Expensive carmarkers enter bike market

[blkmcs]

The bikes being pedaled by Mini Cooper Motors are a much more serious effort than most other motoring forays into the bike market.
They are already in the showrooms here (brisbane) and they are very nice bikes, in the retro groove.
They use Reynolds 520 or 531 frames.
Obviously this is more a marketing exercise than a serious push into the bike market, but I for one would not say no to one of these little beauties in my garage.
http://www.cooperbikes.com/T200-singlespeedracingbike.html

These Cooper Bikes are not in any way related to the MINI car brand.
Mike Cooper, the son of John Cooper of Mini Cooper fame, is behind the bikes.

[a.davis12]

You can buy a Ferrari MTB at cell right now.

It's one of the truisms of cycling though - if a car maker puts out a line of bicycles, they will suck. Yes, that includes Peugeot

for what it is worth, that i not a colnago. colnago have never produced that bike ever, just a cheap chinese knock off.

[rkelsen]

for what it is worth, that i not a colnago. colnago have never produced that bike ever, just a cheap chinese knock off.

Really?

[CommuRider]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/BMW-Cruise-bike-/320608934453?pt=AU_Sport_Cycling_Bikes&hash=item4aa5c81a35

Mmmmmmmm.

Definite mark down from the $1500 RRP. Though they didn't post the real photo of the bike.

[Aushiker]

Obviously this is more a marketing exercise than a serious push into the bike market, but I for one would not say no to one of these little beauties in my garage.
http://www.cooperbikes.com/T200-singlespeedracingbike.html

Hi

It is nice looking. Any idea of the $?



Andrew

[elStado]

Yeah that Cooper T200 looks awesome. Really nice for a commercially made bike. Love the classic aesthetics, chrome components and brooks leather finishing touches.

[elantra]

These Cooper Bikes are not in any way related to the MINI car brand.
Mike Cooper, the son of John Cooper of Mini Cooper fame, is behind the bikes.

Yes but there obviously is a business relationship because these bikes are being sold in MINI car dealerships in Australia and presumably also overseas.

Obviously this is more a marketing exercise than a serious push into the bike market, but I for one would not say no to one of these little beauties in my garage.
http://www.cooperbikes.com/T200-singlespeedracingbike.html

Hi

It is nice looking. Any idea of the $?



Andrew

Well amazingly there is the new 5 speed version of this Cooper bicycle is "on the floor" at my LBS.
I think it has a price of 1799 aussie dollars, will check on this tomorrow.
he usually knocks a few dollars off for me.

dunno how much they are in the car dealerships.

[blkmcs]

These Cooper Bikes are not in any way related to the MINI car brand.
Mike Cooper, the son of John Cooper of Mini Cooper fame, is behind the bikes.

Yes but there obviously is a business relationship because these bikes are being sold in MINI car dealerships in Australia and presumably also overseas.
...

If they are being sold in MINI dealerships then the dealers will be getting them from Gloc Imports, the Australian and NZ distributors for Cooper Bikes.

There is no relationship between Cooper Bikes and MINI except that Mike Cooper owns a MINI John Cooper Works WC50 in which he recently lost a car vs bike race in Oxford, details in the September issue of Cycling Plus.

[Aushiker]

There is no relationship between Cooper Bikes and MINI except that Mike Cooper owns a MINI John Cooper Works WC50 in which he recently lost a car vs bike race in Oxford, details in the September issue of Cycling Plus.

Hi

The timeline at http://www.cooperbikes.com/ suggests a very strong relationship between MINI and The Cooper Car Company (makers of Cooper bikes).

Regards
Andrew

[blkmcs]

There is no relationship between Cooper Bikes and MINI except that Mike Cooper owns a MINI John Cooper Works WC50 in which he recently lost a car vs bike race in Oxford, details in the September issue of Cycling Plus.

Hi

The timeline at http://www.cooperbikes.com/ suggests a very strong relationship between MINI and The Cooper Car Company (makers of Cooper bikes).

Regards
Andrew

Yes Andrew, historically there was a very close relationship between John Cooper Garages and MINI.
John Cooper Garages produced the original John Cooper Works kits that were dealer fitted as an after market option to the MINI Cooper S.
This operation was subsequently taken in house by MINI and the John Cooper Works cars are a now a separate model in the MINI range.
John Cooper Garages was closed down in 2006 and Mike Cooper started up Cooper Bikes.
Cooper bikes are not sold by MINI, not marketed by MINI and not made by MINI.
Any other relationship that may or may not exist between Mike Cooper and MINI is irrelevant to this topic.
Elantra posted that Cooper Bikes are being sold in MINI dealerships and this may be so in some dealerships.
Gloc Imports wrote to every MINI dealer in Australia offering them the opportunity to sell Cooper Bikes from their MINI showrooms, the bikes are not an official MINI item and it is highly unlikely that they will appear in the Perth MINI Garage, but never say never.

[rkelsen]

Cooper bikes are not sold by MINI, not marketed by MINI and not made by MINI.

Of course, when you say Mini, you really mean BMW... no?

[elantra]

Cooper bikes are not sold by MINI, not marketed by MINI and not made by MINI.

Of course, when you say Mini, you really mean BMW... no?

OK, at the risk of being off-topic, those 3 letters drive me crazy.

I don't know what it is like in the southern states, but up here in Brisbane, the people who drive these BMW things would have to be, as a group, the worst drivers.

OK, commodore drivers get stereotyped as bad drivers, but actually they usually have reasonable driving skills, but sometimes with sociopthic tendencies.
BMW drivers by contrast, and in general, display poor driving, especially in the recent model ones, especially 3 series and X5.
Maybe MINI is the car that BMW makes for the more attentive drivers.
Apologies to the BMW drivers who actually use their indicators and know how to use a roundabout.

[blkmcs]

Cooper bikes are not sold by MINI, not marketed by MINI and not made by MINI.

Of course, when you say Mini, you really mean BMW... no?

OK, MINI is owned by BMW just as Holden is owned by GM and Jaguar is owned by some Indian company.
So when I use MINI I mean MINI and not Mini which should only be used for the classic Mini.

OK, at the risk of being off-topic, those 3 letters drive me crazy.

I don't know what it is like in the southern states, but up here in Brisbane, the people who drive these BMW things would have to be, as a group, the worst drivers.

OK, commodore drivers get stereotyped as bad drivers, but actually they usually have reasonable driving skills, but sometimes with sociopthic tendencies.
BMW drivers by contrast, and in general, display poor driving, especially in the recent model ones, especially 3 series and X5.
Maybe MINI is the car that BMW makes for the more attentive drivers.
Apologies to the BMW drivers who actually use their indicators and know how to use a roundabout.

I suspect that your apology will only extend to 1 or 2 BMW drivers at the most.

[hexrunt]

OK, MINI is owned by BMW just as Holden is owned by GM and Jaguar is owned by some Indian company.
So when I use MINI I mean MINI and not Mini which should only be used for the classic Mini.

OK, at the risk of being off-topic, those 3 letters drive me crazy.

I don't know what it is like in the southern states, but up here in Brisbane, the people who drive these BMW things would have to be, as a group, the worst drivers.

OK, commodore drivers get stereotyped as bad drivers, but actually they usually have reasonable driving skills, but sometimes with sociopthic tendencies.
BMW drivers by contrast, and in general, display poor driving, especially in the recent model ones, especially 3 series and X5.
Maybe MINI is the car that BMW makes for the more attentive drivers.
Apologies to the BMW drivers who actually use their indicators and know how to use a roundabout.

I suspect that your apology will only extend to 1 or 2 BMW drivers at the most.

I know further and further off topic but I'll have to wade into this as well. Here in at least the western parts of Sydney home of the bogans and their fords etc yelling vulgarities through the gaffa taped plastic windows the worst drivers really seem to be those that drive Stupid Useless Vehicles (SUV's) and the more expensive cars such as your BMW's and Mercedes. Combine the two and you get real trouble. Out of four seperate occasions where I have been centimetres from horrible injuries or death due to negligent motorists has involved two BMW X5's and one of those Porsche SUV things, the Cayenne? It's not just only on my bike when I see such stupid beahviour from them, they even seem to give total disregard to other motorists.

There really seems to be a mindset among these drivers that since they have paid for their overpriced crap bucket that they have more right to the roads and that they are always more 'correct' then the plebians in their lesser vehicles. This seems further proven by an incident in a local car park when I had my 95 commodore station wagon out at the shops and some silly bimbo in a merceds SUV reversed into the front of my car then tried to drive off like nothing happened. After I stopped her to get her details she actually said "Oh you should be paying for my car, its worth more than that old thing". It was a good thing I was out with my mother at the time as she took over from there as I'm sure I was probably red faced and about to launch into a HUGE tirade of expletives.


Back on topic now....

Good god all of those bikes listed both from the car makers and those Chanel etc ones are hideous. Maybe the bikes themselves aren't that bad really in some of the cases but the prices are insane. I have at one time also had an old puegot road bike and it was fairly uninspiring. So much so that it sat in the garage until a colleague with a peugot offered to buy it off me when I brought it into work one day as my normal roadie was still in its box in peices after getting back from a trip.

[CommuRider]

Out of four seperate occasions where I have been centimetres from horrible injuries or death due to negligent motorists has involved two BMW X5's and one of those Porsche SUV things, the Cayenne? It's not just only on my bike when I see such stupid beahviour from them, they even seem to give total disregard to other motorists.

I avert my eyes every time I see a Cayenne on the road in the same way I switch channels when I see an odious politician on TV. The Cayenne's probably the result of illicit money anyway.

[elStado]

the worst drivers really seem to be those that drive Stupid Useless Vehicles (SUV's) and the more expensive cars such as your BMW's and Mercedes. Combine the two and you get real trouble. Out of four seperate occasions where I have been centimetres from horrible injuries or death due to negligent motorists has involved two BMW X5's and one of those Porsche SUV things, the Cayenne? It's not just only on my bike when I see such stupid beahviour from them, they even seem to give total disregard to other motorists.

This thread is already too far off topic.. but.. I have to agree with you 100%.

Where I live there is are a few wealthy areas nearby, and also a private school just down the road where all the rich kids go. During school pickup and dropoff times riding around my area becomes extremely dangerous, I have already had quite a few close calls, mainly being cut-off at intersections or roundabouts, all of them were people (mainly "footy mums") driving luxury SUVs or 4WDs (two times it was a BMW X5, once a Cayenne and once a high model Landcruiser).

I agree that these people probably have a superiority complex, and the one really close call with the Landcruiser was because the lady was looking over her seat talking to to her kids instead of watching the road for people entering the roundabout.. she ran straight through it and nearly cleaned me up! Lucky I wasn't on a motorbike and travelling faster.

So yeah, every time I encounter an expensive SUV I always become very cautious and expect them to do something stupid/arrogant.

[CommuRider]

If we're going to be talking about serious money on bikes

Damien Hirst - US$500K

http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/stages/hirst/

Marc Newson - $110K

http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/stages/newson/

And I bet they'll never see the light of day.

[JV911]

[CommuRider]

Meh. Bike doesn't look like Range Rover to me. It would have mud guards. Looks indistinguishable to other bikes out there and someone just wrote the name Range Rover. Shouldn't it be in khaki too?

[drubie]

Meh. Bike doesn't look like Range Rover to me. It would have mud guards. Looks indistinguishable to other bikes out there and someone just wrote the name Range Rover. Shouldn't it be in khaki too?

LOL no! Range Rovers never go off the tarmac. The funniest thing about that picture is that most Range Rover owners are so fat they'd exceed the weight restrictions on the bicycle frame (and lets face it, if a Range Rover driver *ever* bought a roadie, it'd be a Colnago or a Pinarello that gets ridden 400m to the coffee shop, once).

[MattyK]

Meh. Bike doesn't look like Range Rover to me. It would have mud guards. Looks indistinguishable to other bikes out there and someone just wrote the name Range Rover. Shouldn't it be in khaki too?

Can't be a real Range Rover - where will the oil leak from?

[BarryTas]

i want a brown volvo

[AUbicycles]

Looking at the frame, it doesn't look that remarkable or distinguishable. I think that if a 'non cycling' brand wants to do conceptional work and release a bike it should either be a co-branded effort "Limited Edition Range Rover version" or they should do something amazing.

Land Rover says the custom-made wheels are designed for aerodynamic efficiency as well as stability. They're wrapped in triple-density rubber said to offer both durability and strong grip.They're wrapped in triple-density rubber said to offer both durability and strong grip

I wouldn't mind knowing more about that (proposed advantages). But are they talking about the rims? Why do the Rims need good grip?

Other details include a leather saddle and silicone gel handlebar grip, which match the colour of the bike's frame. Transmission and braking components are finished in black.

Mindless reporting..... "IT HAS A LEATHER SADDLE".... "THE BRAKES AND GEARS ARE BLACK".


I am not convinced... perhaps even disappointed.

[MattyK]

Land Rover says the custom-made wheels are designed for aerodynamic efficiency as well as stability. They're wrapped in triple-density rubber said to offer both durability and strong grip.

I wouldn't mind knowing more about that (proposed advantages). But are they talking about the rims? Why do the Rims need good grip?

"Wrapped in rubber" = tyres. Standard automotive journalism cliché (particularly for low profile tyres).

[CommuRider]

Looks like they had to dip several times into the cliche box to describe a run of the mill bike. Give me a Ferrari branded bike any time. More affordable than the car, not bad looking either.