People see it as a more ‘responsible’ way to salve their desire to shop/reward themselves for having to work? Promise yourself to get fit etc so it doesnt feel like an evil purchase in a recession? TOTALLY guessing mind!

coming from one of the most consumerist self appeasers in the western world with a litany of excuses and reasons for your next purchase (be it bike or car)
that’s possibly the funniest thing you have ever written on this forum.

As demand for bikes is still high, its no suprise prices are creeping up.

Still, 2k for a frame or £850 for a pair of Lyriks is just mental!

£850 for a pair of Lyriks is just mental

Bloody hell, where are you shopping? Lyriks are nowhere near that price, even in the most expensive shops!

new pricing for 2009

So why is a Orange five so much? They dont have to pay import duty and distributor costs in the uk? Why are they over a grand? Ah yes, look at what your competitors charge and set your pricing that way.

I would have thought that a commitment to UK labour and manufacturing costs far outweighs any import duties or shipping costs.

What things sell for has absolutely no relevance to what the cost. Why should the rising or falling value of aluminum have any bearing of the cost of a bike frame? If a £1000 bike frame was made from half a ton of alu I’d expect alu prices to be significant. Take your new frame and weigh it in for scrap and see how much you get offered.

The price is set by the market and the price is the price is the price. Where or how or from what you make something out of effects your margins, and a manufacturer makes their own decisions but the price remains the same, because consumers set the price not the manufacturer.

twohats – Member

£850 for a pair of Lyriks is just mental

Bloody hell, where are you shopping? Lyriks are nowhere near that price, even in the most expensive shops!

Believe it. The 2 Step Air is going up to £950 soon.

i can see the second hand market becoming more expensive in the not too distant future. people like me who build their bikes out of second hand parts are going to face a lot of competition!

Well there’s still bargains to be had. I’ve just bought some Talas Forks and a Turner Burner for a grand total of five hundred quid, thanks to this site and flea bay! …. hmmm, hope they don’t fall apart

Just buying a new bike myself and notice that even the mega-bargains of ‘last years bikes’ are not to be had, small savings are not too tempting in cash strapped times… but when you add fear factor of imminent price rises I am sure the bike shops will be doing the business.

Also, talk of Santa Cruz as overpriced tarty bikes… not so, I don’t own a pick up or beemer but ride an SC chameleon, mates all ride hecklers, superlights etc. amazing bikes! I got my chameleon when it was £450 and was well worth it – a light, tough and great riding bike – OK paint is crap. I do agree £600 is a bit much – but all bike co’s will be in the same boat.

Apparantly the trade is suffering from squeezed margins – very difficult to get a discount, even on blinged bikes!

The pound tanking has quite a lot to do with it I think. The UK distributors prices may have gone up 20% in the last few months, and it seems fairly obvious that the bulk of this will be passed to the consumer.

Holy thread resurrection!!!!

OK so we are now 3 months on from me starting this thread

Since then a couple more of my pals have been made redundant and the press is full of stories about cars being practically given away due to zero demand

And yet I was in the LBS today and prices of bikes, especially the boutique-y ones, havent budged

Are they selling?
Or do you just have to cough and the £££££ come tumbling off the sticker price

I cant work it out
Prices are seriously up on this time last year, the economy is in tatters, people in IT (who seem to make up a big part of this community) like me are in trouble

Weve not really slowed up at all (touch wood).

On a par with the same period last year, which is a shock as in early 08 we were shifting boat loads of discounted Marins. The real high end stuff has slowed a little bit, mainly custom builds due to the price of parts but this has easily been offset with increased sales in nice commuter/road bikes as alternatives to the car. Whether this is the case or just some way of making a justifiable purchase I don’t know.

One problem is availability, UK Distros have been cautious with numbers this year expecting a slow down but it just hasnt happened and so were already getting very short on various 09 models which wont appear again until Aug/Sept.
Specialized are out of all Allez/Tarmac/Roubiax/SX Trails/FSR XC Comp and many others.

Giant are totally sold out of all TCR/Anthem X1/X2 and lots of bread and butter stuff, Marin have lots of kit sold out for the year too.

Down to this there is no real need to go shafting prices on many items as its basic supply and demand. Some companys/bikes are suffering sales wise for 09 but I guess were not in too bad a position due to the number of brands we carry.

Dont worry, i cant work it out either 😆

Probably because your typical mid to top end bike buying punter has been proportionally less affected than other socio-economic groups by the ‘global finacial downtrun.’