General Cycling Discussion - FAQ Bicycle Brand Quality (Add your Input!)

I think it would be very helpful for many people (like me) if we created a listing of every bike manufacturer with a brief description of the quality of their merchandise. Obviously we cannot cover custom creations, but if you're in the market for that, you don't need this list...except perhaps the parts/accessories sections.

I doubt any single one of us could spec out every brand (I certainly could not), so let's have anyone who is interested in helping reply with your brief comments about a brand or two (or more if you like) that you are familiar enough with. You could include info about types of bikes made, range of quality in line, price/value ratio, links to threads discussing that brand, link to manufacturer's website, etc. I'll compile them all into a list in this post.

If you see mistakes, post the correction.

The format of your comment should be like this:

Brand Name
Item (e.g. Bicycle, Helmet, Clothing, Tires, Locks, Crankset, etc.)
Comments

Made-up Example:
Bikemaster
Crankset
Not the best money can buy, but close to it.

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THE LIST
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NOTE: The term "Xmart" refers to a bicycle available for purchase through a major department store such as Wal-Mart, Target, Sears, Kmart, etc. Their quality is generally accepted to be the lowest. Do -NOT- continue Xmart quality discussion in this thread. For help in deciding if an Xmart bike is good enough for you or something you should avoid, please read the following threads:
Anything wrong with Target bikes? (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=73494)
Why "X"-Mart bikes suck (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=104805)
Is "Magna" a quality brand? (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?p=1212521)


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BICYCLES
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Bianchi

Cannondale

Electra

Fezzari
Costco house brand. Appears to be considerably better than any Xmart bike. Although the price/value ratio is decent, most do not consider it a good deal. Discussion #1 (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=105830) and Discussion #2 (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=108601)

Giant

Magna
Xmart brand.

Pacific Legend

Peugot

Raleigh

Roadmaster
Xmart brand.

Schwinn

Specialized

Trek



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PARTS and ACCESSORIES
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Shimano

Ultegra

http://roadbikereview.com/ :D

If you publish a listing that has no basis in fact what have you accomplished?

I have certain brands that I personally prefer over others. When pressed for an objective reason why, I'd have a hard time coming up with an answer. The whole issue is complicated by the fact that all of the major manufacturers make bikes in many different price ranges. So do you base Trek's quality rateing on their highest priced offering or their cheapest?

http://www.mtbr.com/

Suntour - derailleurs, brakes, cranks - best in the world, but discontinued
Sugino - cranks - best in the world, but not commonly found
Kona - bikes with an off road / hybrid bent - bargains for the money
Campagnolo - parts - sometimes quirky but great for ROAD bikes
Specialized - bikes that set the "value" standard for a variety of types
Shimano - parts - These set the "vanilla" standard for a variety of types
Rivendell - bikes & philosophy - an island of sanity in a plastic "racing" world
Wipperman - chains - pricey but worth it.
e-Bay - everyman's best friend for bicycle parts
Finish Line - degreaser - pricey but worth it.

I'm sure for every opinion I've expressed here, there'll be another poster to say just the opposite. That is why you'll NEVER find online consensus, and online opinions are always worth exactly what you pay for them.

You are missing one of the highest quality bikes made - GURU

roadmaster
huffy
mongoose

preference does not equal quality. Features does not equal quality.


Process Quality is (I used to be a QC tech a while back, and still can often do it better than the engineers), the process of making a product, of consistant build, that meets or exceeds the standards set forth by the customer.

Xmart bikes are rarely quality due to the problems during the assembly phase.

Now material quality is how fit the materials chosen were for the task...at that some Xmart bikes fail miserably. There are some that can fare ok, but those are priced at the same points as bike shop bikes.

When you hit bike shop bikes, you are pretty much assured of quality...it's just what bike fits your needs, budget, and preferences.

Don't forget Terry.

Huffy - raced by the 7-11 Team, best bike there is hands-down.

Take a wild guess what bike brand I like. (besides my rossin)

If you publish a listing that has no basis in fact what have you accomplished?

I have certain brands that I personally prefer over others. When pressed for an objective reason why, I'd have a hard time coming up with an answer. The whole issue is complicated by the fact that all of the major manufacturers make bikes in many different price ranges. So do you base Trek's quality rateing on their highest priced offering or their cheapest?

I think the idea is just to get a list of names and links to help total newbies have "some" frame of reference to start from.

I know when I first decided to get into biking about 2 years ago I couldn't have even named one single brand name except maybe what was sold at Wal-Mart. A list like this would have helped me get started....instead I used a Consumer Reports bicycle guide and there were many big names that were not on the list that I didn't even know to check. In the end, I just started going through the phone book and hitting every bike shop I could find within 30 miles.

You need to put a disclaimer that inside the "good" brands there are varying level of qualities especially who put it together (LBS) and the type of components. You should just say in general X is a good bike but keep in mind that... blah blah.

Although this does reduce the usefullness but what you are trying to do is sum up something which doesn't like to be summed up, too many variations to just say Bianchi is good etc.

In the modern world, "brand" has almost nothing to do with production or quality. Most bike frames come from a few big ISO9000 certified factories in Taiwan or, these days, mainland China. The "brands" then spec the frame with identikit Japanes designed/Singapore manufactured or Ital componentry and carbon-copy forks.
On the whole, this product is good and servicable, sometimes it is excellent.
The real value of a bike is in the quality of assembly which is down to your LBS.

There are "boutique" brands that do all their manufacturing in-house, such as Chris King, Phill Woods, Woundup Forks etc. This is where a name really carries some quality and is usually accompanied by a miniscule marketing budget.

Huffy Sledgehammer
Sweet bike! Comes with shocks and pegs. Best of all you can take it off sweet jumps!

Huffy Sledgehammer
Sweet bike! Comes with shocks and pegs. Best of all you can take it off sweet jumps!

You got three feet of air that time.