Been buying the XTR stuff, I have been promising my self for years, over the over the last month or so, very pleased with myself right now 🙂 Prices like a new chainset £205. The whole lot, chainset, mechs, cassette, shifters and chain only (only….lol) cost me just over £500. Just waiting for the new frame and away we go.
Still, can’t wait for when I need to replace something 🙁

Could always “slum” it and use Deore or LX till prices come back down. Poor little darlings, how do you cope?

There must come a point where its more cheaper to make this stuff in the UK? I’m not talking about ‘protectionism’, its just economics. Surely someone could make an XT level cassette here that would retail for less than the 80 RRP??

i’m being hopelessly optimistic aren’t i?

Could always “slum” it and use Deore or LX till prices come back down. Poor little darlings, how do you cope?

seconded! deore chainrings will last you longer anyway, and there is plenty abouton classifieds or ebay in the way of mechs, brakes etc. The only brand new shimano-ey stuff i ever buy now is chains cassettes and chainrings. Best buy up some sram whilst its still relatively unaffected. Bike manintenance products sales should go through the roof though! the amount of wear on my less tidy mates’ bikes compared to mine on the same rides is startling. And i do not keep my bikes that clean either.

I feel sorry for the bike shops as i am sure shimano will easliy suck up the huge drop in sales in only one country (euro seems far more buoyant, Germans far more likely to swallow price rises to have matching components on their bikes etc) but this must be a large chunk of overall revenue for a lot of smaller shops.

Wowzers…. I bought some 09 RS Lyrik Coil U Turns in the 1st week of January, glad I got them when I did, they’ve now gone from £548 to £770 on CRC!!

What particularly bugs me about Shimano stuff is the fact that you can’t replace the bearings in a HT2 BB. £50 for some cheap bearings and a couple of aluminium shells is just bonkers!
Better for them to sell a whole new unit. Better for consumers and environment to just replace the worn bit.

What particularly bugs me about Shimano stuff is the fact that you can’t replace the bearings in a HT2 BB

Yes you can. My XTHT2 cups are running Phil Wood bearings.

What particularly bugs me about Shimano stuff is the fact that you can’t replace the bearings in a HT2 BB

if you have a funny expanding collett tool (like the one Phillips has just ordered, yay!) to extract the bearings you can replace them with vastly superior phil wood or enduro bearings. Dunno about the phil wood ones but the enduro ones are £20. I think with shimano’s price versus longevity this is really the way forward. And its nice to give money to smaller companies via smaller bike shops for this.

Those Campag brakes are the best looking bike component. Oh God, I agree with RudeFred. I’ll be bumming Hora’s dog next…

New bearings all round then!

Well, I’m feeling half smug as I ordered 2 XT cassettes on Sunday from CRC for £39 each – noticed Wiggle and RRP prices were much higher so decided to stock up. Also managed it with chains in the CRC flood sale. Knowing my luck though, the prices will have come back down before I need to use them!!

Was still caught out by disk pads though – last time I got some they were £12 for xt, but now they are £22!! That seems a lot for what they are.

merlin still have them for 39 i thought i’d better get one before they disappeared! which is really silly because it’s to go on the pro 2 wheelset that is now going to take me longer to attain due to being 40 quid out of pocket! duuuuuuuuuh… if only hope freehubs weren’t made of cheese.

IHN, I’ve had a word. Hes bumming you tonight.

Build a single speed!