Why Are Mountain Bikes So Expensive?

I would imagine that the manufacturers have done a break even analysis and a bit of market research and decided that enough people have enough money to buy enough units to give them a profit. Unfortunately you appear not to be one of them. 😉

Even the cheapest cars are assembled from thousands of precisely made components, but bikes from barely a hundred.

Not an easy comparison.

Even the cheapest cars are assembled from thousands of precisely made components, but bikes from barely a hundred.

Precisely made? Have you been in a French car?

And in what VOLUME are cars made, and how many models share the same parts? Think about it…..

motorbikes would be a better comparison

I was at Bionicon last week. Their bikes are assembled from 350+ parts.

A 250 gas gas trials bike with Marzocchi forks costs about £5000. more tech, decent suspension, decent brakes plus an engine. More R&D investment and a load more raw materials.

In comparison, bikes are a massive rip off.

I can understand why mountain bikes are so expensive. What absolutely baffles me is the whole bling fixie thing.

Components – steel frame, wheels, no suspension, token brake, no gears. Minimal moving parts at all really.

That’ll be £1000 please sir. For what exactly?!

Manufacturers will charge ‘whatever the market will bare’. We’re slightly down the gullability index from your average fixie rider. But not that far

You don’t have to make it an expensive sport… take an entry level Specialized or a Cube Attention for instance. Strong enough for mountains and around £500.

Or an On-One Inbred or a Dialled built up with cheap bits.

All amazing bikes – granted they aren’t dripping in hi tech but ultimately they will allow you to go up and down a mountain and repeat til bored. For a long time.

Are people suggesting there is a price fixing cartel of bike and component manufacturers ?

If the choice is between over priced quality bikes or under qualitied cheap bikes, then surely there is an opening for someone to make good quality bikes at a reasonable price, which is pretty much what the majority of car manufacturers do.

At the end of the day, when walking into a bike shop, most of us behave like a newly-discovered tribe of primative natives on being shown some shiny beads.

Bike manufacturers know this. Its that simple.

What don simon says
its demand and supply (yes some times demand comes before supply); if people want to pay that sort of money then there will be that price of bike.

Typical British company though: Stick your head in the sand and keep trying to sell the same old stuff year after year with just a new fancy colour. Think 70s Triumph. That’s what they remind me of….

I don’t think you could be wider of the mark. Orange bikes don’t rust and fall apart, they’re reliable, well received in the press and sales seem to get stronger year on year. Doesn’t sound anything like those two Rovers I was unfortunate enough to own.

motorbikes would be a better comparison

True, and none of my m/c’s have had a set of forks (no Ohlins, yet) with the ability to ‘tune’ like my 36’s (rebound, talas, ride-height and low/high speed compression).

bikes from barely a hundred.

look a little deeper:

chain = 104 links; four side plates, two rollers and two pins in each link = 832 parts. All precision made.
wheel = 1 axle, 1 rim, 18 ball bearings, 2 cones, 2 lock nuts, 32 spokes, 32 nipples, 32 spoke reinforcement grommets = 130 parts.

Because shiny thing make it all better.

It’s that simple. Middle aged men are leaving the golf course splashing out on a 4k bike and heading for the hills as they try and get fitter and have a bit of fun. I’m all for it.

MTB needn’t be that expensive. Orange bikes are made in England and that pushes costs up a bit but really they have a bit of a winner in the five and you know, make hay while the sun shines.

As for parts it has been my experience over the last 20 odd years that cheap parts are shite.

I’d say a good, robust, light MTB will cost around 2k and considering the amount of people involved and the level of tech that seems about right.

A decent pair of skis, boots and bindings are around 700 quid and have much better economies of scale in manufacture. Whatever we might think 90% of bikes sold are cheap general purpose bikes from Halfords not 4k uber bikes. It’s a niche pastime and therefore expensive.

Why Are Mountain Bikes So Expensive?
Compare it to a car then yes (but then why would you compare to a car?)

would it not be better to compare a MTB to a ROAD bike?
then the asnwear is NO MTB are NOT so expensive!

you can speand £3500 on a road bike and for what? no suspension, front or rear (small bits that have to be made to fit in the forks etc normally adds to cost)
no swing arms, pivits on a road bike, (no extra process/time/tooling)

Road bikes still have 2 wheels, gears, bars etc just like a MTB (thou more desgined for the road)
Yes I say a road bike would have a bit more carbon but a lot of MTB’s have as well and can come in less £ than a high end road bike.

Bikes aren’t expensive. Cars aren’t precision made and are incredibly basic really.

To get shocks all round on my car (TVR) that have the adjustment of my bike shocks would be around £4k so there’s a good comparison.

Bikes aren’t expensive. Cars aren’t precision made and are incredibly basic really.

To get shocks all round on my car (TVR) that have the adjustment of my bike shocks would be around £4k so there’s a good comparison.

Bikes arent expensive says the man with the TVR.

£4-5k for a top of the range bike, thats like 25% of what alot of people take home in a year.

£4-5k for a top of the range bike, thats like 25% of what alot of people take home in a year.

true but what are you trying to say? Many things are expensive and out of reach of most people. I ride what I can afford and despite recently buying a new bike, it make very little difference to my enjoyment of riding.

£4-5k for a top of the range bike, thats like 25% of what alot of people take home in a year.

People earning “average” wage can happily buy mid-range.
People earning top end can buy top of the range (if they want to).

true but what are you trying to say?

That mountain bikes/biking is expensive (if your not earning TVR money)

Fair enough you can buy a cheap 2nd hand bike and go and cycle round your local trails in jeans and a T shirt and have a great time.

But moutain biking is all about selling expensive gear to well paid IT workers.

isn’t the real driver behind mountain bike prices the wealth of those who buy them? Mountain biking (and road riding) is a *very* middle class activity. A lot of mountain bikers are well paid types with large amounts of disposable income. A market will adapt to suit the customer. For instance, BMXers are generally younger, and have less income. A BMX bike as a result is generally less sophisticated, and a lot cheaper.

The best way to see this is golf vs surfing. Golf uses straight bits of metal with a head on the end. Surfboards are single pieces of foam handcarved (generally) and covered in fiberglass. Both could cost a similar amount (ie both pretty low end kit) – however a top end set of golf clubs will be in the several thousand pound mark, wheras a top end surfboard is about £600. Golf is generally played by rich golfers, surfers are generally poor.

People earning “average” wage can happily buy mid-range.
People earning top end can buy top of the range (if they want to).

Well I’m on little more than “average” wage for the UK (I’d imagine I’m well below median on here), but didn’t find it too difficult to afford a top of the range bike. In an absolute sense, £4k for top of the range really isn’t that expensive – lots of people splurge that much in depreciation on new cars every couple of years.

TVR’s aren’t that expensive, far cheaper to buy a 2nd hand trevor than a new golf gti which is frankly crap.

If it’s £1k a corner for an advanced performance sports car shock then 1/3rd that price for a rear shock on a bike is pretty good and half for a good front fork.

Now if you don’t earn enough and can’t justify it then that is completely different to being expensive.

If i was earning less than £35k a year I’d deem my life a failure and on £35k a year then £4k is easily affordable.

Oh, my TVR is my only car as i cycle my commute and don’t need a boring plasticky cheap every day car.

As for modern cars being high tech that’s a joke. My partner just had a new astra for a week as courtesy and it wash orrid, plasticky, basic, cheap and nasty and was barely more fuel efficient than my trevor.

If i was earning less than £35k a year I’d deem my life a failure

You aren’t serious are you?

All those nurses and key workers must stink of FAIL!

If i was earning less than £35k a year I’d deem my life a failure and on £35k a year then £4k is easily affordable.

You sound like the ideal mountain biker then.

Happiness doesnt come from within, it comes from loads of money and shiney bits of metal and plastic that you choose to surround yourself with.

The most basic car in the world has suspension more sophisticated than most mountain bikes..

Define sophistication?

Hope stuff definately compares with the stuff fitted to kit cars and motorsports stuff like willwood. (i.e. non ABS, non servo brakes). Its certainly well up there with aftermarket stuff for superbikes.

CC dampers, just a miniturised ohlins unit. And very definately better than the stuff fitted to a car. A set of 4 dampers for the average family car is arround £200-£300 fitted! And plenty of manufacurers are still fitting solid axel/torsion bar/traling arm setups to their sports models! Even a full IRS setup is only marginaly more complicated than a 4-bar (the kona DOPE is pretty much a trailing arm/torsion bar) setup.

If i was earning less than £35k a year I’d deem my life a failure and on £35k a year then £4k is easily affordable.

You sound like the ideal mountain biker then.

Happiness doesnt come from within, it comes from loads of money and shiney bits of metal and plastic that you choose to surround yourself with.

Hee hee he

Even the cheapest cars are assembled from thousands of precisely made components, but bikes from barely a hundred.

Not an easy comparison.

Yes, and a bike gets you 15kg of materials, a car gets you around 1500kg!!

That mountain bikes/biking is expensive (if your not earning TVR money)

Fair enough you can buy a cheap 2nd hand bike and go and cycle round your local trails in jeans and a T shirt and have a great time.

But moutain biking is all about selling expensive gear to well paid IT workers.

It’s expensive if you must have top of the range. You have gone from top of the range to a cheap second hand bike in one swoop. There is a lot in-between. MTBing is cheaper than drinking and many people drink. It’s only expensive if you get carried away on the upgrade band wagon. It’s not insignificant in cost but compared to many common hobbies it’s comparable.

Well I’m on little more than “average” wage for the UK (I’d imagine I’m well below median on here), but didn’t find it too difficult to afford a top of the range bike. In an absolute sense, £4k for top of the range really isn’t that expensive – lots of people splurge that much in depreciation on new cars every couple of years.

Of course, a well disciplined average wage earner who isn’t overstretched can afford a high end bike. Only those of us who are enthusiasts would even think about spending that much on a bicycle, regardless of earnings.
Also, a Tesco £150 special is about as advanced as a TVR. Truly rubbish cars.

bassspine – good point.

If we decompose to that level, then I guess cars are made from 10’s of thousands of parts.

Yes, and a bike gets you 15kg of materials, a car gets you around 1500kg!!

Low weight and miniaturisation is expensive. Who wants to ride a heavy bike!?

cars are sol with very little profit. The manufactures make money from spares and servicing.

It’s only expensive if you get carried away on the upgrade band wagon.

This seems to be what mountain biking is all about now though. Buying parts, chatting about parts, buying more parts etc.

You can tell special77 is no engineer with statements such as “Cars aren’t precision made”. Jeez, theres a man with no understanding of anything mechanical, the kind that James May often bangs on about.

As for his statement about not earning over 35k and considering his life a failure? Pure trolling.

my TVR is my only car as i cycle my commute and don’t need a boring plasticky cheap every day car.

So you bought an unreliabe, plastic bodied car from a bankrupt company instead? 😕

Only kidding, I love TVRs 😉

If i was earning less than £35k a year I’d deem my life a failure

Thats pretty much at the top of the list of things to say on an internet forum that will make everyone think you are a giant bell end from now on.

Oh, my TVR is my only car as i cycle my commute and don’t need a boring plasticky cheap every day car.

Oh there we go, job completed.

UK bike prices are pretty mad, compared to the US. Someone told me a trick where you go to the US with a crap bike in your luggage, buy a good one there and take it back isntead without having to pay any of the costs. No idea if it works.
I can’t see how people think disc brakes are hi tech, do you have any idea how simple they are and what actually goes on in there? Do you have any idea what is going on to make the computer you spend far too long at?

davidtaylforth – Member

This seems to be what mountain biking is all about now though. Buying parts, chatting about parts, buying more parts etc.

Ha! Maybe this is the problem.

“Do you have any idea what is going on to make the computer you spend far too long at?”

I think you’ll they are called pixies, the more pixies the better the screen resolution.

If i was earning less than £35k a year I’d deem my life a failure

I think you should probably deem your life a failure for saying that. 😆

Yes mountain bikes are expensive, but as said, you don’t have to spend anywhere near that to have fun. I bought a Specialized Hardrock s/h for £140. I had great fun on it, and rode all the same stuff I ride now, just not as fast.

And buying a ‘top-end’ bike the law of diminishing returns kicks in pretty heavily imo. If you are small, £800 will get you a Trance X4 with Fox rear shock, Rebas, XT rear mech etc

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b4s1p2272

That would be considered a pretty fancy bike in normalpeoplesworld