Cool Wall - Raleigh

Cool Wall - Raleigh

  • Cool

    Votes: 3 100.0%
  • Uncool

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    3
Uncool, thanks to a 15 kg firefly I was given in London. I just cannot forget how lumpen and unforgiving it was :p gaspipe :p

(I do look at the dynatechs and go cool)
 
Re: raleigh remembered

topshifter":lsdjtxt4 said:
its gotta be uncool, unfortunately. but us older riders should remember when we was younger & all we could do was drool over the freewheel 87 catalog with its xt equiped ridgebacks, we could never never afford anything like that or say a top spec muddy fox! we had to cut our teeth on the more affordable mavricks!

I think that sums it up....definatelty brought MTB to the masses but not bikes we lusted after!
 
What's lust got to do with it?

Nobody's ever lusted after a VW beetle or a Morris Minor. Are they cool? In the right context, certainly. A Raleigh Twenty is cool in a way that has nothing to do with lust.

I'm not arguing that Raleigh didn't make a lot of very uncool machines, particularly in the later years, but cool per se needn't have anything to do with the perceived desirability of the object. Sometimes quite the reverse.

A Grifter or a Twenty (being just what it set out to be, and no more) is cool in a way that a Max CroMo (trying hard to appear to be something it wasn't) never could be.

Now the RSW16 is a problem bike for me, because it represents part of the uncool side of Raleigh - the ugly business practices post-war that saw countless competitors bought up and closed down. The RSW was a Moulton competitor to sell cheaply to people who didn't understand what a Moulton was about. The end result was the sale of the Moulton brand to Raleigh, paradoxically a brief period where the Mk3 Moulton had far superior build quality to the previous versions, and then the complete suppression of the brand when Raleigh realised they could make more profit per unit selling RSW's and Twenties. That's not cool.

But overall, I'm still voting cool.
 
Nobody's ever lusted after a VW beetle or a Morris Minor.

That can't be right. Surely pretty much all the people who own them now lusted after them? Otherwise they'd have bought something modern and practical instead ;-)
 
MikeD":1hkty7u0 said:
That can't be right. Surely pretty much all the people who own them now lusted after them? Otherwise they'd have bought something modern and practical instead ;-)
I think I'm trying to make a distinction between lusting after something and appreciating the charm of something. Noel Coward was quite a charmer, but as far as lust goes... well, let's just say he's really not my type.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTrVEfea64c
 
one-eyed_jim":17dhtgct said:
What's lust got to do with it?

Nobody's ever lusted after a VW beetle or a Morris Minor. Are they cool? In the right context, certainly. A Raleigh Twenty is cool in a way that has nothing to do with lust.

I'm not arguing that Raleigh didn't make a lot of very uncool machines, particularly in the later years, but cool per se needn't have anything to do with the perceived desirability of the object. Sometimes quite the reverse.

A Grifter or a Twenty (being just what it set out to be, and no more) is cool in a way that a Max CroMo (trying hard to appear to be something it wasn't) never could be.

Now the RSW16 is a problem bike for me, because it represents part of the uncool side of Raleigh - the ugly business practices post-war that saw countless competitors bought up and closed down. The RSW was a Moulton competitor to sell cheaply to people who didn't understand what a Moulton was about. The end result was the sale of the Moulton brand to Raleigh, paradoxically a brief period where the Mk3 Moulton had far superior build quality to the previous versions, and then the complete suppression of the brand when Raleigh realised they could make more profit per unit selling RSW's and Twenties. That's not cool.

But overall, I'm still voting cool.

Jim you are so right the RSW16 was an evil bike and has damaged the publics perception of small wheels so badly that it will take an age for people to see that there are benefits to small wheels on town/utility bikes.

for this reason I am voting uncool.

;]
 
As a child of the 70's, the only cool ones were the Chopper and Tour de France. Every other one I've ridden since then was ridden through with the smell of costcutting. Chinese crap before China started banging them out.

Last one I rode was The Ogre. So called because it weighed as much as one, and was uglier.
 
The Chopper is often cited as evidence of Raleigh's coolness, but that is a European perspective. The Chopper was a knock-off (albeit one of the better quality, more original ones) of the Schwinn Krate series bikes, Raleigh had being trying to get a foothold in the 'muscle bike' market for years without any worthwhile contribution, the Chopper was better than most of the looky-like small front wheel bikes but still a cash-in attempt at the end of the day. Of course in Europe, particularly the UK, where Schwinn had zero prescence the Chopper seemed like just about the coolest kids bike ever.

Don't take my word for it though, do a google image search for 'Schwinn Orange Krate' or 'Schwinn Pea Picker' and you'll see some really classic, really cool bikes.

Imitators, not innovators. (unless you consider the Vektar ;) )
 
doctor-bond":3nqrhvqy said:
Rumble":3nqrhvqy said:
but have been useless outdated crap since I've been buying bikes/cars.

Useless and outdated? What exactly drew you to Retrobike?

Oops, haven't been paying attention.

Anyway, it's useful outdated crap that I'm interested in!
 
COOL my first Raleigh was so cool compared to the 5 ton Hercules my dad bought me for 10 shillings and for giving a lad of 13 credibility with his mates.......
 
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