How much does the brand name actually matter?

[legrandefromage]

Consumer electronics is a bad analogy as many brands contain somebody elses work inside.

You buy Bang & Olufsson, you're buying Phillips innards. My generic badged Plasma is in actual fact a Samsung and has outlasted a lot of later LCD screens (Google Samsung/ Phillips LCD TV problems).

Sony's Trintron CRT screens were the best, end of. Later products, I dont know, a laptop is a laptop is a laptop.

The only brand I'll stick with is Shimano as I know that the majority is compatible with older bits.

 

[halaburt]

Being both an audio and bike snob, I kind of like the analogy.

I would think a Cunningham is something more like a SME turntable (http://www.sme.ltd.uk/) -- in a world otherwise populated by Sony's, B&O's and cheap junk from Tottenham Court Road shops.

 

[legrandefromage]

Being both an audio and bike snob, I kind of like the analogy.

I would think a Cunningham is something more like a SME turntable (http://www.sme.ltd.uk/) -- in a world otherwise populated by Sony's, B&O's and cheap junk from Tottenham Court Road shops.

Well, that just opens up a great big kettle of fish as many expensive decks have been outperformed by much cheaper models - as in the bike world.

 

[dendy]

Consumer electronics is a bad analogy as many brands contain somebody elses work inside.

You buy Bang & Olufsson, you're buying Phillips innards. My generic badged Plasma is in actual fact a Samsung and has outlasted a lot of later LCD screens (Google Samsung/ Phillips LCD TV problems).

Sony's Trintron CRT screens were the best, end of. Later products, I dont know, a laptop is a laptop is a laptop.

The only brand I'll stick with is Shimano as I know that the majority is compatible with older bits.

Agreed, consumer electronics is a bad analogy in the terms you describe but provides a good example. Your points illustrate perfectly how futile it can be cos they all share the same parts to a degree.

I have had two high end big brand av amps go on me in the last 10 years- I had an alchemist forseti amp for 10 years a like an idiot sold it 5 years ago to a friend and it still works and sounds ace.

 

[REKIBorter]

Don't try to out-hifi the cheese man, you will loose.

 

[suburbanreuben]

Consumer electronics is a bad analogy as many brands contain somebody elses work inside.

You buy Bang & Olufsson, you're buying Phillips innards. My generic badged Plasma is in actual fact a Samsung and has outlasted a lot of later LCD screens (Google Samsung/ Phillips LCD TV problems).

Sony's Trintron CRT screens were the best, end of. Later products, I dont know, a laptop is a laptop is a laptop.

The only brand I'll stick with is Shimano as I know that the majority is compatible with older bits.

Agreed, consumer electronics is a bad analogy in the terms you describe but provides a good example. Your points illustrate perfectly how futile it can be cos they all share the same parts to a degree.

I have had two high end big brand av amps go on me in the last 10 years- I had an alchemist forseti amp for 10 years a like an idiot sold it 5 years ago to a friend and it still works and sounds ace.

Much as many top end, and not so top end , bikes share the same componentry; it's how it's put together that counts.

 

[brocklanders023]

I was a school kid back in the early 90's so liked the brands my local shops stocked. Compared to most bike shops around the original Stif and original Airevalley were really cool. Little, pokey shops, always with a few 'proper' bikers just milling around talking to the staff. Both stocked Orange, Orange's came in bright fluro colours, the shop staff raved about the Oranges. Brands are important to a child so I obviously wanted an Orange. Got one in the end and it blew my old Saracen out of the water so that was that. Still riding modern ones now and still think they're hard to beat.

I still have a soft spot for 89/90/91 Marin and Saracen as these were also stocked locally. Many brands that feature heavily on here (such as Kona) were not available within the reaches of pocket money bus fares so I have never had any great interest in them.

I'd like to play with brands like Fat, Pace, Manitou and some others as I remember them from MBUK but have no real interest in many other top end retro as I have no memory of them. I see bikes on here that everyone seem to love, especially some of the really early gear and it just doesn't really register as they were not on my radar bitd.

What I'm trying to say is that brands do matter to me in the bike world and are the reason I found this site. If I had more spare cash I might branch out a bit more but I don't so I'll stick to what I like.

 

[dendy]

Don't try to out-hifi the cheese man, you will loose.

 

[GoldenEraMTB]

Being both an audio and bike snob, I kind of like the analogy.

I would think a Cunningham is something more like a SME turntable (http://www.sme.ltd.uk/) -- in a world otherwise populated by Sony's, B&O's and cheap junk from Tottenham Court Road shops.

:shock:

If I ever thought I might be a snob, it has been swiftly felled. I could never afford to be a snob.

-Rob (definitely not a bike-snob or any other type of snob for that matter)

ahem...long live analog

 

[legrandefromage]

Everything about that deck and Hifi News is what is wrong with that industry and why it shrank to almost nothing within a few years.

Luckily, in cycling, if you're fitter and faster, it doesnt take £22,000 of bike to show this, no matter what the brand.