Cool Wall - Raleigh

Excellent, more discussion on Raleigh rather than jibber jabber!

MikeD":1grz3636 said:

Some Raleigh USAs were still produced in Nottingham even prior to the Derby group buyout.Further I seem to recall Raleigh UK distributing Techniums in the early 90s. Whilst they are certainly seperate I would perhaps argue the relationship is somewhat closer than GT and whoever, esp given the commonality of Derby.

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"Distributing" is exactly that - a manufacturer/distributor relationship. Raleighs US and UK are no closer than Raleigh and Diamondback ;-)

Aaaaaanyway. I think that one's pretty much kicked to death. I shall move on.

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The name....ok, I'll leave it

MikeD":1grz3636 said:

To me, the general lack of coolness of Raleigh is what makes the Baker-era team bikes far more cool than they would otherwise be. Does that make sense?

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Interesting point. I think for most it would perhaps work the opther way.


To add something else to the discussion I think my view of Raleigh as 'cool' has perhaps been revised over time. As a yoof in the early 90s Raleigh were uncool to me through their association to the chaff despite the exploits of Baker, Alexander, Tomac et al. Now I'm just out of my teens (or somesuch) and have a broader understanding of the brand (inc heritage and history) as a whole I'd go with cool.

i never did get my mr frosty ice maker

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Neither did I :cry:

Certainly looked fookin cool though

some of you would make excellent politician , you can speak for hours ( or pages ) to say absolutely nothing .

mechagouki":2jx9u9ka said:

sinnett177, I normally have great respect for your knowledge and opinion, and you have some lovely bikes, however today you are clearly out of your mind.

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Maybe so, but consider this. Raleigh have actually made some truely iconic bikes and that is why they are cool imho, GT on the other hand have made a few decent top end bikes but nothing iconic enough to be called cool.

Based my vote on the bikes I liked and forgive all the rubbish (and there is a lot to forgive.
Dynatech Road and MTB
Mtrax
Team bikes Panasonic, Banana etc
Record Ace
Chopper
Burner
Techniums

Enough good stuff to warrant a COOL

So this is uncool?



It's an outmoded concept and really the reason they failed, but Raleigh was the bike for everyman, a tradition that was as true in the 90s as it was in the 30s. They had some brilliant high end machines, but they also made cheaper ones for people that couldn't afford anything better or weren't prepared to spend more money.

Say what you like about the cheap Raleighs, but I still would have one over a modern cheap machine anytime; all of the British Raleighs were honest, something that can't be said of the modern BSO. They were well designed, straight and safely constructed. The fact that a Raleigh MTB is parked at every train station in the country has a Raleigh Mustang chained up outside is testament to that.

Of course, since the factory closed, all bets are off. They're as bad as everything else is now.

So for me, still a resounding cool. Raleigh Special Products division made some amazing things in their time. My Dynatech is one of the coolest machines I own.

sinnett177":bpu5ipsy said:

mechagouki":bpu5ipsy said:

sinnett177, I normally have great respect for your knowledge and opinion, and you have some lovely bikes, however today you are clearly out of your mind.

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Maybe so, but consider this. Raleigh have actually made some truely iconic bikes and that is why they are cool imho, GT on the other hand have made a few decent top end bikes but nothing iconic enough to be called cool.

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I judged on my knowledge of the brand .

Pre 80 raleight road bikes look good , but they are not in my time .
and even the GT BMX were cooler than the Burners .

so from what I know , GT bikes were cooler than Raleight .

When I was a nipper, my dream bike was a Raleigh mustang. Compared to Free Spirits, Apollos and such it was great. Pinky/purple spray.
Compared to the old rusty to hell grifters, resprayed and modded strikers, etc, it was the coolest thing.

When I got one for Christmas, I could not have been happier. It WAS cool. Loads of people thought so. I loved it.

Later, I dreamt about a white technium chill in my Raleigh dealer. It was a Raleigh. It was lush. It was cool again.

Looking back, the bikes may not have been great, but how cool were they at they time??

As such, they will always have a certain coolness about them to me. I had the feeling of owning a COOL bike.

Gump. You're cool.

gump":o3o77kz0 said:

When I was a nipper, my dream bike was a Raleigh mustang. Compared to Free Spirits, Apollos and such it was great. Pinky/purple spray.
Compared to the old rusty to hell grifters, resprayed and modded strikers, etc, it was the coolest thing.

When I got one for Christmas, I could not have been happier. It WAS cool. Loads of people thought so. I loved it.

Later, I dreamt about a white technium chill in my Raleigh dealer. It was a Raleigh. It was lush. It was cool again.

Looking back, the bikes may not have been great, but how cool were they at they time??

As such, they will always have a certain coolness about them to me. I had the feeling of owning a COOL bike.

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A few days back, I said a Raleigh Mustang (in purple / lilac) was cool, to the cries of confusion and losing the plot ;-)

But regardless of what the naysayers say (I just wanted to type that... it serves no purpose, there's nothing more to see here, move along...) some of those bikes were cool, not because of their qualities (or lack of), the brand, their weight, they attracted many to something that carried on.