Which bicycle company SUCKS the most?

What about Raleigh ???? At one time they were a leader in quality and had some beautiful lugged frames .......... And now ?????? They are trying the retro approach and embarresing themselves....... Now that sucks.

 

I'm not necessarily a fan of the new Raleigh lines, but what exactly do you consider to be retro about them?

 

I have a Norco, great bike great service. I got it a while ago (late 90's) so things may have changed. But from that bike I have a high opinion of them.

Pete

 

The question was about the company, not the bikes. I love my old R500 (it's a '91), but I hate Cannondale as a company. I recently had to replace my rear derailleur hanger. 1991 was in the transition when they switched the sizes of the screws that hold the hanger on. I had my LBS order an old style replacement, because Cannondale still lists it with their repair kits. It took two weeks before they got back to my LBS and said that they don't really make the old one any more, but the new one will work if you crank the hell out of the screws. So I bought the new one only to find that a) it doesn't fit the frame nearly as well as the old one despite being made to the same nominal tolerances, and b) they messed up the threads on the mounting screws when they cut them to length. I had to chase out the threads on both of the screws to keep them from stripping the aluminum hanger. I don't care how good the Saeco or now Lampre replica "looks" I'll never buy another Cannondale.

 

I've never owned a Trek, but I know several MTBers who have. The Trek Fuel model in particular has a problem with frame breakage, although the frames were under warranty. I suppose when they did a 'knockoff' of Turner, they missed something. One of the guys didn't seem to be disturbed by the frame failures however. As he explained to me, " I like getting a new frame every 6 months".

 

http://www.fusionofgreatness.com/

 

I was caught up in the whole Lance Armstrong "moment" and was going to buy a Trek. Rode all the models my local shop carried and hated them all, just wasn't comfortable, TO ME. I don't think the company sucks, just didn't "sit well" with me, pun intended.

For me, Orbea was a superior ride, and I will stick with them. I got a year end close-out deal and it was cheaper than most of the Treks, better yet!

 

I have a Trek 4100, which is absolutely brilliant for me. I lug around a 2kid trailer (oddly enough, a Pacific, and it *IS* fantastic, so maybe its a bike issue), and have done my first MTB ride on it last weekend. I have of course put in a comfier women's gel seat, put on some handlebar bar-ends, a pannier rack & good panniers, learned to service it myself, adjusted brakes and gears to perfection. Have added road tyres to my arsenal, and have learned to swap them in and out myself. Loving every second of it all, too))

 

I had a Giant Peleton a couple years ago. The frame was so light and stiff, it used to hum on even the smoothest roads. Never had a problem with it. Then I had Giant TCR/OCR or something like that. Frame was OK, but components were piss-poor. I now have a Peugeot Optium which is nearing 25 years old on a 531 frame. Puts them all to shame, needs restoring though.

Also have a Landrover Freelander Visalia hybrid. Only cost £260 and next to the Peugeot, is one of the best bikes I've ever owned.

Bill.

 

This is very sad. I read what you wrote and i checked the pacific website and GT was NOT listed as one of the companies owned by pacific. however ironhorse, Gt mongoose, pacific etc are all owned by Dorel industries I am extremely loyal to GT i pray that GT is simply associated witch pacific cycles and NOT under its jurisdiction as long as its not i will be happy. i am hoping that since since Gt is the second member of cannondale sports groups that it separates the evil a little bit.

 

Specialized, for its punative measure against Volagi.

I don't care for the disc brakes or aesthetic lines on the Volagi and have owned an SL3 which was one seriously sweet ride, but based on that episode of nonsense I have no desire to ride one of their bikes ever again.

 

No need to get upset over a thread that died nearly seven years ago. Things change. A lot of the contributors to that old post are no longer active on this forum.

 

Perhaps the Euros would think that Electrolux bicycles REALLY Suck, but with style.

 

I've had a Bianchi for almost 2 years. Right off the bat the fork was defective. Took them 2 months to get me a new one all the while I was provided no information about it not even a phone number for the midwest distributor. Other than that the bike has been great but I haven't had to deal with their lack luster Itallian approach to customer service. My dad rides a Speacialized Tarmac and loves it. No problem with Speacialized or the Bike Source location where he bought it.

 

+1 on the Specialized thing. Unfortunately their shoes are the ones that work for me (out of 5 or 6 different brands tried), but I mitigated the Specialized stain on my feet by using white shoe paint to hide the Specialized logos.

 

Mongoose was the thing when I was a kid, now, they're at Walmart and are garbage.

 

Ah, don't forget that there are plenty of brands with various levels of bikes. Yes, there are Mongoose branded bikes at big box outlets. And, yes, you should probably run far away from those examples. But, Mongoose also continues to make quality bikes for avid riders. Just look on their website and you will see rigs at $4000+ and then several at ~$500. Selling "garbage" bikes at $4000 doesn't seem like a very solid business plan to me

 

I saw this thread and thought this is a good one. It's good to know people's opinions about the subject for future reference. I haven't had any bad experiences. If they work and I'm able to ride them is all I care about. I'd like to see the stats on this thread so far I see Schwinn and Huffy. I've never had one of either of these.