Originally Posted by Andrew R Stewart

I was in the best position to see the worst of the Mieles. I had a shop in Cleveland years ago that I bought from an older guy who had opened a second shop near by. He was not much of a business man or bikie, open hours as he cared and only sold second/third tier brands. I was the new kid in town and was making a name for my frame repair skills. So I had a number of various brands that were sold by other shops come into my shop for estimate/repair/aligning or just to have the owners complain. For the low number of Mieles sold I saw a bunch, some in response to the call from the older guy before the customer had picked up the bike. Misalignment of the rear triangle, poor threading prep, warped seat tubes, crooked brake mounting holes were the problems I remember most. But the bikes looked very nice what with their Euro styling and chrome. After a few years of selling the brand he moved onto another fancy but under the radar one. During this period i was told that the Miele factory was heavily supported by the government during it's start up and that the work force was not well educated/skilled/motivated/paid. This business model was what came to haunt the brand and in the end they didn't survive the market place. I probably have some of the details wrong, not being there and only hearing rumors. But i believe that my basic understanding holds water.

Now i'm off to lead the club ride in our Finger Lakes. I'm bringing the rain jacket... Andy.