General Cycling Discussion - British bikes

Can anyone recomend a solid British Cycle Manufacturer?

I am looking for something sturdy and all-around int the Hybrid/City/Touring genre.

Sub 1000$ Yankee Dollars

Are there any bicycles made in England anymore? Naive question, perhaps, but it isn't like the good old days with Rudge, Raleigh, and others being made at the same time - often in the same cities.

How about getting an older Raleigh road bike and upgrading it? Switch out the cottered cranks with newer cotterless, upgrade the wheels, maybe upgrade the drive train if you feel necessary - you should be good to go.

Orbit, Dawes, Thorn, Saracen, to name afew.
Some are assemblers of Taiwanese frames, but a few make their own frmaes.
There are scores of smaller workshop framebuilders, as well as full custom builders.
I recently fitted a friend up with a Dawes hybrid /treking bike and , with the right preparation, they are an excelent choice. Orbit are more expensive, but with better quality assembly.

Thanx

Don't forget Mercian.

Dawes do make a very good range of tourer type bikes, and are very reliable. Unfortunately they can be hard to get hold off. My dad ordered one but they kept moving the delivery date back. After a couple of months he gave up and got an Orbea instead.

Orbit will pretty much tailor the assembly of the bike to your needs (group set, wheels, bars etc) and they are very good bikes, but you will pay for the service.

Claude Butler is still making bikes. I had one years ago. It wasn't particularly memorable. But good enough for some to steal :(

The "Thorn" range of bikes, will be hard to beat for the type of cycling you intend.

I have a friend who purchased a "Nomad" couple of years ago, its an exellant quality and superbly constructed cycle, Highly desirable....