I wonder if a few may be interested in seeing a little piece of bicycle/manufacturing/social history. Odds are that this had made an appearance before; but for those who haven’t seen it, here is how bicycles were made. Enjoy…

Hahaha! Raleigh, still using the same equipment today 😉

LIke it.

It did have me wondering how many people were employed in that factory, it looked massive.

Hahaha! Raleigh, still using the same equipment today

Epic bike history fail, the nottingham factory closed in ’99 and all the equipment was sold off, everythign from jigs and tig equipment to wheel building machines. Raleigh today has about as much to do with the raleigh of 12 years ago as GT has to do with Gary Turner Cycles. The carbon bling machines coming out of Tiawan (and quite popular in the USA) have nowt but the badge in common.

tick

factory closed in ’99 and all the equipment was sold off,

around the time of the first inbred eh? 😆

Thanks this user name is not a spoon, that’s fascinating!

around the time of the first inbred eh?

I did think exactly that as I typed it, I guess some jigs, tig and brazing equipment might have gone to small scale builders in the UK, but I bet a lot of the kit went abroad to the far east!

Off to the far east, where they know how to innovate and be successful 😥

Bye bye Raleigh, hello bikes that work!

Bye bye Raleigh, hello bikes that work!

By the time they closed up manufacturing in the UK they had been in decline for some time but there certainly was a time when they were both innovative and successful. if I remember rightly they even had a tour winning bike.

I did think exactly that as I typed it, I guess some jigs, tig and brazing equipment might have gone to small scale builders in the UK, but I bet a lot of the kit went abroad to the far east!

http://bikemagic.com/gear/end-of-an-era.html auctioned in 1999

I didn’t realise Brant’s shed was so big!

That’s a lovely film 🙁

Off to the far east, where they know how to innovate and be successful

Bye bye Raleigh, hello bikes that work!

On the whole I’d not say the tiawanese bike industry is inovative, you don’t see ‘the next big thing’ coming out of their facotries under a local brand, it tends to be someone develops something in the west (where the riders, sponsors etc are) and gets it built in the east (where poeple know how to weld up a frame as well as anyoenelse, but can do it cheeper).

The bicycle is a comfortable and cheap way of getting about.

A great boon to man.

Ideal for shopping, easy to park, handy for work.

A faithful friend ever ready to take tired workers back home, and after work to bring relaxation, health and happiness.

Indeed it is 🙂

Great film, cheers for posting the link three_fish.

Cheers for that pal. Nottingham local here, remarkable to think how it used to be. The site of that factory is now a student village!

APF

Good video.

A bit more of the Raleigh factory here..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-17867882

Enjoyed that thanks

http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/updated-raleigh-to-cease-uk-assembly-move-to-new-factory-is-shel/04478

All that video needs is some Guy Martin and it’d be almost identical to that Orange one…

muppetWrangler – Member

Bye bye Raleigh, hello bikes that work!

By the time they closed up manufacturing in the UK they had been in decline for some time but there certainly was a time when they were both innovative and successful. if I remember rightly they even had a tour winning bike.

Aah 1920 those were the days

Unfortunately raleigh didn’t change with the times, also business practices in this country are retarded.

Same thing happens every day to all sort of companies! it sucks but they did make some truly awful bikes 😆

…and a Taiwanese company bought everything Sturmey Archer, shipped it all back to Taiwan, spent 5 years looking at all that massive pile of stuff, decided they had got some good things in it, changed their name to include Sturmey Archer and started manufacturing hub gears again.
It was such a shame that Raleigh got asset stripped.

11:40 that’s you

kaesae – Member

😉

15:20 wheels fitted with the bike upside down. in the bike industry!! OMG!! 😆

TIL why a bottom bracket is so called.

Thanks.

great film

No health and safety worries in those days
Like the shot of the workers dippi ng the frames in the paint with bare hands

That’s a charming film. Have to say I was expecting Mr Chumley Warner to pop out at the start, but once I got over the old school presentation, it is a really interesting film.

I think automation of some of those tasks is a boon to humanity. That guy filling 1000 hubs with bearings every day… ball in, grease, turn round, ball in, done… I can’t imagine doing that kind of work, don’t think that is right TBH, drive a person crazy.

Wheel building and fitting look not too bad though.

Funny to think they made all their own parts from raw materials… the tubes, the spokes, the drivechain, everything! Don’t think anyone does that anymore.

Is it just me, or is that summary at the end quite melancholic? We need more bikes, less cars on the road. Better life for everyone really.

They made everything on-site except tyres and bearing balls!

APF

I think automation of some of those tasks is a boon to humanity. That guy filling 1000 hubs with bearings every day… ball in, grease, turn round, ball in, done… I can’t imagine doing that kind of work, don’t think that is right TBH, drive a person crazy.

I’ve worked in factories where these sort of jobs were done. The staff are so familiar with the jobs, they can literally do it with their eyes closed and so spend all day chatting to colleagues while working. Not really soul destroying but not exactly rewarding either. Still, as you say, pretty much all those sort of jobs are gone now.

Lovely accents; I didn’t realise my bike had crenks!

I cut my fettling teeth on those kinds of bikes, I remember marvelling at rod brakes and thinking what perfect devices they were. Later in life I worked in a bike factory called Comrade Cycles in Darlaston where some of those techniques were still being used although the tubes and rims came in from outside.

The same technology is still in use today in the Brooks saddle factory!

The wheels are then fitted by skilled workers

I’m guessing that job requires the least training.

Is that the Raleigh factory ?
There’s a Rudge badge at 14:30.

I’m guessing Raleigh bought the brand.

Edit – lots here:
http://www.raleigh.co.uk/Company/History/

Ah, yes, that explains why they were making Sturmey Archer hubs too, it was all the same company.

Was I the only one waiting for the finger-mashing shot in that machinery

‘…A good friend for men, women, children and other sorts of people – hoorah…’

Fascinating piece of social and industrial history.

I found the choice of jobs that the women were ‘allowed’ to do interesting. Thumbs of steel and steady hands, obviously.

I think automation of some of those tasks is a boon to humanity. That guy filling 1000 hubs with bearings every day… ball in, grease, turn round, ball in, done… I can’t imagine doing that kind of work, don’t think that is right TBH, drive a person crazy.

You’d be supprised, although a lot of factories rotate the workers so they don’t spend months on the same task, but I thought it was mainly to prevent RSI’s rather than boredom.

they had them upside down to put the wheels on 😯

When Raleigh started manufacturing in Taiwan, they had an exact replica of the factory in Nottingham built.
So that the exact same work practises could be carried out there as well as the UK.