Safety Standards Post Brexit

[simonhill]

Does anyone know what will happen re the quality and hence safety of bike stuff once we are properly out.

I presume we are currently working with CE standards, which are enforced by Customs and Trading Standards. Even if we carry on with the current regulations, things change rapidly and who will oversee the changes and ensure new stuff is safe.

Electric bikes are an obvious thing which are evolving rapidly, but even our humble pedal bikes see regular changes in design and materials.

Will Dell boy have a field day with a box of Chinese knock off stuff?

[tim-b]

Hi
I'd suggest that regardless of the political stance standards will remain broadly in line with the EU if we want to continue to do business there, and they might exceed EU standards in some areas. I don't have any evidence for my assertion
Regards
tim-b

[Tangled Metal]

How big is the market around the world compared to the UK for bikes and bike parts? Will a manufacturer really produce inferior parts on a production line set up to produce to current standards as required in the majority of markets?

I don't know for sure but just as German light manufacturers don't supply to purely UK standards in the UK when aiui German standards are highest, I reckon stuff would come through at the higher standard most of the time. You still get stuff now that's not to any standard like cheapo lights, so you'll still get that irrespective of what changes with our standards.

One more point to make. There's a view that once ĺ fully clear of the EU the UK government will chase competitive advantage by loosening standards and regulations. It seems to me that the UK has been at the forefront of standards development across the wider standards range. It is a competitive advantage to be at the front when standards are developed. Complying with standards is a competitive advantage if treated right.

From my field in automotive quality it's a huge benefit to operate within quality and other standards. Ultimately we can't or find it very hard to do business without complying to international standards. Don't forget by complying to one national standard there's a good chance your product will get equivalency with products to another nation's standard in that nation.

Long winded way to say that I believe if the UK drops or lowers its national standards it will lose more than it will gain.

[hamster]

I doubt that there is the time and energy to write tighter standards for the UK. Look at the decades of inaction on lighting for example.
Manufacturers will follow CE first, as it's simply a bigger market.

[Tangled Metal]

Put more succinctly than I.

Need to learn brevity from others.

[cotswolds]

How big is the market around the world compared to the UK for bikes and bike parts? Will a manufacturer really produce inferior parts on a production line set up to produce to current standards as required in the majority of markets?

If you read journals of people who cycle round the world there are many places (with lots of cyclists) where decent quality parts are not available. They won't have to produce something new for the UK, just import what's currently being made but can't currently be sold.

One more point to make. There's a view that once ĺ fully clear of the EU the UK government will chase competitive advantage by loosening standards and regulations. It seems to me that the UK has been at the forefront of standards development across the wider standards range. It is a competitive advantage to be at the front when standards are developed. Complying with standards is a competitive advantage if treated right.

Creating good standards takes long and detailed hard work. The current mentality is "get rid of red tape, let the market decide". Those things don't go together very well.

All my experience says you're right, things are much better with good standards. But at present I feel we'll be lucky to hang on to CE standards, let alone develop anything better.

[Mick F]

A rose by any other name?

Does it matter what it's called?
CE?
BS?

[Bmblbzzz]

The UK is, as pointed out upthread, a small part of world bike markets, and its standards are far higher than most of the world. There will be no question of producing specially low quality items for the UK market, but if/as spending power decreases, we will become a more attractive market for what might be called supermarket bikes. Seriously things that will make Halfords Apollo bikes look well made. By the same token, high-end parts -- say, at a guess, Sora upwards -- will become more expensive, both in absolute terms due to import duties and smaller market, and relatively to declining economic power.

[Tangled Metal]

Hands up who plans to buy cheap, inferior parts even if offered in the future?

[The utility cyclist]

Hands up who plans to buy cheap, inferior parts even if offered in the future?

Define inferior, inferior to what? The vast majority of people will buy 'inferior' as we can't afford the very best, so the very best light for instance is superior to everything else below that and every light below that is inferior by definition.
You might spend £40 on a light, I might scoff and say, why buy inferior cheap lights when this £200 light is far superior, someone else comes along and scoffs, pah, cheap and nasty, this light is £400 and is the best light on the market, the £40 light I wouldn't even wipe my @@@@ with!

But in the sense of what you probably meant, surprisingly lots of people will buy 'cheap' and 'inferior'. Despite the advent of the internet and reviewing of products huge, and even those not born into the computer/information highway age people are easily able to find out about stuff before they buy it.

However even with all of that and the standards that have to come with regards to safety (and yes some products as always will fall through the net), some people will still buy at the lower/est end of the market. It can work out okay, not brilliantly but just about suffice, as with many items at the lower end there's a chance that there will be an advanced failure compared to known superior goods.
Still, not everyone will actually need a product to a very high standard (of quality), for many the upfront price is a factor even if ultimately it might cost them more long term, it's about having the money at that time.

Those with greater knowledge would oft like to persuade in those situations that you'll be saving money longer term but you can't always sway people, it's precisely the same when suggesting not to buy a new bike that's obviously (to those with more knowledge & experience in that area) made out of bits that will have a much higher chance of failing within a short/er space of time, usually because the bits are made from cheese.

I don't think much will change, people will have their purchase price level and it is what it is, have human beings really change much throughout history in terns of assessing functionality/quality against cost, I don't think they have, people will always see 'inferior' and 'cheap' differently to others.

[Tangled Metal]

Inferior as in doesn't do the job you want them to do as well as expected.

[francovendee]

Inferior as in doesn't do the job you want them to do as well as expected.

You often don't know until you've bought them.

[simonhill]

Hunting for an English language channel, I have just landed on a shopping channel selling bikes. A 26", folding, disc, suspension, derailleur, 2 chainring, mudguards, etc all for the bargain price of 2,190,000 Vn dong - about £70 to you and me.

Coming to a bike shop near you soon?

[scottg]

A rose by any other name?

Does it matter what it's called?
CE?
BS?

Bicycle standards of the UK are as of Brexiting.

BS = CE

Signed Minister of Copyists, Compliance and Silly Walks.

Only 56,897 agreements to go.

[Bmblbzzz]

Point is we don't need to lower standards in order to fill shops with the type of thing simonhill mentions. His example might sound extreme but such are widely available in lower-income EU markets already; just visit an Eastern European hypermarket (Real, LeClerc, etc). All we need to do is create the market conditions that price out most of the higher quality stuff.