"How much does a bike cost !!!" - Cost assesment by non bike owners :-)

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"How much does a bike cost !!!" - Cost assesment by non bike owners :-)

35 posts & 24 voices | Started 2 years ago by Midnighthour | Latest reply from glenh

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Midnighthour - Member

I am not surprised no one cares about bike theft, given 2 conversations I had recently.

A friend when asked to estimate the price of an average but decent bike paused for thought and said "about £100 ?"

I was also asked myself about bike prices by a woman who wanted to buy a cheapish bike to commute. I said to buget for at least £300 if she wanted something reliable. Reply - "No, I dont want a PROFESSIONAL bike!"

No wonder bike theft is seen as trivial when bikes are believed to all be so cheap and therefore very easily replaced.

Posted 2 years ago #
joemarshall - Member

I was also asked myself about bike prices by a woman who wanted to buy a cheapish bike to commute. I said to buget for at least £300 if she wanted something reliable. Reply - "No, I dont want a PROFESSIONAL bike!"

If you just want a reliable, potter about town bike, a £50 5 speed Raleigh or similar (or even a 3 speed hub gear) from the local 2nd hand bike shop will do the job and probably be way more reliable than a fancy modern £300 bike due to having an ancient 5 speed chain and stuff. So she is kind of right. I put in quite a few miles on an old 5 speed ladies bike a couple of years back. It wasn't as smooth as my fancy road bike, but it did require no maintenance except puncture repairs, and had a full chainguard and mudguards, so no oily legs, dirty back, or chain maintenance required. Those things will go for thousands of miles with pumping up tyres being the only thing that needs doing. Unless she has a 10 mile commute or something, she probably doesn't need to spend £300.

Joe

Posted 2 years ago #
philjunior - Member

To get a NEW bike with hub gears, mudguards, chain cover and a rack would cost in excess of £300 though. Doesn't have to be some fancy racer type bike, durability costs money!

Posted 2 years ago #
paulosoxo - Member

Bit like my gaffer asking me if I fancied the tour de france when I commented that it was starting on Saturday

Posted 2 years ago #
BigDummy - Member

There's a degree of wilful stupidity about it isn't there?

Mind, I don't have a car and have no real sense of how much they cost. I think it's about £3,000 for a good one.

Posted 2 years ago #
coffeeking - Member

I have to agree, most people are oblivious to the value of the average decent bike. People seem amazed when you point out that your bike(s) are worth more than your car etc...

The only people who seem aware of the value of bikes are the owners and the insurance companies! That said, the police recently asked me to let them know how much the damage to my car cost as it needs to go into their report, maybe they're starting to take notice of such things.

BD - £3k would get you a fairly decent (2nd hand) car, yup.

Posted 2 years ago #
uplink - Member

My 'runaround' got nicked last week

When I had to add up the replacement value it was over £500
mind you - pretty much everything on it was decent kit that had been handed down

Posted 2 years ago #
DoctorRad - Member

Coming back to biking after about nine years away, I am pretty shocked by how much more things seem to cost these days, especially suspension forks.

What has really improved so much in the last decade to justify the increase in cost? At Afan on Saturday, on my 85/60mm 'full suspension' rig, I was being slowed down by a guy with four or five inches at each end. Are today's riders cossetted by technology?

Posted 2 years ago #
ianpinder - Member

probably just unfit

Posted 2 years ago #
haddock - Member

I was being slowed down by a guy with four or five inches at each end. Are today's riders cossetted by technology?

Was it nicely polished and colour co ordinated with the riders clothes??

That seems to be important!

Posted 2 years ago #
andywhit - Member

>I was being slowed down by a guy with four or five inches at each end. Are today's riders cossetted by technology?

But you *are* Dr Rad!

Posted 2 years ago #
DoctorRad - Member

ianpinder - Member
probably just unfit

I think skills matter more than fitness on the downs... I was dying on the ups, but that's what nine years off the bike will do to you I suppose.

Posted 2 years ago #
DoctorRad - Member

andywhit - Member
But you *are* Dr Rad!

*Wry smile*

Used to stand for "Ride All Day" but that's something I'm going to need to work up to I think if there's any significant gradient involved...

Posted 2 years ago #
votchy - Member

Raw material prices and poor exchange rates have 'improved' to justify the cost of new bikes, not sure we could do the same with our aluminium cars though

Posted 2 years ago #
joemarshall - Member

At Afan on Saturday, on my 85/60mm 'full suspension' rig, I was being slowed down by a guy with four or five inches at each end. Are today's riders cossetted by technology?

No, there are just slow people and fast people, same as always. I got slowed down on my unicycle by a couple of people on very fancy full sus bikes at Cannock on Saturday. That's not because they were cossetted by technology, it's because they were unfit beginners.

To get a NEW bike with hub gears, mudguards, chain cover and a rack would cost in excess of £300 though. Doesn't have to be some fancy racer type bike, durability costs money!

Really? I know if you buy a pashley or some other name brand, they are not cheap, but surely there are loads of cheap 3 speeds. Like this:

http://corporate.marketplaceadvisor.channeladvisor.com/storefrontprofiles/processfeed.aspx?sfid=101713&i=68979856&mpid=86&dfid=1

Joe

Posted 2 years ago #
buzz-lightyear - Member

£3,000

Yeah you can get a decent used car for that. I got a 4yo Honda Civic Type-S for £3400 in Jan. At which point my car was worth more than my bike again!

Most UK people haven't ridden bikes since they were kids so have no idea.

Posted 2 years ago #
thisisnotaspoon - Member

Dont know if the cost are going up?

Read through some old MBR's form years back and the 'ultimate trail bike' tests.

The 'budget' offering was a cannondale jeckyl at £1999, the high end complete build was a spesh enduro, custom builds of turner 5-spots, ventanna etc etc. Compare the £3k enduro to todays £3k carbon bling from the same company, have prices realy rissen?

Forks do cost more now, but thats a function of them getting better IMO. There's still budget offerings. MX comps used to be THE budget fork and cost £160 ish, now it RS Recon's in their various guises. Mid range forks still cost £300 ish, its the top end thts gone silly IMO, which means that even though your spending the same cash as you would 5 years ago you feel like your not getting as much for your cash becasue £600 forks are now as commonplace as the riders who can afford them.

Posted 2 years ago #
uplink - Member

You can get a perfectly decent bike for less than £200

Raleigh @ Halfords

In fact - I may well get one tomorrow to replace my lost hack bike

Posted 2 years ago #
DoctorRad - Member

uplink - Member
You can get a perfectly decent bike for less than £200

...for some value of 'decent'.

Posted 2 years ago #
antigee - Member

I put in quite a few miles on an old 5 speed ladies bike a couple of years back

thought this was some sort of euphemism to start with - then realised it is quite a handy little line - assuming it isn't copywrite will retain and use invarious debates

Posted 2 years ago #
bikemonkey - Member

I remember hearing anecdotally that the UK is odd compared to the rest of Europe in how much people think bikes cost. The market leader by units sold in France is Decathlon, who, like them or loathe them, sell better bikes that the rubbish you find in supermarkets and start at around £100.

It would be interesting to cross reference the average cost of a bike per country and the amount of bike thefts.

Posted 2 years ago #
RealMan - Member

I also have no idea what a decent car costs. If I believe my mates, you can get one for £500, with £1500 for insurance. If I believe top gear, its £200,000.

Posted 2 years ago #
AndyP - Member

I said to buget for at least £300 if she wanted something reliable. Reply - "No, I dont want a PROFESSIONAL bike!"

lol, as the kids say. Someone at work had the exact same price in mind for a 'top-end bike'. I explained that I'd just paid more than that for a handlebar.

To be fair, you can get a lot more for your money at that sort of price range than you used to...

Posted 2 years ago #
thisisnotaspoon - Member

yea, i considdered a commencal combi when the v's one was less than £300, prinicpaly because given a slap of dulux it would be invisible to thieves and actualy quite a nice bike.

Posted 2 years ago #
RealMan - Member

I explained that I'd just paid more than that for a handlebar.

What handlebars were they? Carbon Time Trial thingies?

Posted 2 years ago #
philjunior - Member

That 200 quid bike isn't bad looking for the money...

Cheaper than anything I've seen before! Still far more than £50...

Posted 2 years ago #
AndyP - Member

What handlebars were they? Carbon Time Trial thingies?
spot on. integrated carbon tribars. Lovely. Totally unnecessary, mind. But, you know, 2 seconds is 2 seconds. The kids can always go barefoot

Posted 2 years ago #
CHB - Member

Until the price rises of the last 12 months, I don't think bikes have EVER been cheaper in £terms and thats even without taking into account inflation.
Examples:
In 1994 A pair of hope Ti XC wheels cost around £200, a price which remained constant for over a decade.
Suspension forks in 1994 (there were 3 PACE, Manitou and RS) were £300-350. You can now get a much better fork for less than £300.

What has happened in bikes is that there is uber bling to take money out of your wallet. But a £600 bike now is better value than ever.

Posted 2 years ago #
aracer - Member

If I believe top gear, its £200,000.

Didn't watch this week then?

Posted 2 years ago #
thomthumb - Member

agree with CHB i normally bit of a bike snob.

but looking back on bikes i remember when £900 would gewt you acera/ alivio rigid steel bike. now you can get XT and rebas for that money.

me and the 'bikey' workmate looking at what £1k bike to get on the next ctw and our 'non bikey' workmate pops up and exclaims '£1000 for a bike thats outrageous' both then sheepishly had to admit how much our bikes cost

Posted 2 years ago #
RealMan - Member

spot on. integrated carbon tribars. Lovely. Totally unnecessary, mind. But, you know, 2 seconds is 2 seconds. The kids can always go barefoot

If you're not doing under 22 minutes for a 10 and spending that kind of money, you should be ashamed. lol.

Posted 2 years ago #
jacksta - Member

My favourite is still my old boss who picked up a bike catalogue off my desk one day...he exclaimed that one bike was £2,500 and didnt even come with pedals!

Posted 2 years ago #
Dougal - Member

I think skills matter more than fitness on the downs... I was dying on the ups, but that's what nine years off the bike will do to you I suppose.

It's a trail centre; I think you're maybe confusing skills, with the bottle to go fast over bumpy (not technical) ground.

Posted 2 years ago #
DoctorRad - Member

Dougal - Member
It's a trail centre; I think you're maybe confusing skills, with the bottle to go fast over bumpy (not technical) ground.

What do you consider 'technical'? And surely having the bottle is about experience and a degree of skill?

Not that I'm entirely disagreeing with you mind...

Posted 2 years ago #
glenh - Member

£3K for a decent car?

I would set my budget at £20k min for a decent one.

Sure you can get one that works fine for £3k, but you can get a bike that works fine for £200 too...

Posted 2 years ago #

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