Charge no longer making bikes

Sad news. I enquired about progress with the Cleaver and received the news that they won’t be producing any new bikes for the foreseeable future.

I had a Cooker for a while, great cheap bike in honesty… couldn’t fault it.. Not actually sure why i changed to a Parkwood…

That’s a shame. I loved my Duster that I retired last year, and love my Plug 3 that I’ve had for 4 years. It’s a bit porky, but I’ve no plans to change it anytime soon.

The preview Cookers and Plugs they showcased a few years back looked really nice, it was a shame they never made it into production.

Kitchen’s closed. Have a Ti freezer. Nice bikes, not cutting edge, just solid and good at what they did. No titanium plug for me now.

Kind of guessed that after the cleaver vanished. Really wanted one.

That’s a shame, I had a SS plug commuter that was excellent for the job it did, until some muppet right turned on me and it ended it’s life embedded in the side of a Vauxhall Corsa 🙁

I have an SS Plug for commuting, I was just explainig to somebody this morning how it was perfectly suited to my needs. I’ve ridden many thousands of miles on it.

That is a shame – Perhaps its me……3 of my 4 bike brands are no longer making bikes!

Charge Juicer
Sunn Tzar
Mezzo D10

Another happy SS Plug owner here (the bright pink one!).

Was a surprisingly far sighted bike – versatile gravel/fat tyred road bike but with rim brakes for the retro-grouches amongst us.

Only problem for me is my knees just aren’t up to the task, have been considering a ‘sept-ingle’ speed bodge to get 7 gears out back with a 120mm hub, turn it into a basic gravel bike.

Think I’ll do it now, keep the Charge flag flying high for a bit longer.

Previously a happy Duster owner also…

Hopefully still keep making the Spoon saddle though ? I guess Madison Flux is about the same ?

Charge spun off all the saddles and components into Fabric a while ago (guessing its better money than bikes). Lots of good kit to be had

Nice bikes, not cutting edge, just solid and good at what they did.

This kind of bike has gone out of fashion and become expensive niche, especially steel frames.

See also the original on one style.

The basic solid steel frame is now more special and hence expensive unfortunately.

The email said they’d still be making components and other bits. There was quite a bit of interest in the Cleaver on here. I think there were five of us that wanted one. It looked like a big barrel of fun.

Shame. Seems there’s not many companies making singlespeed/fixed road/commuter/gravel bikes. I’m looking for a replacement for my Pompino, the Charge Plug 1 Disc looked pretty good.

I was hoping Charge could do something interesting, now that they are owned by Dorel, same as Cannondale, GT etc.

Real shame.

I had the Blender and also a Plug Freestyler single speed. Great bikes.

I noticed that Nick Larsen out of Charge bikes was something to do with Cannondale recently when all the Ratboy stuff was happening at first.

I was considering de-stickering the Freezer. I think I will now.

Other singlespeed bikes are available, but the disk option is now ripe for the taking. Disk paddy wagon next I guess.

shame to hear that (still have my skinny duster in kawasaki green).

shame. someone mentioned Sunn – I thought they still produced bikes.

That was me – I just googled and you’re right they are! They definitely went out of business (again) in 2012 ish and I assumed that was it but yet again they seem to have risen from the ashes. Brilliant – thats made my day as I love their bikes as always a bit quirky.

EDIT ahhh all is revealed in their history page

“SUNN is experiencing difficulties and their shareholders are forced to liquidate the company. It’s Patrick TANGUI, a Toulouse entrepreneur, who redeems the name and tries a new start. Unfortunately, he will not pass this challenge and will also be forced to give up in 2012.”

For those of you after a singlespeed, disk brake commuter, the Genesis DayOne disk is still available.

Shame about Charge though, quite liked their style.

I’ve still got one of the prototype Freezer Ti Disc frames with the 3D printed dropouts in the storage area of the Lab at work.

They were a fun group to work with.

I’m sure Sunn are still going, they’re racing in the EWS and they had Cordurier riding for them a couple of years ago. Their FB page is still active too.

I loved my steel Tzar too.

That’s a shame, they made some great bikes.
I have a charge plug 5 I’m going to be selling shortly, maybe I’ll keep it not for nostalgia.

Nick’s moved desks over to Cannondale so I would expect to see some charge-esque cannondales in the future.

Sunn were making some pretty rubbish looking budget bikes (or at least having their name put on them) in the states a few years back. I always wanted a Radical…

I wasn’t sure if Charge had lost interest or lost the plot when they went all-in on b+. Still don’t know

I still want a Cleaver.

Cannondale cleaver, yeah I might buy that.

Cannondale cleaver, yeah I might buy that.

As long as it doesn’t have Cannondale plastered on every available surface like the vast majority of their other bikes.

Sad times. I built my wife a skinny duster a few years back and take it out for a sneaky spin every now and again. It’s ace.

I really really wanted a 2018 plug – tange champion in gorgeous copper colour. Stunning. Displaced the Croix de fer as my I want bike.

The 2018 cooker in steel looked a nice one too.

Real shame those won’t see the light of day

I’ve got a Ss cooker (tange with the short steel forks) which is great, although like all charge bikes seems a bit tall and steep, and ss plug (aluminium) which I’m getting some new lighter wheels for and upgrading the brakes.

Clearly I’m the kiss of death.

I wanted a Cleaver as well for hacking about on (i was on the original Cleaver thread). Back to the occasional Ebay search for a Transition Klunker

That’s what I did thisisnotaspoon, some nice TRP CX8.4s with ti hardware off eBay (from Hong Kong I think).

Clearly I’m the kiss of death.

Maybe head on over to !sick bikes, out them out if their misery and end the saga?

Looked at Charge bikes way back and they were poor value for money hipster priced, inevitably ending up in sales at more realistic levels! Some of their accessories were reasonable though.

13thfloormonk

Member
That’s what I did thisisnotaspoon, some nice TRP CX8.4s with ti hardware off eBay (from Hong Kong I think).

Nice, I’m on more of a budget so it’s boggo Tektro mini-V’s and spending the money on new wheels (novetec track hubs, R460 rims) which should make it feel quick.

Looked at Charge bikes way back and they were poor value for money hipster priced, inevitably ending up in sales at more realistic levels! Some of their accessories were reasonable though.

They had a few commuter’s targeted at hipsters, they were always pretty good VFM though. There’s always cheaper options out there, but they rarely come as well spec’d, especially the hidden bits. Charge always seem to come as a decent bike for the price. Like the Plug 1 I’ve just picked up. No doubt On-one sold a Holdsworth fixie for less, and Brick Lane Bikes sold some re-badged chinese BSO for twice the price. But the charge has propper mudguard clearance even with huge tyres, rims seemingly made of cast iron (which is important if you want to actually ride it every day not just weigh it) and decent quality hubs, crank, chain etc. They were spec’d by people who actual lived and rode bikes in the UK.

S/h they’re even more spectacular VFM, I got my Cooker for less than half what I sold my Singular frame for, and there’s a gnats chuff between them TBH if you were to strip the paint off. The plug cost me less than I’m spending on a set of fairly entry level wheels to ‘pimp’ it!

They’re located about 20 yards from our warehouse – might wander over next week and find out what’s going on.

JP

Cannondale cleaver, yeah I might buy that.

As long as it doesn’t have Cannondale plastered on every available surface like the vast majority of their other bikes

BB30 too inevitably

I think as singlespeeds go the Plug SS was better spec and value than anything else, other brands e.g. Genesis were typically more expensive, for cheap heavy steel and less tyre clearance.

P.s. thisisnotaspoon, those CX8.4s were approx £60 on eBay

They’re located about 20 yards from our warehouse – might wander over next week and find out what’s going on.

JP

Ask if they’ll handover the spec sheet for the Cleaver. We can club together and have a small batch of them made. 😕