Well… looks like everybody now jumping on a cool bike bandwagon nowadays. As of October 2009, Cooper cars company (that’s right, same company that gave us mini cooper), launched a new bicycle division and introduced their new bike lineup from T100 to T200 bike collections. New bikes will be available in January of 2010 and will feature aggressive track design. For more info check out the cooperbike site
This is about as lame as urban outfitters selling fixed gears. At this rate I’m going say screw it and get a horse.
Cooper Bikes are produced in Taiwan by Maxway (see the rear drop outs for manufacturer verification). The Sturmey Archer brand name is now owned by Asian manufacturer Sun Race. The Sturmey Archer labeled components are now produced in Asia by Sun Race and its assignees, for example, the front hubs are most likely manufactured by Formula of Asia. The Sturmey Archer labeled crank sets most likely are produced by Sun Race or one of its assignees and again of Asian origin. Sun Race tends to be considered a lower tiered components supplier by most bicycle industry product managers. Sun Race products are usually only utilized when cost concessions must be made to meet lower price points therefore Sun Race components are rarely found on higher quality bicycles.
The Reynolds 520 tubing is an entry level, butted, chrome-molybdenum tubing about the same quality as any other Asian produced butted chrome-molybdenum tubing. The Reynolds web site states: “The Reynolds ’520′ range uses the same alloy, made under license for us in Taiwan and subject to the same quality standards.” There are other Maxway produced bicycles with similar (if not better) specifications and leather saddles, including Brooks branded saddles, for around the $850 to $900 by such brand names as Raleigh and Torelli in the US. These prices are significantly below the $1175 target retail price for the Cooper T100 series offerings. Our industry insights lead us to speculate that the higher pricing may be due to an additional profit layer in the US distribution channel.
The Cooper T 100 series geometries are longer wheel based, longer top tube dimension so they can not considered purely as track bikes but more as slacker geometry track styled commuter bicycles. The lack of rack and fender braze on fittings limits the use of such accessories to seat post clamped racks and brake bolt mounted mini fenders. The full on rack and fender applications preferred by most commuters are not mountable on the T 100 series bicycles. The short stack height of the Ahead stem/headset system also diminishes this bikes ability to adjust the handle bar height for more relaxed commuter settings. This further inhibits this bikes comfort and adjustability factors since a complete stem change is necessary for higher handle bar positioning. That being said, these bicycles are not a full on track bikes or commuter bikes, but something in between, therefore, it is difficult to define Cooper’s design goals for the T 100 offerings.
We do not know how much of the Mini Cooper automobile production is done in England but we can say none of the Cooper bicycle T100 series production is done there except for possibly the saddles!
The Cooper T200 Reims/T200 CHAMPIONSHIP 50/T250 Aintree Series are fabricated with Reynolds 531 butted tubing. This is a Steel-Molybdenum-Manganese alloy (hence the 531 designation to quantify the blend) that only lends itself to lugged construction executions. Reynolds 531 tubing was one of the most dominant, original race bicycle tubing choices for high end racing bikes from the 1960’s/1970’s era. The Reynolds 531 alloying process allowed the tubing to have a higher tensile strength than the high tensile and chrome molybdenum offerings and it was able be drawn to thinner wall thicknesses, thus, becoming a highly coveted, lighter weight steel material. It was the advent of Asian mass bicycle production in the latter 1970’s/1980’s that made this tubing and fabrication process obsolete. The time consuming, more complicated and geometry limiting aspects of lugged frame fabrications that this tubing required fell out of favor in the world of mass produced bicycles. Lug-less, mitered, TIG chrome-molybdenum welded tubing offerings became the industry standard for bicycle frame fabrications. These executions addressed lightness factors by eliminating the investment cast lugs.
Presently, due to the current bicycle marketing trend for retro styling and the use of once popularly past materials and fabrication techniques Reynolds 531 lugged frames have found their way back to Asian fabrication facilities. The drawback is that these Asian mass production offerings do not have the same ride quality for which these materials were famous. The liveliness and responsiveness of the current Asian produced frames is often diminished by modern mass production fabrication methods. The Cooper US target retail pricing is again higher when compared to other Asian produced market counter parts utilizing Reynolds 531 lugged frames from Asia. This leads us again to speculate that the higher pricing may be due to an additional profit layer in the US distribution channel. The T200 Reims and T250 Aintree are targeted to be priced at $1750, the T200 Championship 50 is targeted to be priced at $1650. Those prices are for Asian produced bicycles with average level Asian components regardless of their British monikers with the possible exception of the Brooks saddles. There are many more affordably priced offerings in the US market with similar or superior specifications.