Complete confusion - how many raleigh's are there?

whydoesitalwaysrainonme

Just been reading this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raleigh_Bikes
and from what i can understand raleigh was divided up (raleigh uk, raleigh us and raleigh denmark etc) years ago and sold off to different people. Can somebody explain this to me, also is raleigh UK british owned and does it own any other divisions of raleigh.
Sorry it is a bit of a difficult question, it is just quite interesting.
J

ballspondroad

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~hadland/raleigh.htm

It's a bit of a sad read, but who knows, perhaps that bird on the Raleigh badge is a phoenix and not a heron.

whydoesitalwaysrainonme

I think, from what i can gather Raleigh is one brand but huffy is licensed to produce and sell Raleigh USA.
It is quite sad, from a big brand to a small one with a poor reputation.

RHRoop

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raleigh_(bicycle)

If you believe this all the Raleigh brands are now owned by the same person although it appears that there are still differences in local brands.

My LBS is a Raleigh USA dealer and I have a Raleigh X1.0. It is a great bike. Some of my mates ride their high end carbon bikes and they are very nice.

You can link to the UK site from Raleigh USA. It is interesting but the UK market has offerings not available in the US like a TT bike. This might be because the same frame is offered by another brand under Raleigh's parent or sold from the Taiwan factory to a competing brand.

balthazar

ballspondroad wrote:

perhaps that bird on the Raleigh badge is a phoenix and not a heron.

Nice comment!

errata: I used to commute in along Balls Pond Road for a couple of years, a few years ago. I have fond memories —bizarrely, some might think— of Dalston and Hackney from then.

mercsport

A little OT, but I seem to recall that the factory scenes, in the great 1960 film 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning', were all shot in the Raleigh factory in Nottingham in its heyday. Huge !

The young Albert Finney played the central character Arthur Seaton who spent the working day on his capstan lathe knocking out - it was mentioned, though I forget the exact figure - but, about a thousand crank axles or bottom brackets per day. Piece work ! (what would a CNC machine produce today I wonder?). And, of course, hopping on and off his Raleigh to and from work, the pub, and his various bits of fluff. Shirley Anne Field was one of them.



Edit : This is an interesting link also : http://www.riffdesign.co.uk/radford/raleh/ral.htm

Ash_

Some years ago, I went back to Uni to do a postgrad course in Nottingham. The campus was on Triumph Road, opposite what was left of the Raleigh factory. Over the course of a year, I saw the site go from factory (albeit at a massively reduced capacity - in fact by this time it was little more than a warehouse, they certainly weren't producing anything) to rubble. Very sad...

Cressers

I'm sure the brand could be resurected given the right product and promotion.