only UK company with foreign owners and the actual goods made in the far east. https://www.raleigh.co.uk/gb/en/about-us/history/

 

[Johnsco]

Old Teddy Boy I think.

That's more like it !

 

[Johnsco]

They claim to still be designing the bikes in Nottingham so by far are not the only UK company with foreign owners and the actual goods made in the far east. https://www.raleigh.co.uk/gb/en/about-us/history/

This is the real shame and disgrace of it all.
There is a lot of deception going on.
I know (and have worked with) a company based in France who are importing products from the Far East via Italy.
They are marked "Made in Italy" on the production line in China ... to be sold in the UK as "of EU manufacture".
The buyer ........ a major contractor to the UK Ministry of Defence.
An utter scandal - All the parties know what is going on, but prefer to look only at the price.
Quality ????? Don't get me started !!

 

[swee'pea99]

They claim to still be designing the bikes in Nottingham so by far are not the only "UK company" with foreign owners and the actual goods made in the far east. https://www.raleigh.co.uk/gb/en/about-us/history/

Indeed. (FTFY)

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Indeed. All that 'life continues' stuff at the end, and I'm thinking, ok, so we have a Dutch company that's using an old British name to sell Far Eastern bikes into the UK market - in what sense is that a continuation of Raleigh? Really enjoyed the stuff about the founding of the company tho' - given six months to live, saved by cycling!

As far as I'm concerned, a Raleigh is only a proper one if it's frame was fabricated in Nottingham and the bike was assembled there. That means bikes built pre-2000, so in my book there are now no real Raleighs that are less than twenty years old. I happened to pick up one of the very last Nottingham-built ones as a parts donor, not realising at first how late it was in the production timeline. Once I'd had a look at the frame number and the penny dropped, I decided to keep in as a complete bike.

 

[tyred]

As far as I'm concerned, a Raleigh is only a proper one if it's frame was fabricated in Nottingham and the bike was assembled there. That means bikes built pre-2000, so in my book there are now no real Raleighs that are less than twenty years old. I happened to pick up one of the very last Nottingham-built ones as a parts donor, not realising at first how late it was in the production timeline. Once I'd had a look at the frame number and the penny dropped, I decided to keep in as a complete bike.
View attachment 551145

They were also manufactured in Dublin up until the factory burned down in '76. My Twenty is a Dublin built model.

 

[Sharky]

That lady in the film - could fit a new tyre and tube in 50 secs. Wonder how long it would take her to fit a M+?

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

They were also manufactured in Dublin up until the factory burned down in '76. My Twenty is a Dublin built model.

That's fair comment if they were building the same products to the same quality level. In the case of Raleigh I would not be surprised if many of the individual component parts were actually Nottingham manufactured, but then shipped to Dublin for assembly!
What I really object to is former British manufacturers importing everything from the far east, but selling it with their decals on as though they were still UK-manufactured bikes.
Even if the bikes themselves are fit for purpose, the practice is misleading and bordering on downright dishonest, IMHO. A casual cyclist who remembers such brands from their childhood might reasonably assume they were still buying a British made product when they are not.