(19 Feb 2021, 2:13 pm)Jimmi wrote I had one of the Wright bodied B8RLEs with East Coast Buses a few month back and my god it was awful, never experienced rattling like it before making for an unpleasant ride, somehow made me glad to be on an E200MMC afterwards (Borders Buses 253). The MCV eVoRa doesn't seem as bad as the Wright bodies on the same chassis, have found the Volvo B5TL with EvoSeti double decker bodies better than the Gemini 3s like GNE have, same can't quite be said for looks but otherwise MCV seems better IMO.

Wonder if that's possibly going to be a sign of a 2015-19 Wrights vehicle going forward? I think build quality dropped from the high standard associated with Wright around the end of the first generation of Eclipse vehicles, but was generally okay until the start of Gemini 3/Streetlite/Streetdeck where it nosedived and got even worse when they were in financial difficulty.

(19 Feb 2021, 7:46 pm)mb134 wrote Wonder if that's possibly going to be a sign of a 2015-19 Wrights vehicle going forward? I think build quality dropped from the high standard associated with Wright around the end of the first generation of Eclipse vehicles, but was generally okay until the start of Gemini 3/Streetlite/Streetdeck where it nosedived and got even worse when they were in financial difficulty.

Comparing the new StreetDecks in GNE’s fleet to the new ADL’s, if we think build quality is poor from Wrights, it must be appalling from ADL!


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(19 Feb 2021, 7:46 pm)mb134 wrote Wonder if that's possibly going to be a sign of a 2015-19 Wrights vehicle going forward? I think build quality dropped from the high standard associated with Wright around the end of the first generation of Eclipse vehicles, but was generally okay until the start of Gemini 3/Streetlite/Streetdeck where it nosedived and got even worse when they were in financial difficulty.

Not sure if it was in this thread or another, but someone shared a picture of a Handybus the other day.
I had flashbacks to the horror. 

Nationals -> Deltas -> Lance's -> Lynxes -> Dart derivatives like the Handybus.
Awful downward spiral over a 10 year period imo.

Quite how the salesmen at Wright convinced bus operators to take anything else from Ballymena after those things... 
Those Pathfinders and Renowns were a huge step up to what had been churned out previously.

(19 Feb 2021, 8:58 pm)Dan wrote Comparing the new StreetDecks in GNE’s fleet to the new ADL’s, if we think build quality is poor from Wrights, it must be appalling from ADL!


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I did say 2015-2019! From what I've seen it looks like things are improving at quite a pace since Bamford took charge. 

The new Streetdecks up here are bolted together well, shame about the 2010 council spec interiors. ADL build quality of late seems to differ bus to bus, let alone batch to batch.

(19 Feb 2021, 11:27 pm)mb134 wrote I did say 2015-2019! From what I've seen it looks like things are improving at quite a pace since Bamford took charge. 

The new Streetdecks up here are bolted together well, shame about the 2010 council spec interiors. ADL build quality of late seems to differ bus to bus, let alone batch to batch.

Supposedly the ones built in Falkirk are better than the ones assembled in Scarborough.

Was surprised when I first tried out the E400MMCs and StreetDecks at Consett, couldn't fault the StreetDeck but was let down by the E400MMC I had especially as it had a constant beeping going off

(19 Feb 2021, 7:46 pm)mb134 wrote Wonder if that's possibly going to be a sign of a 2015-19 Wrights vehicle going forward? I think build quality dropped from the high standard associated with Wright around the end of the first generation of Eclipse vehicles, but was generally okay until the start of Gemini 3/Streetlite/Streetdeck where it nosedived and got even worse when they were in financial difficulty.

You really think? I think Wright peaked around 2003 personally. The Renowns and Commanders are much better than the newer stuff imo.

The 3 Commanders at Blyth imo feel a much more solid bus than the replacement Pulsar imo which is as bad as anything between 2015 - 19 and just feel cheap. The rattle on the emergency door and the rattley driver guard being the 2 most noticeable things which are annoying and we're there from new - the emergency door rattle which still exists on Streetlites.

Even today 1401 - 1403 feel a lot more solid than the Pulsars and are a hell of less rattley given that some of them are nearly twice as old.

(20 Feb 2021, 1:48 pm)Storx wrote You really think? I think Wright peaked around 2003 personally. The Renowns and Commanders are much better than the newer stuff imo.

The 3 Commanders at Blyth imo feel a much more solid bus than the replacement Pulsar imo which is as bad as anything between 2015 - 19 and just feel cheap. The rattle on the emergency door and the rattley driver guard being the 2 most noticeable things which are annoying and we're there from new - the emergency door rattle which still exists on Streetlites.

Even today 1401 - 1403 feel a lot more solid than the Pulsars and are a hell of less rattley given that some of them are nearly twice as old.

Might be a single vs. double decker thing. I don't think I've ever driven a bad Wright Gemini body.

(20 Feb 2021, 1:48 pm)Storx wrote You really think? I think Wright peaked around 2003 personally. The Renowns and Commanders are much better than the newer stuff imo.

The 3 Commanders at Blyth imo feel a much more solid bus than the replacement Pulsar imo which is as bad as anything between 2015 - 19 and just feel cheap. The rattle on the emergency door and the rattley driver guard being the 2 most noticeable things which are annoying and we're there from new - the emergency door rattle which still exists on Streetlites.

Even today 1401 - 1403 feel a lot more solid than the Pulsars and are a hell of less rattley given that some of them are nearly twice as old.

From my experience when travelling, I found the first generation of Eclipse bodywork (Urbans/Solars/Geminis) very solid. The second generation things started to go downhill, albeit nowhere near as badly as they did once the "Street" line of products entered production. Quality control on quite a few batches of Streetlites were horrendous, the ones First have here are beyond awful. 

The newest batch of Streetdecks for GNE seem put together well, as do the new Streetdecks up here for First, so it seems like Bamford has helped in improving standards (helps if they're using money for parts, rather than donations to a church mind).

(21 Feb 2021, 12:17 pm)mb134 wrote From my experience when travelling, I found the first generation of Eclipse bodywork (Urbans/Solars/Geminis) very solid. The second generation things started to go downhill, albeit nowhere near as badly as they did once the "Street" line of products entered production. Quality control on quite a few batches of Streetlites were horrendous, the ones First have here are beyond awful. 

The newest batch of Streetdecks for GNE seem put together well, as do the new Streetdecks up here for First, so it seems like Bamford has helped in improving standards (helps if they're using money for parts, rather than donations to a church mind).

The 16 plate StreetDecks are pretty hit and miss, even the same bus on a different day can feel way different!
The 67 plate StreetDecks, for the mostpart anyway, are pretty solid. There's a few bad ones but on the whole they're pretty good. Same with the 67 plate B5s, some are solid, some you'd think they were made by ADL.
The 20/70 plates are definitely better.

Most of the StreetLites I've used have been alright, as long as you're on the move. It's when they're sitting idling that they feel like they're falling to bits. I really would have thought they'd have sorted that rear door out by now. They've been 'looking into it' for years at this point.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-i...313A982C1E

Wrightbus to boost Ballymena workforce by 300