[ashokrajagopal]

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

@smartcat: I'm actually shocked at the price. Is the online price jacked up? AFAIK, considering their target market, these bicycles are pretty cheap.

Originally Posted by SmartCat

Indiamart.com lists the wholesale price. It is around Rs. 2,200 per piece
https://www.indiamart.com/proddetail...835320891.html
However, within the roadster range, there is Super 22, Super 55 (heavy duty apparently ) and what not. Not sure which sub-model is listed on Indiamart.

Roadsters come to about 3.8k to 4k if you buy from a local cycle store. Comes with a carrier and bell, but no lights or reflectors. It's not at all expensive -- compare to btwin models above, it's a lot more of metal.
None of the new gen models can handle a potholed road in rainy season with the fenders missing.
Fun fact: the roadster may be the most produced and sold vehicle design ever.

[sanyog26]

Really sad to learn of this development. I'm sure each family in India must have owned an Atlas cycle at some point in the past few decades.

As far as I'm concerned, I've had atleast 3 Atlast cycles during my childhood/school days and still reminisce those days. Infact during these lockdown days, I was wondering how easy and uncomplicated life was earlier when we kids use to cycle around in our colony. I had made up my mind to get myself a new cycle in the coming weeks just for the emotional factor and for occassional evening rides after office. But this news of Atlas shutting shop comes as a jolt. So many old iconic brands are downing shutters. Kodak a few years ago and now Atlas..

I wish the government could provide some support to these iconic companies to help them keep continuing their operations.

[TejasV]

What i sincerely believe is that though most of us support the brand and some of us have had great memories with it. We have sadly moved on. We will feel bad for it but may never buy from the brand. Every cycle I see these days is from Decathlon or any of the bigger international cycle brands.

There is a need for Atlas to cater to a younger audience or find a niche in the kids segment where the cycles right now are almost as expensive as adult cycles and make a mark there as parents would pay for quality and value - which brand conscious cycling enthusiasts may not find in the current range of Atlas's range.

[SS80]

Originally Posted by Aditya

When I hear the word Atlas Cycles, I

Somehow, the brand just faded away after that. They were just too slow to respond to a market that's fast changing - much like Hindustan Motors or Premier. On the other hand, TI Cycrgins.

I have the same opinion about them, they could have brought a simple electric conversion kit that could be fitted on their largest selling model of cycles and offer Emi facilities without too much hassle. Even FreeCharge is offering personal loans, they could have tied up with one such finance company and continued business.

When newbies like miracle can get so many customers to hire their e vehicle, a modified Atlas with square tubular chassis and light weight, could have been a hit with IT Folks, one way you ride it like a scooter, return home cycling. You had lots of opportunity to change with time, but you chose the PAL Padmini route.

[srini1785]

I never had a Atlas or for that matter any old brand of cycles. Hated the looks of those diamond frames , i don't know why. I once had a BSA champ then a SLR and graduated to scooters and bikes.

When brands like Jawa , Norton , BSA can be resurrected , i don't see why Atlas cannot be. The only problem being that bicycles as a species is loosing out favor even in its main market, rural india. Gone are those days when a farmer depended on his bullocks and bicycles. Now a days he wants everything city like. The first challenge to cycles came in the form of the TVS 50 in south (M80/50 being its equivalent in north) and then the regular bike. It appears that the fall of Atlas is a metaphor to the changing settings of india, especially the rural one.

City dwellers , lets face it, needed more peppy, geared , light version cycles with a lifestyle to match. Atlas did not have or probably did not market such a product. All (good) things must come to an end.

[avaneesh.]

The cycle market in india isn't dead. It's just that the oldies aren't adapting to the situation. We'll 4 years back when i first started cycling as hobby, I looked around for a geared cycle from Hercules or hero.( Because these were the only names I had known then. Atlas was already dead ). Now with rigourous searching i found one model the all time favorite of budget cycling ,the Hercules ACT 110. But to procure this model even after maybe 5+ years of launch(maybe more I'm not sure) was so difficult. And the pricing jumped from 8000 in 2010s to 16,500 in 2016. I had to drop the plan of buying a heavy bike and tried looking at schnell ,montra etc.
There is still a lot of scope for cycles geared with Shimano tourney or tx groupset and priced below 15,000 indian bucks.

Secondly, the costliest indian made bikes would be from montra. They are cheap reliable costing not more than 35000 bucks. Indian companies need not run behind the extravagant road bikes or triathlon bikes. Let them just focus on hobby cyclists on budget. Make some good hybrids. From my experience with schnell( An indian brand situated in Pune), i can say the bike is good but the geometry is wrong. I had to change the chain every 500 kms. But the cycle was capable of clocking 500 kms in two days. ( I had participated in a 400 brevet and it was a breeze). The lack of proper geometry and lackluster mechanicals made me think of alternatives. After the brevet i developed a shoulder muscle pull/ stretch, maybe due to bad fitting.

So my point is , Atlas Hero and Hercules need to really focus on hobby cyclists needs and tackle the giants like .Decathlon, Scott, Neruda ,Fuji etc in the budget segment

[Sudarshan_SMD]

Atlas probably got stuck in time and kept producing what they already have. They simply didn't adopt. In such a situation it is probably the management.

There are small bike frame builders who are building very good quality frames in India. They being very small, build in small quantities, and don't have a large market.
Notable ones:
PSYNYDE: Big name in MTB, with specialization in MTB components and custom builds.
They have 'Furan' a very well received XC MTB. Oxygen a hybrid bike.
They build custom BMX and downhill bikes.
They also do custom road bike. They have built road bike with carbon tubing as well.
SCOLARIAN: Manufacturer of Chromoly single speed bikes. They also do custom geometry, and touring bikes on request.
CONVOLUTION: Manufacturer of aluminum road bike. They currently have 'Aspera' an endurance geometry road bike in the market.

Now, I don't quite get how economics or big business work. However, something tells me that, if the big manufacturers want to improve. They could look at what others are doing, and maybe take notes or take them on board for producing efficient bikes.

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

Btwin! From decathlon. For its price it has everything, and you can customise it in 30 mins and buy from decathlon store. How is it possible that this bicycle that has better quality bits imported into India , sold under a premium brand at prices lower than Hero? I have no idea. But I think import duty on bicycles and their parts is 0. Imagine if this was the case with cars, we all will be driving copies of Range rover and Rolls-Royce from you know where.

Btwin has started building MyBike in India.

Import duties for most of the bike components is 20%, while for a complete bike it is 30%. Then there are additional taxes on top of it, which makes the total customs at around 50% of the price.

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by Sudarshan_SMD

Btwin has started building MyBike in India.

Import duties for most of the bike components is 20%, while for a complete bike it is 30%. Then there are additional taxes on top of it, which makes the total customs at around 50% of the price.

Its a bit more complicated than that, this article is for your reference.

As Quoted in here " It is important to state that these products are intermediate products, and are used to manufacture bicycles in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and finally exported as finished products to India. An increase in India’s import of bicycles under the HSN code 871200010 from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka clearly reflects that Chinese low-cost bicycle manufactures are able to enjoy duty-free market access in India without being a party to SAFTA. "

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com...le29291592.ece

[Sebring]

Atlas made sturdy bicycles for the rural market. These were real workhorses in the 70-80s. They took the market by storm in the 80s with the Concorde racer. This bike had a proper gear system, and was real 'drool' with its dual colour scheme. Can never forget the moment I laid my eyes on an Atlas Concorde in my teens! They had to move with the times, and introduce path breaking products true to tradition. Looks like they lost their way

[Stribog]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Just search the internet for pictures of India and China in the 1970’s. Remarkable that the large majority of the population just got about Everywhere on bicycles in those days.

Sirji, India is still that way. The 2011 census gives these figures,

20% walk to work

16% take cycles

Motorised two wheelers - 13%

Cars - 3%.

A large chunk don't go anywhere to work (wfh always?)

Extrapolating this to the larger pop, India has something like 100mn + cycles.

The urban and rural poor use cycles extensively.

[warrioraks]

Is it only me who found it surprising that every statement made by the CEO ran contrary to the title of the article. Not sure what the reality is.

Never the less, it is sad news. Atlas is an iconic brand and as others mentioned, they failed to re-invent with time.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by roby_dk

Atlas Cycles - a name that became a synonym for bicycles in India

If you see our cycles thread, no one even wants to talk about atlas much less buy one. In that world, they are then stuck in the low cost commodity bicycle play which never makes money.

Hate to say this, but this is perfectly fine. This is how capitalism works. New ones are born and the older inefficient ones eliminated.

I would have been worried instead if the government took them over AI style and it became a never ending money drain on the national exchequer.

[warrioraks]

Hero Cycles may ride in to scoop up Atlas, the shuttered iconic cycle maker

https://m.economictimes.com/news/com...w/76704300.cms