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When I go to Walmart and other department stores I find cheap bike like Raleigh!

But when I go to a local bike shop and buy a mountain bike by Raleigh but its a way better quality bike then at Walmart! Is there two bike companies that have the same name or are they the same?

Please help because I have a Raleigh Tokul 2 that I got from my local bike shop and it's not a cheap mountain bike. Its good quality but I see cheap Raleighs that don't last long at department stores. Is mine also cheap and crappy or is it a different company?

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    The Tokul 2 looks like a lower-end but still quality bicycle. There are several Raleigh companies descendent from the original British Raleigh bicycle company over the past ~130 years which go under the Raleigh name now. Some companies (e.g. Schwinn) maintain BSO lines and decent lines separately, but I don't know if this is the case with Raleigh.
    – Batman
    Commented Jul 20, 2016 at 3:12
  • If it helps any, the original company was based in Nottingham, UK. I just mention this because they still exist (in fact they have a long history from very early on) and put their location on bike badges etc.
    – PeteH
    Commented Jul 20, 2016 at 8:35
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    In general, most of the old brands are meaningless anymore. Some are just names that are licensed to whoever bids the most. Others, while still maintaining a "company", farm out actual manufacturing to several different places (mainly in China).
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Commented Jul 20, 2016 at 11:36

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There are license branding. For example Raleigh is sold in Japan through a Japanese bicycle wholesaler that design Raleigh bicycles to be adapted to Japan local trend. The "Japanese" Raleigh are made in Taiwan and China and have not much to do with the original brand except the name and vintage design inspired by the original models of the 60's and 70's. Many brands do this.

Your bike is probably of better quality than lower priced model. You have to compare specification to be able to determinate if your bike is "lower" quality bike or not.

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Honda makes some of the most affordable motorbikes in the world as well as some of the most expensive. So does Raleigh with bicycles. A big company like Honda or Raleigh is able to produce a variety of models for the consumer.

Unfortunately the price point for many buying first time bikes is simply too low, so there are some real turds out there. the taletell signs are described elsewhere, like welds, materials, weight, quality of components and their install.

All those things are important than the brand. This is confidence shaking, because we cannot reasonably say any one brand "makes good bikes". All manufacturers ethically can fall by the wayside, E.g. Peugeot, Schwinn, and I think Huffy once made great bikes exclusively. How then do you find a great bike? For something that won't fall to pieces on you, you can usually trust a LBS. Their markup is pretty neglible compared to the quality of bikes they offer.

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