Raleigh Documentary on BBC 4 Tonight (5/10)
Re: Raleigh Documentary on BBC 4 Tonight (5/10)
Mine is used several times a week- about 100km a week - and several tours a year with full camping gear.
John
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- Posts: 9509
- Joined: 13 Feb 2015, 8:32pm
Re: Raleigh Documentary on BBC 4 Tonight (5/10)
Knew I should have used more smillies'
My 30 yo bike had a spell in the middle with very little use. Then at the end regular commuting duties threatened to tear it apart. Ended up with getting a new bike for commuting.
Then one scary leisure ride on it where my steering felt very dodgy down a very steep hill with hairpin bends and over heated rim brakes that only reduced the rate of acceleration despite white knuckles from squeezing the levers. I stopped using it after that. I even managed to burn myself on the rims.
Overall that Raleigh needs the quill stem sorting out, new wheels, new brake pads, possibly brakes too and a host of other things. Beyond economic repair if it had been a car but sentimentality stops me skipping it. Worthless as a bike even if working well. Not to me. I doubt the brand will instill that linkage with modern range somehow. Raleigh has lost its position as a bike brand and in cyclists heart too. It's not even British now as everything for its target audience is made overseas.
My 30 yo bike had a spell in the middle with very little use. Then at the end regular commuting duties threatened to tear it apart. Ended up with getting a new bike for commuting.
Then one scary leisure ride on it where my steering felt very dodgy down a very steep hill with hairpin bends and over heated rim brakes that only reduced the rate of acceleration despite white knuckles from squeezing the levers. I stopped using it after that. I even managed to burn myself on the rims.
Overall that Raleigh needs the quill stem sorting out, new wheels, new brake pads, possibly brakes too and a host of other things. Beyond economic repair if it had been a car but sentimentality stops me skipping it. Worthless as a bike even if working well. Not to me. I doubt the brand will instill that linkage with modern range somehow. Raleigh has lost its position as a bike brand and in cyclists heart too. It's not even British now as everything for its target audience is made overseas.
Re: Raleigh Documentary on BBC 4 Tonight (5/10)
If you get chance to see the classic film, Saturday night and Sunday morning it shows how life was in the Raleigh factory. Theres a scene near the start showing Albert Finney the star of the film, turning out bottom bracket axles on a lathe. This was filmed in the Raleigh factory and she's how mind numbingly boring this task was, and how factory life really was at the time.
It crops up occasionally on the TV.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_ ... prov=sfla1
Link to you tube extract https://youtu.be/M7dXCRM6EOM
It crops up occasionally on the TV.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_ ... prov=sfla1
Link to you tube extract https://youtu.be/M7dXCRM6EOM
At the last count:- Peugeot 531 pro, Dawes Discovery Tandem, Dawes Kingpin X3, Raleigh 20 stowaway X2, 1965 Moulton deluxe, Falcon K2 MTB dropped bar tourer, Rudge Bi frame folder, Longstaff trike conversion on a Giant XTC 840
Re: Raleigh Documentary on BBC 4 Tonight (5/10)
reohn2 wrote:What killed UK industry wasn't just industrial action though it did play no insignificant part but came as a backlash to crass management skills lacking in foresight,R&D,with poor worker relations,and upper class twits who thought they knew best and were better,how wrong they were.
If they weren't so incompetent they were milking it for all it's worth,Raleigh,Triumph motorcycles,Rover,British Leyland and recently Norton motorcycles,the list goes on.
How is it Spain and Italy can build trains but the UK can't?
One important thing in keeping UK industry going in the past was our Empire. Our colonies often weren't allowed to make their own and had to buy from UK. I hadn't thought about this much till I saw something about the Indian Railway Locomotive factory. Although India had the largest railway system in the world, they weren't allowed to build locomotives, they all came from the UK. After Independence they started building their own in 1947.
Likewise with out of date cars exported to the colonies for assembly. Basically we had a protected market that didn't engender innovation, good management, quality - you name it.
By the time I was travelling in India and China in the' 80's, their upright roadsters were made by Hero or Flying Pidgeon. Sometimes old Raleighs are still to be seen.
Re: Raleigh Documentary on BBC 4 Tonight (5/10)
simonhill wrote:reohn2 wrote:What killed UK industry wasn't just industrial action though it did play no insignificant part but came as a backlash to crass management skills lacking in foresight,R&D,with poor worker relations,and upper class twits who thought they knew best and were better,how wrong they were.
If they weren't so incompetent they were milking it for all it's worth,Raleigh,Triumph motorcycles,Rover,British Leyland and recently Norton motorcycles,the list goes on.
How is it Spain and Italy can build trains but the UK can't?
One important thing in keeping UK industry going in the past was our Empire. Our colonies often weren't allowed to make their own and had to buy from UK. I hadn't thought about this much till I saw something about the Indian Railway Locomotive factory. Although India had the largest railway system in the world, they weren't allowed to build locomotives, they all came from the UK. After Independence they started building their own in 1947.
Likewise with out of date cars exported to the colonies for assembly. Basically we had a protected market that didn't engender innovation, good management, quality - you name it.
By the time I was travelling in India and China in the' 80's, their upright roadsters were made by Hero or Flying Pidgeon. Sometimes old Raleighs are still to be seen.
You're right of course,and interestingly the nations that lost WW2 specifically (West)Germany and Japan have done better since then.
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"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
Re: Raleigh Documentary on BBC 4 Tonight (5/10)
AFAIK the Raleigh factory was used in some of the scenes in the film "Saturday night and Sunday morning". I wouldn't say it presented a good image of the company so guessing it wasn't too far from the truth (otherwise perhaps they wouldn't let them portray them like that). The lead character is shown slaving over a lathe on piece work, to make a decent living he produces as much as he can every day.
Re: Raleigh Documentary on BBC 4 Tonight (5/10)
Tompsk wrote:AFAIK the Raleigh factory was used in some of the scenes in the film "Saturday night and Sunday morning".
There are some links three posts earlier...
Jonathan
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- Joined: 7 Mar 2009, 3:31pm
Removed by request.
Removed by request.
Last edited by Mike Sales on 6 Oct 2020, 3:09pm, edited 1 time in total.
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
Re: Raleigh Documentary on BBC 4 Tonight (5/10)
Thanks Mike
Last edited by reohn2 on 6 Oct 2020, 3:13pm, edited 2 times in total.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
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- Posts: 7898
- Joined: 7 Mar 2009, 3:31pm
Re: Raleigh Documentary on BBC 4 Tonight (5/10)
reohn2 wrote:
You're right of course,and interestingly the nations that lost WW2 specifically (West)Germany and Japan have done better since then.
I have posted in another thread that in 1930s Kenya a British made bike cost £6 but a Japanese cost £2.
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
Re: Raleigh Documentary on BBC 4 Tonight (5/10)
My 1989 Raleigh Touriste - always too big for me but the smallest decent tourer I could afford. I took it to a Raleigh rally a couple of years ago and two ex-Raleigh workers actually admired it, even though it's now a bit of a 'dog's dinner'. Flat bars meant I could reach both brakes, and has also meant v-brakes. It's now my 'spare' bike but often first choice for day rides and weekend. This is it on a short tour last year, was out on it yesterday and thought what a lovely bike to ride it is.
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“My two favourite things in life are libraries and bicycles. They both move people forward without wasting anything. The perfect day: riding a bike to the library.”
― Peter Golkin
― Peter Golkin