British Manufacturing

[pq]

Raleigh - and others - MADE everything.
Tyres, ball bearings, ratchets, chains, handle grips, frames, saddles the lot!

My point above is that a daft business model like that led directly to Raleigh making an awful lot of duff bikes and ultimately to their demise. What exactly is the point of making bearings and other small parts yourself which are expensive and poor quality when you can buy good quality bearings or whatever in for a fraction of the price made efficiently by a specialist? If Raleigh hadn't been so pig headed maybe they'd still be in business.

There was very little that Raleigh did well. I'd have thought trying to restore a Chopper would have made that much painfully obvious. I remember as a youth working in a bike shop. I dreaded having to put new Raleighs together - they were awful, although some of their top end stuff from the special products division was good.

[Mick F]

If you go back to the beginning of this thread, I was trying to make the point that we don't manufacture much in this country any more. We call it manufacturing these days, but it's generally only assembling. Whether Raleigh, or other makes of bicycle, 100 years ago made everything, or whether it was a good idea, I don't know, but they did.

Britain made everything - and we made bicycles.

All gone.

We had all sorts of manufacturing industries back then.
"From pins to pianos!" as my late father would say.

[GrahamNR17]

Raleigh - and others - MADE everything.
Tyres, ball bearings, ratchets, chains, handle grips, frames, saddles the lot!

My point above is that a daft business model like that led directly to Raleigh making an awful lot of duff bikes and ultimately to their demise. What exactly is the point of making bearings and other small parts yourself which are expensive and poor quality when you can buy good quality bearings or whatever in for a fraction of the price made efficiently by a specialist? If Raleigh hadn't been so pig headed maybe they'd still be in business.

There was very little that Raleigh did well. I'd have thought trying to restore a Chopper would have made that much painfully obvious. I remember as a youth working in a bike shop. I dreaded having to put new Raleighs together - they were awful, although some of their top end stuff from the special products division was good.

I would agree that after the 60s, quality really started to suffer on ordinary Raleigh bikes. By the 70s the machinery was all worn out, and the bikes became really variable in quality. Things improved a bit in the late 80s/early 90s, but I suspect they were outsourcing more by then. The last model of the Nottingham-built Chilterns were actually quite a good machine, for the money - mine was my favourite bike, until it got nicked

[GrahamNR17]

If you go back to the beginning of this thread, I was trying to make the point that we don't manufacture much in this country any more. We call it manufacturing these days, but it's generally only assembling. Whether Raleigh, or other makes of bicycle, 100 years ago made everything, or whether it was a good idea, I don't know, but they did.

Britain made everything - and we made bicycles.

All gone.

We had all sorts of manufacturing industries back then.
"From pins to pianos!" as my late father would say.

Do you think we'll ever see the situation reverse?

[Mick F]

If WW3 happens and our supply lines are compromised, we'll have to make stuff.
Even if you think that WW3 won't happen, it could be that Taiwan or Japan or China could go under, and where would our computers come from? Where will we get our ball bearings or our cheap tools?

[Mick F]

PS,
Anyone fancy a pint?
I'm off down the pub for a couple ......

[mw3230]

PS,
Anyone fancy a pint?
I'm off down the pub for a couple ......

I'll come after my chores!!

[pq]

Britain made everything - and we made bicycles.

Not hard to do when you've got a captive market and you forcibly prevent competition. It's easy to look back on that period from a British perspective with rose tinted glasses, but the fact is our industry was outdated and inefficient and could only survive because others were not permitted to compete with us. What happened when the infinitely superior Indian textile industry threatened ours? We imposed 100% import duty on Indian products, while not allowing them the same. The result? Their industry disappeared overnight and within 20 years previously prosperous areas were enduring famines. When China didn't want to buy our stuff, we pointed guns at them till they changed their minds. I could go on....

It's not a past I'm proud of.

[Deckie]

I'm with you Mick, make mine a Betty Stoggs! Now there's something we can manufacture

[Mick F]

Britain made everything - and we made bicycles.

Not hard to do when you've got a captive market and you forcibly prevent competition. It's easy to look back on that period from a British perspective with rose tinted glasses, but the fact is our industry was outdated and inefficient and could only survive because others were not permitted to compete with us. What happened when the infinitely superior Indian textile industry threatened ours? We imposed 100% import duty on Indian products, while not allowing them the same. The result? Their industry disappeared overnight and within 20 years previously prosperous areas were enduring famines. When China didn't want to buy our stuff, we pointed guns at them till they changed their minds. I could go on....

It's not a past I'm proud of.

I've no rose tinted glasses on me. It's just a comment about how the world has changed. I agree with you - I usually do! - but perhaps we look at things differently. As you, I'm not proud of our past, Britain was as bad, if not worse than other nations, and now we are in a "World Economy" it may not be a good thing. Are we proud of where we are now?

PS,
Anyone fancy a pint?
I'm off down the pub for a couple ......

I'll come after my chores!!

You must have had a lot of chores. I'm back now, eaten, and I'm sitting in front of the fire.
Where were you?
You were missed!

I'm with you Mick, make mine a Betty Stoggs! Now there's something we can manufacture

Super!
I'll have another!

[hubgearfreak]

You must have had a lot of chores.

it's a joke mick you seem to miss a lot of them.

[hubgearfreak]

I'm with you Mick, make mine a Betty Stoggs! Now there's something we can manufacture

Super!
I'll have another!

i suspected so. the hops are imported from slovenia and america
check the cartoon on the homepage
http://www.skinnersbrewery.com/home

[Mick F]

Thank you Hubbers!
What happened to the hops from Kent?
Is that another industry gone to the wall?
So much for Cornish beer.

Can we mention Cornish Pasties?
Ginsters make - manufacture - their pasties from Cornish produce. Wheat for the flour, steak from the beef herds, and swede and onions from the fields, Though I can't vouch for the manufacturing staff being Cornish!

Personally - and most people know, I was born in North Wales, brought up in the Wigan area, and have spent the last 25 years living in Cornwall. That doesn't make me Cornish.

I was told some time back, that to be Cornish, "you had to have a granny in the churchyard!"

I offered to go back to Lancashire and dig one up ..............

[hubgearfreak]

What happened to the hops from Kent??

high land prices leads to high rents for staff, leads to high wages. cheap oil means it's more economical to lorry them in from eastern europe. and that kent is within a commuting distance of london, again thanks to cheap oil, would you spend your working life in agriculture or go daily to the capital for some big wages?

Can we mention Cornish Pasties?

i doubt it. even insipid factory food* must contain some black pepper, and that's not something you see in the UK countryside - pepper trees are around 40ft tall and don't like frost, so if there were any heated greenhouses of that height in this green and pleasant, i reckon we'd have spotted them on our rides around

*sorry, i mean ginsters..although i realise that there's many artisans dotted around the county making small batches of qualiy products. however, i suspect that these must contain more pepper

[hubgearfreak]

Did they grow cows for leather saddles?

raleigh have long gone. however, the rep of brooks told me at the york show last year that they import their hides.