[Closed] Genuinely underrated brands

Raleigh. Victim of brand snobbery?

Stella Artois.

Cars has to be Skoda, surely.

Tennents Lager.

*Run away after pulling the pin!* 😆

Rohan

Nobody still thinks Skoda makes bad cars anymore though do they? Pretty well know its just VW-with-a-bit-lower-trim. Peugeot on the other hand, have only very very recently started making good cars again, RCZ and the new Peugeotsport stuff.

Uniqlo denim. Genuinely excellent for 40 quid. Far better than the majority of 'cool' brands.

[i]Cars has to be Skoda[/i]

The opposite to underrated ime.

I'd say Hutchinson tyres, mtb ones especially,

[img] [/img]

B&Q plants (all types) - they're really a very good standard and in the main, knock the spots off proper nurseries on price.

Their timber on the other hand, is criminal.

Edit: Veered off 'brand' topic. Er, Vauxhall - a view which will get no support here, ever 🙂

Quechua outdoor kit, especially my new £60 waterproof jacket that seems equally as good as my £200 Rab.

Trespass outdoor clothing whatever I have had has worn well and done the job.

Hi-tec outdoor kit.

Good quality, well designed, well made, great value.

I've got a down jacket, waterproof trousers, leather hiking trainers and walking socks from them, all excellent.

Edit: the only reason I avoided their stuff (subconsciously perhaps) for years was the stigma attached to turning up to primary school in Hi-tec gear when everyone wanted Addidas or Nike.

+1 for Rohan and Hutchinson tyres

Giant. Chances are, everyone here has ridden one.

Craghoppers

Daihatsu (car & van)

Volvo

I agree with the Volvo nomination, but why do you say so, Waderider?

Craghoppers stretchy trousers are really great, far better than any of my ME, Lowe or NF trousers. And I have recently had a few Trespass and HiTec tops- blummin' great they are, almost as wunderbar as the Aldidl Bamboo tops I have. These tops continue to be the most comfy of comfy things, just lovely.

All the cars mentioned so far have reputations that they deserve at this moment in time IMO. None are underrated.

Sony xperia phones. Especially the Z line.

Y'all be obsessed with those samsungs and iPhones.

Carry on... Means I get a cheaper contract deal.

SR Suntour Forks, the higher end stuff is good!

Motorola mobile phones. Nearly stock android with only genuinely useful things added. I'll keep buying them for as long as they stay that way.

Sony xperia phones. Especially the Z line.

Had one, it was shite.

Stella Artois.

If forced to drink lager, this would be somewhere near the middle of the queue.

Raleigh.

I still want a Burner.

Uniqlo denim. Genuinely excellent for 40 quid. Far better than the majority of 'cool' brands.

I see what you did there Mr C. Eventually! As opposed to that other Brand who's a bit of an arse really.

Good call with craghoppers. Also Helly lifa stuff is great and can usually be found for cheap. I also like the dhb stuff I've had, aside from the shortish back on one top

Some odd choices with brands that clearly have enormous advertising budgets.
Volvo - underrated? Chinese made Ford clones, driven by aggressive, unthinking people.
Rohan - interesting and revolutionary under Paul Howcroft, now a clothing company looking for a reason to exist outside of 60 and 70 year olds.
Skoda - high profit VW offshoot made in low wage country.

How about:
Casio - just seem to make stuff that works, and decently priced - surely everyone still has a Casio calculator somewhere?
Agree with uniqlo - a clothing company with a significantly wider reach than expected.
Ford - a company that has driven change (not all of it good), but which still leads others in certain sectors.
Super dry - sorry, joking.

Rohan - interesting and revolutionary under Paul Howcroft, now a clothing company looking for a reason to exist outside of 60 and 70 year olds.

Magura - I really like their brakes, the best bits of Hope and Shimano, but just don't seem to have the distribution/support/following here. Well thought out, good feel but impossible to just pick up a set of pads as required.
Running adequate Shimano brakes now as last MT's I had were part of a whole bike I sold.

Timex watches - a notch up from every other brand I have used in simplicity of fuction, especially their 4-button 'Iron man' etc watches.

Vaude just seems to go under the radar in the UK, but seem superbly made, good design and good eco/environmental effort.

SEAT as a car brand - I know I now own one again, and have had before, but both times they have been better built than my VW's, use the same parts, but cost significantly less, and have a certain flair to them that VW lacks...

IKEA - the victim of a lot of brand snobbery amongst the middle classes

Agree in Ikea. Had quality stuff of all sorts over the years.

Mobile phones? HTC. Way better build quality than Samsung.

+1 Magura. Bought a TS8 fork on abit of a whim. It is excellent.

Gelert. I have a couple of their wicking t-shirts. The were 2 for £12 and have lasted for years.

Saracen, still suffering from thier old BSO / Cataloge image despite making great bikes and having a DH World Champ on one.

Saracen, still suffering from thier old BSO / Cataloge image despite making great bikes and having a DH World Champ on one.

I quite agree with you here, and yet precisely for the reasons you mention, don't really want to admit it. I wonder what the chances are they will ever be able to emerge with a fresh image, and get the acknowledgement they deserve.

+1 for Vauxhall
My Vectra is about to clock up 200k but the engine is an Alfa and the gearbox Japanese!
Bike related - Vitus and Giant

P-Jay - Member
Saracen, still suffering from thier old BSO / Cataloge image despite making great bikes and having a DH World Champ on one.

I agree, I still remember the years of pleasant riding I had on my fluorescent orange, Alfine equipped bargain, ~£350 new Pylon8 from Rutland's Ebay store... Until the frame suddenly developed a nasty downtube crack two summers ago!

I'd put Pinnacle as another bike brand that is often scoffed at (due to being in-house brand), after I decided my lower back would maon at me getting an Arkose adventure bike, I came close to buying a Ramin One until I finally settled on the Voodoo Wazoo.

Madison cycle clothing , generally works and fits at least as well as stuff that costs a lot more .

Even back in the day Saracen hardtails were decent enough. Agree on Uniqlo but not sure that they exactly qualify as underrated since anyone who has their stuff tends to shout about it.

Ford - yes.

My nomination - Microsoft Lumia phones. My 640 is nothing but brilliant and was less than £100. Now running Windows 10 and better than ever.

Lusso

+1 for Vauxhall

Every recent Vauxhall I have driven has been noticeably worse than various other cars that cost the same or there abouts. Not bad cars but just not as good as others in a hugely competitive market.

My nomination - Microsoft Lumia phones. My 640 is nothing but brilliant and was less than £100. Now running Windows 10 and better than ever.

Agreed. I'm already in mourning as my Nokia goes back next week to be replaced with a Samsung.

Cars has to be Skoda, surely.

Skoda have now rebounded from joke brand to desperately overrated, very ordinary cars. Always put up as the best thing ever, despite little to actually put a shine on the brand.

Except for the rear legroom in the Superb, there is nothing in the range to excite, yet they are still the Car de Jour to some.

D2B fingerless mitts. Cheap and comfy.

My Vectra is about to clock up 200k but the engine is an Alfa and the gearbox Japanese!

On that note Alfa- The only people that have problems are those that don't look after them... infact its the same with any car.

Some people here have short mammeries...

Saracen were one step behind the UK ATB (ahem) revolution in the mid 80's. You either had a Muddy Fox Courier or a Saracen Tuff Trax. There wasn't much else in the ~£200 entry level real mountain bike market (initially at least).

As for Rohan, they were revolutionary. They introduced synthetic Superstriders into a market of Harris Tweed. Bags followed that were again, revolutionary. Quick drying walking troos are ubiquitous now, they weren't then. AFAIK Rohan suffered the same dip in fortunes as Karrimor, Mountain Equipment etc and had to adapt to survive. Adapt meaning more mass/downmarket than where they were before.

Morgan Blue....
It's in your bike shop....but you would always walk past it....don't ...it's the best stuff

Raleigh is a difficult one, good till the 80's then lost it with the MTB boom, producing lots of low end bikes (there Special Products Division - M-Trax/DynaTech were good, never understood why they got rid of these), still produced low end and lived on the brand name till they were taken over by Accell, who seem to be doing a good job at getting the brand back to being good again.

I still use my old Saracen killi flyer in the summer and it still ride just fine but then It was probably just an off the shelf frame from the nice people in Brazil. It's a mid 1990s one with rst usa forks and many anodised colours

Madison and lusso clothing is very good

Bondus hex keys , very cheap but the best

And an odd mention for specialized tyres

The whole workshop at work is now full of Morgan blue stuff , it just works

Raleigh are over rated if anything. I have the misfortune to deal with them daily. Their bikes are expensive and rubbish, coming to us with rusty parts after having been checked apparently in the UK before despatch, their backup is appalling and their "Probuild" wheels could only be sold once I'd stripped and rebuilt them as they were incorrectly laced and about 5mm out of true.

Carrera on the other hand are under rated, especially the hybrids.

Skoda have now rebounded from joke brand to desperately overrated, very ordinary cars. Always put up as the best thing ever, despite little to actually put a shine on the brand.

I don't know, a lot of people still have issues with Skoda. Most of my colleagues / friends rip the piss out of my vRS. Mainly for being a Skoda.

I don't think mine is the best car ever but it was the best balance of things on my company car list. It's not more dull than my other options (A3, Golf, 1series). Anyway, I digress...

Manitou appear to be underrated if my experience with my new Mattocs is anything to go by.