i'm with you in spirit, but in my mind subcontracting is subcontracting. i don't think geographic borders help or hurt the quality. the bicycle industry, like most others, is market driven. in the raleigh example it wouldn't be incorrect to assume that the decision to move manufacturing from nottingham to "wherever" was made by englishmen. e-RICHIE chester, ct
On Thu, 4 Mar 2004 23:22:03 -0500 "P.C. Kohler" <kohl57@starpower.net> writes:
snipped from below: "When Raleigh stopped making machines in Nottingham, it died..."
why? e-RICHIE chester,ct WHY?
Because there was a time when English bikes were made in England by Englishmen who actually rode the bikes they used. Whole generations were raised on these machines. They reflected the national cycling traditions just as the now vanished French and Italian national makes. Today, they are made by cheap Third World labour. No one is going to tell that doesn't reflect in their quality. At least no one belonging to a site dedicated to classic bicycles!!
Peter Kohler Washington DC USA
kohl57@starpower.net writes:
> those who succeeded at it in various eras should be allowed the
> opportunity of profiting from the market they helped create. to a
> builder, i never met any italian who believed it was a virtue to stand
> at a bench when the option to "grow the business" was possible.
> e-RICHIE
Sure, why not. It's great to see proud old names used to profit people and employ folks. No worries. Then again, it's mainly our, shall we say, disappointment, at what is being produced under those famous names that inspires us to cherish and collect that which, we think, MADE the name famous and thus profitable in the first place. I trust this isn't called Classic Rendezvous for nothing
I'll say it right here that what Raleigh makes now is, in my personal opinion, utter crap. Maybe it's a combination of being made anywhere as long as it's cheap or maybe because I intensely dislike modern bikes. But if I were a heron, I'd take considerable offense at being stuck on this rubbish.
So Raleigh (and indeed Masi) can and will do as they wish and good on them. But I am sure not going buy 'em or be inclined to like 'em or even accept 'em because it "keeps the name alive". When Raleigh stopped making machines in Nottingham, it died. Full stop. End of story.
Oh, I don't know a thing about Masi's.. sorry. But that thing on eBay looked a lot like a Vietnamese-made Raleigh. The only issue is which once proud marque is more insulted by the comparison.
Peter Kohler
Washington DC USA