Are things getting a little silly?

Popped into a bike shop next to BabysRUs in Exeter (I was allowed 10 minutes light relief from buying overpriced baby stuff by SWMBO!)

Anyway, there was some nice high end stuff, but blimey some kit is getting expensive. Pivot carbon frames for £2300, and I picked up some Bos forks – might have been the Deville 170s – and they were £1050!

This isn’t a rant as such (too little random capitalisation, so sorry), but forks that cost a grand? Really?

I know MTBing is a ‘lifestyle’ sport now, and that well paid, middle class IT managers have cash to splash, yadda, yadda. But it does seem that some prices are getting silly.
Now, I know that some stuff is still well priced, especially as technology trickles down from the top end kit. Also the fact that there are people willing to buy new kit every year or so means that I’m kept in well priced second hand kit.

Thoughts…..? 😉

If you think bike stuff is expensive, you should try looking at baby stuff!

Oh, hold on…..

Walked into a garage the other day, they wanted £120k for a Ferrari!

Cars are getting so expensive these days…

I agree – the technology in some of the kit is impressive, I just don’t think it’s needed. not for me anyway.

I know! How much for a bloody mdf wardrobe. They are most definitely having a giraffe. We bought some of the essentials in the sale, but will look for bedroom furniture elsewhere.

I think the Ferrari analogy is not fair. The Bos forks were just an extreme example. But even ‘normal’ forks from Fox or DT Swiss can be £600+.

Fork prices and tyre prices are getting daft for sure, also your high end Satan Cruz’s etc are getting daft now.

You can still get good value though, I’m hoping my xc carbon hardtail build is going to be £600 or so, on one, sales and second hand to the rescue!

A ‘normal’ car from Volvo can be £40k+. Dacias are cheaper.

Top end has never been cheap. If the market is prepared to pay for such products, then there is a place for them.

A 1995 Rock Shox Judy SL would cost the equivalent of £550 today, with a mighty 63mm of MCU elastomer travel. Think of what you can get for the same money today.

Top end kit has always been expensive.

I remember not being able to afford an LTS-1

c’est la vie

Jury SLs were £600 at the time in ’96 (not converted to today’s value – that’s what they were!), so that’d be £980 now, and as remote rob says, they were utter pish compared to even entry level forks these days.

Tires… The price of tires is actually ridiculous.

20 years ago

Fat chance yo eddy was £1000 Steal
Yeti ARC £1500 Alloy
Top end ti frame £2000

All hard tails.

Had some Rock shox magnesium sl things as well but can’t remember what they cost, must have been £700+

Top end has always cost £££

Same as anything. Take golf clubs for example. There are plenty of double digit handicap golfers with multi thousand pound sets of clubs. The fact that they have golf swings that make them look like they are trying to fight off a swarm of wasps means that they could easily use a set of beginners clubs is not relevant to them. They want the best gear money can buy rather than condescend to pay for a few lessons.

Same in mountain bike gear, how many of people who ride six inch travel monster full suss bikes actually get the most out of them? That is not a criticism of everyone who rides them, obviously, but there are plenty of people who mince around field edges and piss easy cinder tracks on bikes that are far too ‘big’. At the other end of the spectrum there are also some people who carry a bit more timber around the midriff than optimal, but ride carbon frames. The reality is they would be better off losing half a stone rather than spending hundreds more quid for an irrelevant weight saving.

Boys and toys, innit?

People who spend loads of dosh on kit they can’t get the best out of have every right to do so – and so the marketing men get busy convincing them they need it.

Been in the spesh concept store today, was thinking what good value the demo 8 carbon (with middling kit) was.

£4,500. Bikes have changed….

At the other end of the spectrum there are also some people who carry a bit more timber around the midriff than optimal, but ride carbon frames. The reality is they would be better off losing half a stone rather than spending hundreds more quid for an irrelevant weight saving.

😆

Relatively a grand for a fork doesn’t seem that steep. You’d pay at least double for a good motorcycle setup.

Long before I had an MTB I remember seeing forks getting on for 800£ in that shop that is/was in Ambleside.

Step up China direct, who don’t have to pay for lots of people overpaying for lots of other overpaid people.

I am far from Gnarr core in my riding, and people were riding where and how i ride not to many years ago on forks worse than what now come on the cheapest BSO mountainbikes and loving every minute of it.
So there is no reason I can not do the same on my current set up.

I try to buy the best I can afford, and if someone can afford to pay a shed load of money on components then fair play to them.
But realistically would a £1000 set of forks make a huge difference to my mtb experience over a £300 set, apart from satisfying a little bike envy, no.

But a long as people keep buying them , it will fuel progress and I will benefit, as trickle down technology means I get to ride the the same top end stuff, just I am a couple of years behind.

It is very easy to get get starry eyed over the latest gear but there is a lot to be said for ride what you got and then worry about it when it breaks.

Chip.

You speak the truth. You make sensible points.

Are you new here?!

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/the-rising-cost-of-biking#post-5434714

Step up China direct, who don’t have to pay for lots of people overpaying for lots of other overpaid people.

Those little slave kids don’t pay themselves.

If you think bike stuff is expensive, you should try looking at baby stuff!

+1 well, +4 😆

pikes/sids are £500 no one needs anything else

+4?

Silly boy! 😉

Does being an IT manager automaticaly make you middle class or is it only the middle class ones whose cash splashing is worthy of note?

midrange has crept up though. 3k for a Kona process 134dl with pretty boggo gear, nothing below 2k for a full suss that would be considered ‘desirable’ a few that would be plenty good enough but fashion does come into it a bit.am after a new full suss that(probably next year budget permifting) but just couldn’t justify the 3-4k that seems de rigeur.

People can spend money as the see fit, I could go off now and cherry pick 10 examples of really expensive things and claim it’s all gone mad or I could pick 10 examples of really cheap good value stuff to prove there is still a lot of good deals out there.

If I keep my current bike for 4-5 years I’m happy that the price I paid is worth it.

At the other end of the spectrum there are also some people who carry a bit more timber around the midriff than optimal, but ride carbon frames. The reality is they would be better off losing half a stone rather than spending hundreds more quid for an irrelevant weight saving.

It’s always good to get a nice condescending one in early. Could we have the STW approved list of bike purchases by weight category?

The thing Dannyh may have a point, I dropped 1.5 stone a few months back and it has made going uphill much much easier. And it would be expensive to knock the same off the weight of the bikes too. Come to think of it I’ve not seen many 3 lb trail bikes either.

Another bonus is that whilst the ladieez don’t notice the flashest of bikes they do notice the flatter midriff 🙂

It’s always good to get a nice condescending one in early.

Would you say that was a condescending thing to say? I can see what dannyh is saying and don’t think he’s being condescending.
Surely it’s just a fact and pretty good example. How can someone weighing 16 stone+ (just a random figure) then say that they need the latest light weight carbon frame to “save some weight”? It just seems a little bit silly.
I can understand it’s nice to have, and if you can afford it, why not? And I’m not saying people with the “extra timber” shouldn’t have the latest and lightest parts. But maybe if you are “serious” enough to be dropping the cash on something, you should be serious enough to shed a couple of lbs yourself?

Why? Because it’s STW point at people and disapprove. Maybe someone chooses the best thing they can afford and saving weight on a bike is a good thing for them to do, they may loose a bit more weight as they go or should tubby people only ride heavy bikes? Also carbon is not always about weight, the stiffness it provides gives very different ride characteristics.

I didn’t say tubby people should only ride heavy bikes. And like said, if you can afford it and want it, then go for it. I just don’t believe dannyh was condescending. That’s all. 🙂

not everyone buys carbon frames just because they are lighter, but having a lighter bike underneath you must be better for certain riding, the same as having a heavier bike is better sometimes?

Well the advantages of a carbon frame can be weight, stiffness and strength. Just picking one and ignoring the other two is just using it as a feeble excuse for a willy waving attack on people with expensive bikes.

No doubt that mountain biking is an expensive game if you want higher end kit but it’s always been that way. Its saving grace however are the seemingly endless sales with the big players (CRC etc). I would never buy forks for a thousand quid but I have just bought thousand quid forks for 430 quid from CRC.

I saw a 1.5k boardman full suspension yesterday, it’ll do pretty much everything the expensive stuff will do but without the cool name.

^what the podge said.
I think our sport is the classic diminishing returns time. I think that quality kit *does* generally last longer, as long as you avoid uber light or super complex.
Certain quality items work and work and work. It is hard to beat for value a Shimano Deore/SLX equipped, hope hubbed, slightly heavy open bath forked, with generic kit (e.g. OnOne seatpost, bars etc), and liberal lashings of second hand tyres, hardtail.

Is stating the bleeding obvious now considered condescending?

People can spend their money on whatever they like. The fact of the matter is that shedding the same amount of weight from your body as you would ‘save’ by having a carbon frame versus an alloy would be better in terms of fitness and ‘performance’ than just splashing the cash. In ninety nine percent of cases. In my OPINION obviously (I’m still entitled to one of those, I assume). 🙄

So do you think heavier people would benefit from stronger stiffer frames or not? Or do you want to ignore those points so you can criticise those with nicer bikes than you feel they deserve, while bleating about some non-existent restriction to your freedom of expression 😆

Mtbing is an incredibly cheap pastime to get into and has never been cheaper due to the amount of secondhand kit now available and generic Chinese imported stuff.

A secondhand on-one with some cheapo consumables from the online chainstores can be had for less than £250

Decathlon shorts,gloves and a pair of trainers and a £30 helmet is all you need to ride

Lessons? Nope
Expensive club fees? Nope
Specialised transport equipment? Nope
The outdoors is FREE (and even trail centres don’t cost much)

On most UK trails an expert rider will blitz most mediocre riders on the above kit (hardcore downhill gnar excluded)

Its a BARGAIN!

All the rest is just nice to have