RAceline bikes



maguiver

New Member
Oct 11, 2004
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Hi all, has anyone some thoughts on the pros and cons of racelines bikes. had one for years and it was excellent but it got stolen and now i have insurance money and am ready to buy a new one, am thinking of the raceline ultra comp or pro. If anyone has previously reviewed these bikes id be grateful for any comments
 
"maguiver" <[email protected]> wrote
> Hi all, has anyone some thoughts on the pros and cons of racelines
> bikes. had one for years and it was excellent but it got stolen and now
> i have insurance money and am ready to buy a new one, am thinking of the
> raceline ultra comp or pro. If anyone has previously reviewed these
> bikes id be grateful for any comments


Sorry, don't know any, so I'll be a ***** and suggest google:
http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=raceline+ultra+comp&meta=

hippy
- it really is your friend
 
As much as I like to give credit to Aust based companies for a bike of the
level I Would prefer to see a far greater amount of R+D in a product.
Raceline is a division of Apollo bicycle company and basically buy "off the
shelf" frames from Taiwanese frame makers i.e. Giant, Merida ,Apro, Strong ,
etc. A larger company i.e. Specialized Kona Trek do more research into their
product due solely to larger turnover higher budgets and more competitive
markets. It really comes down to the little things as most of these bikes
will be from similar manufacturers. I can't stress enough how important the
shop is also.
 
In article <Le%[email protected]>,
"Bailes" <[email protected]> wrote:

> A larger company i.e. Specialized Kona Trek do more research into their
> product due solely to larger turnover higher budgets and more competitive
> markets.


I'd like to know how much of that research is technical and how much is
marketing stuff. I suspect much more of the latter.

--
Shane Stanley
 
Bailes said:
As much as I like to give credit to Aust based companies for a bike of the
level I Would prefer to see a far greater amount of R+D in a product.
Raceline is a division of Apollo bicycle company and basically buy "off the
shelf" frames from Taiwanese frame makers i.e. Giant, Merida ,Apro, Strong ,
etc. A larger company i.e. Specialized Kona Trek do more research into their
product due solely to larger turnover higher budgets and more competitive
markets. It really comes down to the little things as most of these bikes
will be from similar manufacturers. I can't stress enough how important the
shop is also.

You mean just like Pinarello (cheaper models), Wilier, Opera (cheaper models), Bianchi, Cervelo (cheaper road models), Fondriest, Cannondale (who lie about it) and almost every other bike manufacturer under the sun?

Criminal...
 
"Roadie_scum" <[email protected]
> You mean just like Pinarello (cheaper models), Wilier, Opera (cheaper
> models), Bianchi, Cervelo (cheaper road models), Fondriest, Cannondale
> (who lie about it) and almost every other bike manufacturer under the
> sun?


Yeah, these days it's almost like: assume the bike is made
in Taiwan unless you can see it in the factory elsewhere or
you're SuzyJ.

hippy
- apologies to any other home-builders I failed to credit :)
 
Check out this link to Raceline's 2005 range.

http://www.cyclelink.com.au/category766_1.htm

I must say I quite like the look of the Ultra. Carbon seatstay, Easton full carbon fork, 10 speed ultegra.

As far as I can tell, the official Raceline site hasn't been upgraded since 2003!
 
hippy said:
Yeah, these days it's almost like: assume the bike is made
in Taiwan unless you can see it in the factory elsewhere or
you're SuzyJ.

hippy
- apologies to any other home-builders I failed to credit :)

My favourite is the frames that are painted in Europe but made in Taiwan (or worse - Taiwanese products are generally high quality). They then say 'made in (country in EU)' because the paint job costs more than the frame - rule says if more than 50% of the manufacturing expense of the product is incurred in the country, it's OK. I'm looking at you Bianchi, Fondriest, Eddy Merckxx...
 
"Roadie_scum" <[email protected]
> My favourite is the frames that are painted in Europe but made in
> Taiwan (or worse - Taiwanese products are generally high quality). They
> then say 'made in (country in EU)' because the paint job costs more than
> the frame - rule says if more than 50% of the manufacturing expense of
> the product is incurred in the country, it's OK. I'm looking at you
> Bianchi, Fondriest, Eddy Merckxx...


So I could score one of these cheap if I happened to
be walking around parts of Asia any time soon?
http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?id=photos/2004/tech/news/sep26/clarus

hippy
 
I use a Raceline Giro, and I do sometimes get looked down upon because it's a Raceline...people say that it's Taiwanese or whatever, even though their bike is too. It used to get to me, but now I'm pretty relaxed with it. It's a good bike, with a good groupset and components, and it was reasonably inexpensive for what it is, so I don't care all that much. It's a sexy looking bike, I think, and from a distance I wouldn't be able to tell any difference from a Cannondale...
 
"Etxy" <[email protected]
> I use a Raceline Giro, and I do sometimes get looked down upon because
> it's a Raceline...people say that it's Taiwanese or whatever, even
> though their bike is too. It used to get to me, but now I'm pretty
> relaxed with it. It's a good bike, with a good groupset and components,
> and it was reasonably inexpensive for what it is, so I don't care all
> that much. It's a sexy looking bike, I think, and from a distance I
> wouldn't be able to tell any difference from a Cannondale...


Beat them and then see if they rubbish your ride..

Laugh at how much they paid while kicking their butt..

If it still bothers you, lose the decals - mystery bikes
are cool.

hippy
 
hippy said:
Beat them and then see if they rubbish your ride..

Laugh at how much they paid while kicking their butt..

If it still bothers you, lose the decals - mystery bikes
are cool.

Beat them? Pffft. ;) I'm not SUPERMAN. ;) I'll try, of course, but whether I can beat them remains to be seen. However, I did go for a ride yesterday and felt very lean, mean and fighting machine-esque, so who knows? :p

The decals appear to be under a layer of gloss. Any ideas there? :)
 
Roadie_scum said:
My favourite is the frames that are painted in Europe but made in Taiwan (or worse - Taiwanese products are generally high quality). They then say 'made in (country in EU)' because the paint job costs more than the frame - rule says if more than 50% of the manufacturing expense of the product is incurred in the country, it's OK. I'm looking at you Bianchi, Fondriest, Eddy Merckxx...
Trade Practices Act says that country of origin is determined by country where at least 50% of cost incurred AND where substantial transformation took place. Substantial transformation has been interpreted as being where the item obtained its 'essential character'. An interesting case involved stuffed koalas that were brought in to Australia all stitched together but unstuffed. Judge held that they had already been given their essential character - he could see that they were koalas even if they were flat - made in China, importer fined!!

What is the 'essential character' of a bike (or bike frame)? You would have to be a very brand conscious yuppie consumer snob to see the paint scheme, logos and decals as the essential character rather than the bike itself.

It may be that the only reason that certain importers do this is that no-one has taken legal action against them. The ACCC certainly does not prosecute every breach of the Trade Practices Act that is out there.
 
SteveA said:
Trade Practices Act says that country of origin is determined by country where at least 50% of cost incurred AND where substantial transformation took place. Substantial transformation has been interpreted as being where the item obtained its 'essential character'. An interesting case involved stuffed koalas that were brought in to Australia all stitched together but unstuffed. Judge held that they had already been given their essential character - he could see that they were koalas even if they were flat - made in China, importer fined!!

What is the 'essential character' of a bike (or bike frame)? You would have to be a very brand conscious yuppie consumer snob to see the paint scheme, logos and decals as the essential character rather than the bike itself.

It may be that the only reason that certain importers do this is that no-one has taken legal action against them. The ACCC certainly does not prosecute every breach of the Trade Practices Act that is out there.


I was under the impression that they do not say, for example, made in the USA, they instead say, designed in the USA.

My cannondale says "Handmade in the USA", but lower spec trek's and gian't say "designed in the USA"
 
Maverick5 said:
I was under the impression that they do not say, for example, made in the USA, they instead say, designed in the USA.

My cannondale says "Handmade in the USA", but lower spec trek's and gian't say "designed in the USA"
'designed in the USA' might just keep them out of trouble. I think my roadie has a sticker on it that says something like 'Columbus tubing made in Italy'. (It's down in the bike racks and I'm uptairs in the office at work so I can't check at the moment). I'm pretty sure the frame was welded in Taiwan and the carbon bits of the frame glued on there too. The sticker is probably not misleading. Or is it?

The old steel tourer's frame was made in Japan (early 1980's). I wonder where 'made in Japan' now comes in the hierarchy of 'made in Italy', 'made in USA', 'made in Spain' etc?
 
"Etxy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> hippy Wrote:
> > If it still bothers you, lose the decals - mystery bikes
> > are cool.

>
> The decals appear to be under a layer of gloss. Any ideas there? :)


Bead blast followed by a hot-pink powdercoat. Done.

hippy
 
Maverick5 said:
I was under the impression that they do not say, for example, made in the USA, they instead say, designed in the USA.

My cannondale says "Handmade in the USA", but lower spec trek's and gian't say "designed in the USA"

Let me tell you straight up: Cannondale lie about where their bikes are made. One of their staff in Australia quit after discussing it with the boss man in the US.
 
Roadie_scum said:
My favourite is the frames that are painted in Europe but made in Taiwan (or worse - Taiwanese products are generally high quality). They then say 'made in (country in EU)' because the paint job costs more than the frame - rule says if more than 50% of the manufacturing expense of the product is incurred in the country, it's OK. I'm looking at you Bianchi, Fondriest, Eddy Merckxx...

I remember tipping my Look upside down after I first rode it home to see the 'Made in Taiwan' gold sticker discretely placed under the bottom bracket:)