“Or maybe bike companies are making less money off ‘normal’ people now as they are squeezed by the financial situation, and are instead targeting fleecing well-off people?”

Nope bike sales are up year on year. Its only top end stuff that is getting silly expensive, but then that reflects society. The rich are getting richer at a rate higher than before. Linking to cars again.. it was only 10 years or so ago that Top Gear were bleating on about the death of supercars as no one would be able to afford them. There are more top end cars about than ever before, and more silly prices for them too, but thats because the rich are getting richer and will pay. The same with bikes.

Does appear odd thought that Canyon can sell a top spec bike for roughly 1/2 the price that other manufacturers do.

they charge it cos people will pay it. Look at what constitutes a mid-range fork price nowadays.

Bottom line, stop chasing the latest models

+1. Devinci Hectik, Yeti ASR7, Ibis Mojo are all quality frames that have been offered for 30-50% off this year. You only have to look at http://www.paulscycles.co.uk to see a warehouse of old stock cheap, we’ve had a few from them over the years (only this year got a 2009 NOS Giant Cypher at huge discount from them as Giant obviously couldn’t shift wimmin-specific Trances).

edit for pedalhead and singlespeed shep; pretty sure Van Nic bikes are assembled in Holland, but the frames are manufactured in far east. Hence their careful use of terminology to infer they are built in holland, without being dishonest.

Hands up if any of you have spent more than a months wages (in total) to put each of your bikes together?

I’d have thought that’s most people on this site. Even at trade mine was more than 2 months net salary…

I reckon the total for my build will come in at less than a grand….cheap by the standards in here but its decent gear sourced at the best prices….all new too, there must be others like me?
The thought of spending more than £1500 on a bicycle seems like madness to me.

I think that none of my bikes have cost me more than half a months salary.

I do have a relatively high income and tend to buy sale/secondhand kit though.

The thought of spending more than £1500 on a bicycle seems like madness to me

+1

Judging by this thread many mtbers have money to burn anyway.

They were all free in the end though – surely that shows MTBers want a bargain, many of those people bought the glasses purely because they were cheap, and said they’d never consider them at full price.

The thought of spending more than £1500 on a bicycle seems like madness to me

+1

My current bike cost < £600, mostly second hand apart from the frame, brakes and wheels.

Having said that, I’ve just got a new job with a significant payrise and I’m starting to enjoy DH so I can see myself putting together a DH bike soonish. But even then, it’ll more than likely by SH parts and probably cost < £1500.

many of those people bought the glasses purely because they were cheap, and said they’d never consider them at full price

I guess that depends what you class as cheap! Discounted maybe but I still wouldn’t class them as cheap at the prices that were paid!

Fortune cookie says…”One man’s fortune is another man’s pocket change”.

My mate recently bought a £1k specialized FSR. I was pretty impressed at how well it rode compared to my 5 year old 5 spot.
Bikes are more expensive than they were 5 years ago, but then they are a lot better.
I paid £4k for my 5 spot and when it bites the dust I won’t buy another top end bike, I’ll get a £2k trek or specialized full and I’m pretty sure it’ll be as good if not better than what I currently have.

When I read the post im pretty sure a GT employee said its made in china and they have a history of working with that factory.

I stand corrected it is actually taiwan.

I suppose I’m wondering how long it will be before someone sets up manufacturing in the UK as the prices aren’t that dissimilar anymore with the exception of Orange off the top of my head I can’t think of anyone else mainstream that is,with the exception of the custom folks.

Not going to happen. We (the West) have been deliberately de-industrialised, to break the working and middle classes. And the BIG LIE of man-made global warming has allowed more banking shenanigans in the form of media hysteria and carbon offset trading which only serves to hinder re-industrialisation…

The UK is finished. We are 2nd world already.

Van cough cough
who is the guilty person who has de-industrialised the West?

I think you’ll find it’s all of us who buy foreign cars, toasters, washing machines, TVs, bikes, motorbikes, mobile phones blah blah. We buy foreign stuff becasue we want the choice (and maybe better stuff than the UK/Western industries supply).

All the time we want more for less, Manufacturers are being forced to look elsewhere for cheaper ways of producing stuff, and that means (in many cases) that manufacturing goes overseas, followed by the support industry that goes with it.

It’s our own fault!

So, the answer to this is to not look at Western governments, but our own buying habits and do what the Far East people encourages, and buy locally produced goods. Import taxation can help here, but that won’t change our views, only what we can afford.

And the answer to the OP – yes, bike industry is taking the pee. But it charges what it thinks we will collectively pay. If we all refuse to pay that price, the prices will (over time) come down – after all, they can’t sell a 2010 frame for 2011 prices because no one will pay that – they need to see that no one will pay 2011 prices for a 2011 frame either.

No.. there are individuals who are orchestrating this… Company owners, consumers, governments.. and the pupeteer elite like the Rothschild clan and Al Gore who have attempted to subvert science with their man made global warming nonsense and associated carbon offset taxes.