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Cove bikes were a shop, that started making bikes, but eventually went back to being a shop again.
I think there were quite a few smallish companies (like Sombrio) that hired in some ‘specialists’ to advise them on how to make them more successful between about 2010 and 2018 who were advised to borrow big and expand/diversify only to collapse under their own debt. Personally I think some companies should have embraced the fact they were a core brand or small-mid scale and they’d still be going. Did anyone by any Sombrio Road/gravel and XC stuff?
As a diehard Shimano fan, yes Sram are ahead in terms of MTB innovation - being more agile and rider-led.
But in mid-range mechanical shifting (because I don't need or want anything higher), Shimano have caught up with them and smashed them on quality and price.
Just need to get those brakes a bit more reliable.
Did anyone by any Sombrio Road/gravel and XC stuff?
Yeah, I have a beautiful Sombrio merino jersey with three pockets in the back.
Not worn it much, but it should come into its own now I've got into gravel.
But thy have definetely reinvented themselves again and have a decent range of not overly flash hardworking spec’d bikes with good progressive geo for not insane money.
agreed really good bikes, with decent specs, even things like their grips are great https://www.marinbikes-shop.com/products/grip-3?variant=39571011469415¤cy=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic
I can half get the Kona comments but I still like their bikes, the Sutra is a great bike and I’d love a Honzo ESD at some point.
Are Ellsworth bikes still a thing? Seemed like quite a desirable and progressive brand back in the day but seem have dropped off the radar big time.
Maybe they were just too far ahead of the gravel game?
I’m sure the stuff was good (my Pinner shorts lasted forever)
Mongoose
I’m a shimano guy and always will be. Not the lightest v some of SRAM stuff but works very well. Better longevity and reliability than SRAM will ever be !
Ridgeback back in the 80's made a couple of decent well specked bikes.
Diamondback
I think I read that the UK and Euro Diamondbacks and the US Diamondbacks are completely differnet. By all accounts the US stuff is supposed be alright. Think I saw something on Seth's YouTube channel a while back
Turner.
On a side note, I do think Santa Cruz DH bikes haven't been the same since they dropped the Coke can holster in the swingarm. Big step backwards in my view.
Are Ellsworth bikes still a thing?
Yep. Gone carbon to make them even hideouser
Ridgeback back in the 80’s made a couple of decent well specked bikes.
Back in the early 90s when everyone's top bike seemed to be Tange Prestige and an XT grouoset, Ridgeback had a beautiful brazed offering in the Freewheel catalogue
PACE bikes. Used to be something very special but I dont think they these days unfortunately.
maybe it was just seeing them out on Harden Moor back in the day developing the square tubed bikes...
The only good Raleighs were the RSP's, everything else was just mass market nonsense. Same for Peugeots, I had custody of a UO-8 for a while and it was nothing special (in fact it even had the infamous "death stem" that would crack radially and snap as you were riding along).
Diamondback.
I was finishing a ride on the weekend on my 1995 DBR Axis TT, when I passed someone riding up the road on an alloy DBR road bike.
I know it wasn’t new & have no idea what they make now.
They make GT level bikes but without the aspirational name.
I still have a 1995 gas pipe Traverse in my loft.
Ridgeback back in the 80’s made a couple of decent well specked bikes.
My first MTB was a Ridgeback 601 in 87/88. Was their entry level model and I was really lusting after a Raleigh Maverick, but out of my budget at the time...
My local shop has one of the Raleigh TI team bikes for sale - fully restored.
https://www.justonemorebike.co.uk/bike-shop
Admission time. My name is Simon, and I have never liked GT bikes, they’ve always been fugly.
Erm...Admission time. My name is Simon, too, and I have never liked GT bikes either. How odd. 😂
Raleigh have done quite a few special edition versions of classic 80s/90s bikes over the years eg
https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/bikes/road-bikes/ti-raleigh-40th-anniversary-edition-review/
Who’s ahead of them then, with what?
SRAM. I'd say - as former diehard Shimano user that apart from the weightless (ease of) shifting and the shifters themselves, every other part of SRAM is better in terms of how robust it is, how long it lasts, and the ease of installation. The AXS SRAM stuff is so much better than DI2 that they're almost not worth comparing, especially if you're looking at the dropper as well, and for proper bling, is anyone going to spec XTR when for a couple hundred more you could have AXS XX and for the same price; AXS XO1?
I have never liked GT bikes
Same here. And Ridgeback. A year or two back I realized I'd never warmed to a friend's dog purely because the breed name subconsciously made be think of beige banal bikes.
Titus since CC left, it is now just another house brand at Planet-X.
My name isn't Simon, but I was never bothered with the look of the triple triangle GT and the RTS had looks only a mother could love. The LTS and STS were things of beauty though.
Did anyone by any Sombrio Road/gravel and XC stuff?
2 pairs of their flat pedal shoes (one with a flap over the laces for wet weather) - great kit, they just wouldn't die.
I have a Sombrio waterproof commuting jacket with reflective blobs all over it. Fabulous thing.
Dawes and Claud Butler used to be class acts now part of the Tandem Group. Made with cheap components and over-priced too.
The LTS and STS were things of beauty though.
You sure about that?
I was never bothered with the look of the triple triangle GT and the RTS had looks only a mother could love. The LTS and STS were things of beauty though.
The RTS was incredible (for it's day).
At one point it was THE bike to be seen with on short course DH yet could also race XC.
The Zaskar was very much the hardtail version, a true do it all MTB. Could be built up as a lightweight XC race rocket, it'd do DH if you built it burly enough, it could be jumped ...
And, you're wrong, they looked cool!
and the RTS had looks only a mother could love.
A few years ago now, (maybe 2014/15, something like that) I saw a woman cycling along, and I had to do a double take as she was on an RTS1. Caught up with it chained up outside a local supermarket and it was pretty immaculate, the only thing was that it had had an basket zip-tied to the bars 😂, Everything else was as top of the range that 1995 could offer including spotless Judy DH.
Can't believe were 2 pages in & not a soul has mentioned Sick Bicycles...
I think there were quite a few smallish companies (like Sombrio) that hired in some ‘specialists’ to advise them on how to make them more successful between about 2010 and 2018 who were advised to borrow big and expand/diversify only to collapse under their own debt. Personally I think some companies should have embraced the fact they were a core brand or small-mid scale and they’d still be going.
Agreed. The market has grown overall since mid 80s but not enough to support what a VC would call good growth figures for all the brands involved, it's a saturated or post-mature market. Add to that the way that brands can pop up to fill a niche and either the niche fades away or mainstream brands get on the bandwagon and it's more a case of brands who aren't a shadow of former selves standing out?
People knock Orange sometimes but they've stuck around by not being about growth - as you say, embracing where they are and sticking to it. I like that in a brand, far more than the continual growth aims and ongoing rounds of ownership etc.
Most of the British brands that weren't Raleigh ended up under Holdsworth. Falcon, Calud Buttler, etc. Now mostly Argos bikes 9appart from Holdsworth themselves who are now Planet-X's slightly premium paint job.
Which is a bit of a shame as I'd have thought gravel bikes would have been a good way to re-launch some of those brands, selling road bikes to MTB'ers who aren't really interested in Pinarello/Colnago/etc.
Can’t believe were 2 pages in & not a soul has mentioned Sick Bicycles…
There’s not even a shadow left of them.
MBUK did a competition a while back and the prize was an updated Zaskar, made to look as retro as possible. It's a thing of joy.
Compared with
Cycling brands..? Middleburn.
A quick Google shows BETD bought them out (the name anyway), but they used to make so many desirable components.
I've got one of these from around 2015 and its not bad at all. Its a carbon Raleigh - bought it second hand for not much. Not sure where or who is behind it but certainly not made in Nottingham!
As for Raleigh not being that good - there wasn't a kid in my school who didn't lust after a Raleigh Road Ace in the early 80's
As for Raleigh not being that good – there wasn’t a kid in my school who didn’t lust after a Raleigh Road Ace in the early 80’s
There just wasn't the range of choice back then though - Raleigh and errr possibly Peugeot!? Cycling was a pretty niche sport!
If you had an interest back then it was your local custom Road Bike builder you lusted after - in my area that was Mercian.
Dare I suggest ... On-one?
One time purveyors of workmanlike bikes for riding, have got swallowed into the branding and design mess of pkanet-x.
Bring back the inbred, tinbred, keep the scandal, resurrect the pompino. Leave more bling to Titus, gravel drop bars to pkanet-x, road to Holdsworth....
Sorry but i would have taken a TI Team Replica over a Mercian any day. In my area the CTC rode Mercians!
I do remember seeing a Colnago when the Milk Race passed through and being swayed though....
Dare I suggest … On-one?
One time purveyors of workmanlike bikes for riding, have got swallowed into the branding and design mess of pkanet-x.
Gotta be careful what you say about PX/on-one's situation these days or you might get deleted.
Merlin, both the yank one and the UK one.
When I'm a billionaire I'm buying Muddy Fox off of Sports Direct.
Make Muddy Fox Great Again.
Brooklyn Machine Works
I was really into their stuff coming off the back of rider owned BMX companies.
I had a Racelink with Avalanche forks and a Parkbike. My mate had an Minilink/FQ and also a Park. Super rare cool stuff.
Pharrell Williams bought into the company and it went to shit shortly afterwards.
Nowadays it's been reborn in Japan mainly doing Gangsta track frames. Its heyday of big travel steel downhill frames are long gone.
I've followed/tracked my old Racelink - I sold it to a guy in Norway who later sold it to another Norwegian. It was sold on again last year to a collector in Japan where it's now hung on someone's wall.
Chainreaction and wiggle…