orange. They were a competative brand selling bikes that had some advantages at competative price points. They’re now just a brand for middle-aged bimblers who wanted an orange when they were young
Nah, that's just a cheap dig, looking for a bite. If you can come up with sensible reasons why they are a shadow of their former self I'm all ears.
Disagree with Marin too as they were always a safe bet that dished out decent bikes at most price points, just as they do now.
Pace is a little bit more difficult as they lost their hand made and engineered shine when Duncan left but they still produce high quality hard tails with bang up to date geometry.
Ridgeback and Diamond Back possibly but they've been gone for decades and were never that flash to start off with.
Can you still buy a Klein branded bike? They fell off a cliff after Trek bought them and pinched the tech.
The idea that creativity or elegance peaked with bicycles made in the 1970’s when in fact it was a wasteland of “tradition” and closed minds is weirdly pervasive in a sport that has literally never had it so good..
Slightly off topic but it took me a long time to realise that the grumpy old codgers who made up the core of pretty much any cycling club in the late 90's and spent their days complaining bitterly that "we didn't need all this in my day" and "what's wrong with a good old Sturmey Archer?" were jealous.
They were jealous that they couldn't do this new-fangled sport of MTBing and we were riding trails and terrain that even the most hardened Rough Stuff Fellowshipper could only dream of; they were jealous that they basically had one type of frame material (531) while we could all rock up on lightweight aluminium or (get this!) *carbon*! They were jealous that we could buy gears that worked and did not require age old wisdom passed down through the cycle club hierarchy to "fettle" or just the right amount of nudge on a downtube lever.
Sorry, as you were.
Another vote for Muddy Fox...
Buy a Spesh. Put the rest of your cash into a bigger woodburner or pizza oven. That’ll impress your appalling neighbours far more than a mass produced bicycle.
Err...were you watching me...??!!
DrP
It’s the same nonsense that tries to pretend Austin Marinas were somehow cool.
Hang on a second… when did that happen?
LimboJimbo
In fairness, they’d probably sell 10 of the E Bikes for every fat bike they sold to beardy weirdos*, which is is dead useful for a company that wants to pay it’s staff and continue trading.
I suspect this is a fairly valid point, I know people making an ok but not brilliant wage working their backside off selling premium products, they could probably make more by doing less selling crap products.
Why would someone like Raleigh invest so much time, money & effort trying to stay at the top when they likely make as much cash selling a million BSOs?
Oh and Ridgeback didn't exactly lose its way, they just diverged the good stuff off under the Genesis brand.
Oh and Ridgeback didn’t exactly lose its way, they just diverged the good stuff off under the Genesis brand.
And what's happened to Genesis? 😀
My name’s not Simon, and I’m quite partial to a GT
...and a Trek; a Spesh; a Rocky Mountain; a Santa Cruz... 😉 (PS I'm only jealous haha)
Mrs Fazzini's dad had been riding a Ridgeback for decades. Built like a tank, and weighed like one too 😳
Sick Bicycle Co 🫣
Santa Cruz. A mainstream USA brand overpriced in the UK and fetishised by drivers of tasteless German ego chariots.
ouch that hits close to home
Ditto, though I take solace in the fact that one is a fantastic bike and the other is a fantastic car and that makes the haters angry 😜
Indeed....though I do love both my Tallboy and my Audi!
Coyote bikes.
Late 90s/early 00s they were producing some incredible value for money frames. They might have even been doing direct sales before it became popular, I'm not sure.
I got a Coyote Dual which is still going strong but the one that got away was a Coyote DH. Can't exactly remember the original price but I want to say £650 for the frame. At the time nothing could touch it on price.
Now they're cheap hybrids and 'budget' mountain bikes.
https://eurocycles.com/coyote/
Not 100% sure it's the same company but they are claiming 25 years experience as designers so the dates add up.
A sad end.
Santa Cruz. A mainstream USA brand overpriced in the UK and fetishised by drivers of tasteless German ego chariots.
If it annoys a few insecure reverse snobs who like stereotypes then count me in. 😉