Did you know Raleigh are offering £100 Discount off their Ebikes for August ?

[Atmosphere]

This is a great offer if you are looking at their range so cash in on this discount

Its available on all their electric bikes Raleigh Range Ebikes

Please download the voucher, complete it and bring it in with you and ride away on your new bike

VOUCHER HERE

 

[Martin@e-bikeshop]

This is a great offer if you are looking at their range so cash in on this discount

Its available on all their electric bikes Raleigh Range Ebikes

Please download the voucher, complete it and bring it in with you and ride away on your new bike

VOUCHER HERE

Hi,

Probably worth pointing out at this stage, this is not an open offer as it sounds.
Its only for people that have previously been mailshot'd and are on Raleigh's marketing list. This list is made up of previous customers that have registered their interest.

Raleigh will check the customers email address and cross reference to check this prior to arranging your discount.

We have sold 9 Raleigh ebikes this week, none of which were on the mail shot list.

So its not the best thing to advertise to be honest as its miss-leading to new potentials.

Regards
Martin

 

[flecc]

This statement on their website is also more than naughty, it's downright illegal and willfuly misleading:

“The 125 year old British company now produces some very effective e-bikes with two distinct technology options. Lovely bikes with a confident 2 year warranty”

These e-bikes are made by Derby Cycles gmbh, a wholly German company, and their Raleigh gmbh brand is also wholly German. They are sister bikes to the Kalkhoffs. Raleigh UK, an unconnected company, buy them in for the convenience of the name, they do not in any way produce them.

The misleading statement possibly originated from Raleigh UK, but it's still not acceptable.
.

 

[billadie]

I think you might find that Atmosphere will legally have to honour the discount as the advert on their website contains no conditions or exclusions. It says, in effect, "bring in the voucher and you get the discount". No mention of mailshots or other qualifications. Who pays for the discount is not the customer's concern.

 

[Atmosphere]

So its not the best thing to advertise to be honest as its miss-leading to new potentials.

Regards
Martin

Nothing misleading or not honest from my end Martin - Please feel free to bring your voucher in and buy from us as well

Alistair

 

[Biker44]

This statement on their website is also more than naughty, it's downright illegal and willfuly misleading: “The 125 year old British company now produces some very effective e-bikes with two distinct technology options. Lovely bikes with a confident 2 year warranty” These e-bikes are made by Derby Cycles gmbh, a wholly German company, and their Raleigh gmbh brand is also wholly German. They are sister bikes to the Kalkhoffs. Raleigh UK, an unconnected company, buy them in for the convenience of the name, they do not in any way produce them. The misleading statement possibly originated from Raleigh UK, but it's still not acceptable. .

Triumph Motorcycles set up a German plant between the wars and it went back into production in the 1950s as the TWN (I had one of their very un-British split-single two-strokes). Do we know Raleigh gmbh is not loosely descended from Raleigh Company?

 

[flecc]

Do we know Raleigh gmbh is not loosely descended from Raleigh Company?

A bit different, at one point Derby Cycles owned Raleigh but the UK company was split off. Besides the point though, all that was long ago and under no circumstances can these German designed and made e-bikes be said to be a product of the UK company who have never made an e-bike. Indeed they haven't be in bike production for years, being little more than a marketing company.

 

[Biker44]

Indeed they haven't be in bike production for years, being little more than a marketing company.

My mate went to the Raleigh factory in 1986 to pick up a bicycle for round the world riding.

He recalled there being great empty bays but the production line had not been moved and wended its way through the empty parts.

 

[flecc]

My mate went to the Raleigh factory in 1986 to pick up a bicycle for round the world riding.

He recalled there being great empty bays but the production line had not been moved and wended its way through the empty parts.

27 years is a very long time! I believe they still have a limited assembly facility for certain specialised sport bikes, but anything from there is insignificant compared with the huge volume of bikes they buy in from Chinese production to supply their dealers. Basically they specify what they want and buy from oriental manufacturers. Of course they are not alone in this, with the exception of Brompton, Britain doesn't mass produce bikes any more, only having a small number of hand builders of specialised designs in tiny numbers.

 

[jazper53]

A bit different, at one point Derby Cycles owned Raleigh but the UK company was split off. Besides the point though, all that was long ago and under no circumstances can these German designed and made e-bikes be said to be a product of the UK company who have never made an e-bike. Indeed they haven't be in bike production for years, being little more than a marketing company.

I wonder if this German company actually manufacture its own components, or do they originate from China, and just assembled in Germany?

 

[Streethawk]

[video=youtube;exIxw9G07w0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exIxw9G07w0[/video]

 

[jazper53]

I was referring specifically to e-bikes, as the prices of the Raleigh e-bikes seem to be a lot lower than one would expect from a German manufacturer?

 

[Streethawk]

I was referring specifically to e-bikes, as the prices of the Raleigh e-bikes seem to be a lot lower than one would expect from a German manufacturer?

Not sure how you come to this conclusion, the 26v panasonic motored one is £2k, whereas you can get a Kalkhoff Agattu with the superior 36v Impulse crank motor for the same price. I thought they were overpriced.

 

[RobF]

My local bikeshop has a Raleigh Velo on promotion from Raleigh at £999.

The shop owner tells me they are trying to push ebikes.

I had a quick look, it's bit nicer than some Chinese ebikes and good value for the price.

Raeligh Velo XC

 

[jazper53]

Not sure how you come to this conclusion, the 26v panasonic motored one is £2k, whereas you can get a Kalkhoff Agattu with the superior 36v Impulse crank motor for the same price. I thought they were overpriced.

Today, all of Raleigh's products are manufactured in Vietnam, Korea or Bangladesh and the company only employs 430 staff (Telegraph Uk 2012) I wonder the word 'ALL' also includes e-bikes as well ?

 

[flecc]

Today, all of Raleigh's products are manufactured in Vietnam, Korea or Bangladesh and the company only employs 430 staff (Telegraph Uk 2012) I wonder the word 'ALL' also includes e-bikes as well ?

No it doesn't. The Panasonic powered e-bikes that have been sold Raleigh badged since early 2008 have all been Derby Cycles products made in Germany and virtual clones of the Kalkhoffs. The Agattu and Pro Connect bikes were originally and still are also unpowered normal Kalkhoff models which Derby has made for years, the Panasonic motor just being added with the necessary frame modification to take the motor.

The Raleigh gmbh badged versions were sold under the Leeds (Pro Connect) and Leicester (Agattu) model names at first and imported from Derby Cycles Germany by Hilderthorpe Cycles of Yorkshire for some while. Then Lloyd Clarkson who was an employee of Kalkhoff agents 50cycles left them and started and ran an import business for the Raleigh badged bikes operating under the Raleigh name in England. The bikes were still virtual Kalkhoff clones but sold at higher prices through dealers.

Meanwhile the old Raleigh UK company which had never been into e-bikes tried first with one of their Carrera brand imports fitted with the SRAM Sparc motor, but that was predictably a complete flop. They then formed an alliance with Powabyke to market one on their Raleigh branded imports fitted with the Powabyke motor and a bottle battery and named the X bike in 6 and 24 speed derailleur versions. That hasn't done well and Powabyke went bankrupt at one point needing rescue. So finally Raleigh UK took over importing the Raleigh gmbh e-bikes that Lloyd had been importing, which by then included the front hub motor Velo model.

Now just to complicate things further, Derby Cycles gmbh who own Raleigh gmbh belong to the large Pon Holdings Group of companies which is Dutch. They have an even bigger rival cycle company, the Accell Group, and Accell also own a Raleigh brand and sell bikes as Raleighs, yes, a third Raleigh!

Now you have the whole story, I trust you can see that these Raleigh e-bikes are not British products in any way as was claimed and that the Raleigh name has the status of a joke in marketing and manufacturing terms. It's just a selling badge.
.

 

[flecc]

To complete my above posting, here is the full ownership position history of the Raleigh Cycles company to date.

In 1960 TI Group (formerly Tube Investments) bought Raleigh.

On April Fools Day 1987 TI sold Raleigh to the Derby International company, later Derby Cycles gmbh, Germany.

In 2001 the management of the UK Raleigh operation bought the Raleigh group companies from Derby Cycles, but still leaving Derby Cycles with rights to use all the Raleigh brand names like Raleigh, Univega etc on their German products. That UK management set up the Eastwood location as their main distribution centre for the various products they were buying in.

On 26th April 2012 the UK Raleigh company was bought by the giant Dutch Accell Group who now wholly own the operation. At that time Accell wanted to buy Derby Cycles gmbh as well and I remember reached 22% of the shares, but since it was a hostile bid situation they changed their mind and sold those shares to a rival Dutch company Pon Holdings. Pon Holdings have since wholly acquired Derby Cycles gmbh, hence both Pon Holdings and Accell group selling Raleigh branded bikes and e-bikes as rivals.

So for those who believe company ownership determines the nation producing a bike, they are all Dutch, since almost all the European industry and a large chunk of the Canadian and USA cycle industries are owned by those two groups!
.

 

[RobF]

they are all Dutch

It's all Greek to me.

 

[flecc]

It's all Greek to me.

It could well be!

The current crank drive e-bikes branded as Raleigh are the Leeds and Dover models which are near Kalklhoff clones made by Pon Holdings company Derby Cycles gmbh in Germany.

The current front hub motor e-bike branded as the Raleigh Velo is an Accell Group product, being a clone of a Royal Dutch Gazelle model made in The Netherlands.

 

[RobF]

It could well be!

The current crank drive e-bikes branded as Raleigh are the Leeds and Dover models which are near Kalklhoff clones made by Pon Holdings company Derby Cycles gmbh in Germany.

The current front hub motor e-bike branded as the Raleigh Velo is an Accell Group product, being a clone of a Royal Dutch Gazelle model made in The Netherlands.

That certainly makes sense.

Apart from the paint job, the Raleigh crank drive bikes look all but identical to Kallhoffs.

And the Velo looks to have a bit of Gazelle in it, particularly the hub motor.