Is it possible to "Buy British"

MadCowes

I am considering buying a road bike to add to my old mountain bike ('98 Stumpjumper) and my cheap-as-chips commuting hybrid (20kg has proved enough mass to keep it in my possesion for a few years!)

I feel I need a "relaxed" , "sportive" type frame, I am NOT planning to race and I am old enough to know if it's too uncomfortable it just won't get ridden and will end up sitting in the corner of the garage.

I am planning to spend about £800 to £1000 and in these times when people are struggling to make ends meet I would really like to feel that my purchase will be supporting the British economy.

From what I can work out the retailer will get their cut, so that must help whatever bike I choose, but are there any bike frames in this price range that are made in the UK? The groupset is going to come from Japan, Italy or USA or is there a British option? Do any of these foriegn companies produce parts in the UK (like Nissan in Sunderland)? What about wheels? or tires? Is the best I can hope for "designed in Britain" or perhaps "assembled in Britain"?

Wirral_paul

Just stick to "Bought in Britain" and buy the bike that best suits your needs and budget. My "British" Moda frame was made in Taiwan and equipped with mostly American components. Your £800 to £1000 isnt about to change the country - as much as you'd like it to. You'll end up regretting buying the wrong bike though if you buy based on "Britishness"

rolf_f

If only everyone had your approach we wouldn't be in this mess! Well, we might but we'd be more like Germany and less like Italy! I bought my Orange partly to support a British company that is still making frames over here even though mine wasn't one of those. Still helps the economy.

If you go steel there are plenty of UK manufacturers - eg Woodrups, Mercian, Dave Yates. Bob Jacksons in Leeds are about the cheapest; you can get one of their handmade steel frames for well under £500 and bespoke is a couple of hundred more. You can certainly make a £450 ish frame into a £1000 bike.

Brooks still make saddles here, Crud make mudguards here, Hope make hubs and lights and complete wheels (though the rims are foreign made irrc). I am fairly sure you can get UK made chainrings but they are probably pretty expensive. No groupsets currently though who knows what Hope might try. Headsets and bars maybe possible.

You can get wheels built here (albeit from foreign components) - eg Spa Cycles do nice ones for about £150 and up.

bmxboy10

you will need to up your budget - look at Enigma for example

ugo.santalucia

Plenty of UK frame builders, lots of wheels builders (although parts are made in the far east) Brooks saddles... you can put some britishness in a bike and it's probably worth doing so, in terms of quality.
For the groupset, go Italian though...

mroli

Sturmey Archer going to be the closest thing you can get to a "British" Groupset I should imagine - but owned and made in taiwan these days.

giant_man

Enigma bikes are built right here in the UK. Can't get more british than that, as are other framebuilders.

greasedscotsman

giant man wrote:

Enigma bikes are built right here in the UK. Can't get more british than that, as are other framebuilders.

I though they imported their off the peg frame?

MadCowes

Thanks for all the thoughts.

The more you look at this the more complex it seems to be, with components being manufactured in the four corners of the world. But it is pretty clear that if you really want a British Bike it would have to be built from scratch and gears would be a problem.

Perhaps I should consider a "British Brand" such as:
CBoardman
Dolan
Enigma
Planet X
Ribble

I am guessing that the Retailers cut and the Brand/Company profit would both come back to the UK, even if all the bits are made elsewhere.

A Brookes saddle looks like a good finishing touch.....

jordan_217

greasedscotsman wrote:

giant man wrote:

Enigma bikes are built right here in the UK. Can't get more british than that, as are other framebuilders.

I though they imported their off the peg frame?

The majority of (if not all) the Ti frames are made in Taiwan to the exact spec of Enigma. They are finished and built (if required) here in the UK at their Eastbourne HQ.

The Steel bikes are designed, built and finished here in the UK. I believe the plan is to move the Ti frame building operation to the UK in the near future.

marcusjb

There is plenty of really good British stuff out there - but, Britain can't compete against the Far East directly, so has to manufacture niche, high-end products.

So, you can get a frame made in the UK, saddle, hubs, bottom brackets, headsets will all be easy to source - but at the higher end of the price scale (Royce or Hope hubs are far from cheap). Bits of drivetrain - you've got companies like Middleburn for cranks and rings. Again, expensive.

It's a nice idea, but unless you're budget is sizeable, you will struggle - and you'd never get everything.

I've supported Royce with hubs and bottom bracket on my main bike - and, of course, a Brooks. My condor frame is made in Italy and then various other bits manufactured in France, Germany, Italy and Japan. I suspect seatpost and stem will be made in Taiwan.

The best thing you can do to properly support the british bike industry is to buy stuff from your LBS regularly.

slowsider

MadCowes wrote:

I am planning to spend about £800 to £1000 and in these times when people are struggling to make ends meet I would really like to feel that my purchase will be supporting the British economy.

Imagine if forriners didn't buy British goods - where would the export trade be then ?

However, if you could stretch the budget try this http://www.moultonbicycles.co.uk/models/TSR30.html

itsnotarace

ugo.santalucia wrote:

For the groupset, go Italian though...

You mean Romanian / Taiwanese

iPete

I tend to go British where possible [Hope and Brompton] but it would be difficult to build an entire bike.

Have a look at Burls, you might be able to get a custom Ti within budget.

rolf_f

MadCowes wrote:

Perhaps I should consider a "British Brand" such as:
CBoardman
Dolan
Enigma
Planet X
Ribble

That's if you don't want to buy one of the proper British frames that have been suggested. Bob Jackson do off the peg - about 6 week delivery time. It isn't exactly complicated - you order the frame and, if you like, you order the parts you want at the same time and Bob Jacksons build it as a complete bike to your spec.

You could put together a bike with a Jackson steel frame, handbuilt in UK wheels, a Brooks saddle and maybe a NOS Campag groupset that would come in under 1k and be primarily British, secondarily European and almost not at all Far Eastern!

giant_man

jordan_217 wrote:

greasedscotsman wrote:

giant man wrote:

Enigma bikes are built right here in the UK. Can't get more british than that, as are other framebuilders.

I though they imported their off the peg frame?

The majority of (if not all) the Ti frames are made in Taiwan to the exact spec of Enigma. They are finished and built (if required) here in the UK at their Eastbourne HQ.

The Steel bikes are designed, built and finished here in the UK. I believe the plan is to move the Ti frame building operation to the UK in the near future.

Their steel, stainless steel and bespoke ti frames are built at Eastbourne. Their off-the-peg ti frames are indeed imported.

MadCowes

Thanks for the lead Rolf F

I had a quick look at Bob Jackson's website and that route definitely warrants a bit more investigation.

I like the idea of being able to pick and choose the parts, but I guess this will be a bit more expensive than picking a complete bike off the shelf.

Perhaps it'll turn out to be a question of being patient and saving a bit more cash to get a bike that is right for me and has some real brit-bits on it.

Rigga

What about Genesis bikes? Gorgeous steel framed bikes, aren't these built in the UK? or are they just designed here?

mroli

Of course the Brompton is very proudly built in Chiswick West London....!

andy46

I like the idea of my Forme being british, however like many others it says on the frame "Designed in the UK"

I still think of it as British though.

Monty Dog

Genesis are Madison's in-house brand and the bikes come from the Far East - probably the air in the tyres is the only British ingredient...
The only frames made in the UK are steel AFAIK - maybe apart from the Team GB carbon frames.

team47b

slowsider "Imagine if forriners didn't buy British goods - where would the export trade be then ?"

I live in Portugal and bought my German bikes from Ireland using an English bank account. Personally keeping Europe going! Shame I couldn't have used a Greek delivery company (there's probably a joke or two there)

BikingBernie

itsnotarace wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

For the groupset, go Italian though...

You mean Romanian / Taiwanese

Only for the low end groups though, the upper range Campag stuff is still made in Italy, a strategy dismissed as an 'arrogant' refusal to embrace American style out-sourcing by companies such as SRAM and FSA.

http://www.bicycling.com/news/featured- ... talian-job

Also, Campagnolo do sell their outsourced products at very good prices. I have just bought a pair of Veloce dual pivot brakes, made in Taiwan but amazing value at just £27. Compare that to the top-dollar prices companies like SRAM charge for their stuff, all of which is outsourced to places like China.

PhilPub

Get your wheels built by Harry Rowland. No doubt he'd have to source foreign manufactured components but he doesn't half build a good wheel.