The Raleigh outburst

afctumike

I haven't seen this on the forum so I thought I'd post it.

It's a remarkable outburst from the top man at Raleigh directed at, it seems, everyone in the retail sector. He refers to Halfords and Argos as "bunch of vipers" and many independent LBS's as "Steptoe and Son" set ups. He admits Raleigh's best seller is a bike "that is pink with pom-poms"!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/nov/23/cycling

Hardly surprisingly there has been a reply, in this case from the Secretary General of the European Two Wheel Retailers Association.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,,2217452,00.html

tardington

I've already read it, and the quotes are a wee bit out of context - he does explain why he says they are vipers etc - they want to control the supply chain as much as possible to keep costs as low as possible - not so good if you make the bikes! And I've had plenty of eperience with steptoe-type bike shop people

I thought he came across pretty well in the article, on the whole.

As for the poms poms, it's the wee pink little girls bike he was talking about

Belv

Raleigh are no better than the likes of Halfords or Argos anyway - they all sell rebadged Far Eastern bikes. The difference is that by importing directly, the chains can make their margin at a much lower RRP than the bicycle shop who has to pay Raleighs margin and then add on some of their own. So the same spec bike is on sale at your local shop for £30 than the chains with the only difference being the Raleigh sticker.

If i wanted to buy that level of bicycle, then i wouldn't care what stickers were on it.

tardington

The bloke does say that they had stopped doing that - although it's still far-eastern factories... Apparently there was NO way they could have kept the last british one.

DISCLAIMER: I would really like Raleigh to be cool again I had a mtb/bmx with yellow plastic wheels when I was very young... it rocked! And the Chopper 8)

Belv

Raleigh are a spent force in my mind. When they were closed their UK factory, they had the choice of being a 'serious' brand or a 'volume' brand and they went for volume. With their reputation and history, i think this was a mistake.

Ever-increasing globalisation has made the position of middle-men very vulnerable and Raleigh have learnt this. When it does finally go down the pan I suspect that the name will make a return as a high-end brand in years to come (a bit like Triumph motorcycles) as long as the reputation hasn't been too damaged.

And all this ^^^ was my opinion before this 'top man' admitted that Halfords was doing a better job of selling bikes and that Raleigh doesn't like it's customers! Not wise.

georgee

Did Ratner also go to Teeside Poly, seems they must have been in the same class of how to loose trade. I think their greatest problem is and always be quality.

Spesh are a volume producer so are Giant, Trek and Marin and they still do it, you don't have to be niche to work.

Stig-OT-Dump

Raleigh provide the bikes for Cyclists Fighting Cancer - http://www.cyclistsfightingcancer.org.uk/

Jolly good eggs in my book, just for that reason alone.

May lots of people donate lots of cash because what CFC do is ace!

ChrisLS

...I would like Raleigh to be cool again...in their day they built some really excellent bikes. I have owned 4 Raleigh Bikes in my time. My wife had a very nice Mixte frame(I think Trek have re introudced this very elegant style again) and my son owns an Airlight, which is his first road bike. I think Raleigh should build on their fine name and pedigree...I would love to ride one again. I saw their range at the Bike Show and, sadly thought, they are not up to speed with the likes of Trek, and the other big boys yet...

secretsam

"If you want to imagine the typical independent bike dealer, he is 50-60, highly cynical, miserable, moaning, scruffy"

Sounds like the mob at Evans on Gray's Inn Rd, bar the age bracket. Fair comment, I'd say.

As for the reply, it's lame.

Fact: "old" Raleigh tried to be all things to all men, and in today's brand-aware times buying a bike branded the same as one that kids ride is a total no-no, unless you were a decent brand first: Specialized can do it because they were known for adult bikes first.

Raleigh were always best known for run-of-the-mill tat. "First bikes" like my (rotten) old Raleigh Arena. The Chopper was (and is) horrible. There used to be a decent Raleigh racing team (with Panasonic), but did it sell their regular bikes? Probably not.

Raleigh failed also because it was complacent and didn't see the shift in the market brought on by the advent of MTBs; it's own initial offering was tawdry and about as cool as donkey's dung. It could have launched a whole new brand into what was a nascent industry, with many new consumers, and failed to do so.

If Raleigh wants to make money, it needs to sort out its branding and image, and although owning its distribution network is one way to go, at the end of the it has to have an attractive profit at a price point that will make it money.

il_principe

I agree with what someone else on here said! Look at Specialized or Trek, both have been around for far less time than Raleigh and are hugely successful. Raleigh have missed the boat completely and they're paying the price now.

georgee

I liked the fact the key interests to the MD was formula 1, not a hint that he might ever use a bike?

richardjallen

I think Raleigh can make decent bikes. When I was looking for a £400ish racer the Airlite looked like the best speced I had seen. I decided to go upmarket though and got a PlanetX. Now I have seen an Airlite Carbon and the frame is identical and it has a Campag groupset which appeals now all for £999. If you take the name away it looks fine to my eyes.

For me its the association with kids bikes. Mine was a Griter, that frankly I hated because it was sooo heavy.

Kids bikes are never going to be up to much because a child does not need high spec and they grow so quick. If they make bikes for kids then there will always be this legacy and it will last a long time.

An option for them is the Diamond Back range. I tried a funny sort of MTB commuter one recently with hub gears and brakes. Now that I think about it, a bit like that Grifter. I was pleasantly surprised but it was not quite what I was after.

There must be a way in to the commuter market for them. A swift hybrid that's built to be cost effective. By that I mean decent components that perform well even after a few years of use everyday but don't need to be top of the price range.

dondare

afctumike wrote:

I haven't seen this on the forum so I thought I'd post it.

It's a remarkable outburst from the top man at Raleigh directed at, it seems, everyone in the retail sector. He refers to Halfords and Argos as "bunch of vipers" and many independent LBS's as "Steptoe and Son" set ups. He admits Raleigh's best seller is a bike "that is pink with pom-poms"!

Irresistable. I bought three.

tardington

I'd forgotten about Grifters! My brother had a Grifter! He lent it to me while he was away on school camp, and I stuck stickers from inside of Coco Pops packets all over it! 8)

Later on at school, my friends had Mustangs... I had an 'Apollo' monstrosity... :oops:

Gambatte

tardie wrote:

I had an 'Apollo' monstrosity...

Was that the purple one with the cowhorns?

Sea_Green_Incorruptible

I used to have a 'Striker': the junior Grifter. Made from pig iron and with fake plastic 'suspension' at the front (in homage to 'Kickstart', the popular kids' motorbike programme I think). Ridiculous of course but it convinced me and I used to ride it 'off road' at every opportunity - the weight of the bike ploughing great furrows in the ground behind me as I went I'm sure.

By the way, posting on this thread right now is a bit of a 'cycle avoidance' strategy as its p*ssing down outside and I'm not especially looking forward to my ride home tonight...

DavidTQ

I had a Raleigh Burner BMX as a kid seemed decent enough to me, mag wheels were so cool back then . Ive got a old Raleigh mini burner for my son now, despite being a mini size knee high bmx it weighs more than my road bike :shock:

Adamskii

I still use a Raleigh 501 steel frame as my commuting machine. Had it 12 years and changed all the parts but the frame is still going strong. I must have done over 25,000 miles on it, if that s not a testament then I don't know what is!