[Closed] 2021 price increases finally happened?

I brought a carbon 2021 Trek checkpoint in July last year now has gone up £350 winners and losers even if you can get a new bike a lot of the Treks are gone so the only way you get some of them is to order it in July and it will be a 2022 model crazy Hey.

Glad I did my bike buying and selling at the beginning of covid and pre brexit.

When I was looking at my new bike before purchasing in November, the shop knew the prices were up £500 the following week.

Same happened back in 2016, when looking the bike prices were going up £600 the following week. I was was sceptical and thought it was sales patter, but when I collected the bike, the advertised prices were up!

I purchased a trek emonda sl6 end of last year. I paid £2800, the same bike now is £3200.

I wonder if when unemployment rises after furlough is finished, we will see RRPs fall again or if shops will just discount. The Covid boom in bikes won't last forever, shops must have a concern that they won't have enough physical stock to sell this year, and if they put big orders in and they don't get the sales it'll backfire the other way. Lots of market forces at play. I'd hope that once shipping, Covid, Brexit all settles then we would see a return to pre pandemic pricing but I doubt it.

rob13, Treks are stockpiled in the Netherlands, what you are seeing is a Tariff hit*. The prices will only come down if Trek UK move stocks to ship directly to the UK, which will incur other costs. Prices are very unlikely to be coming down, get used to the new normal. Similar applies to other companies.

* I asked trek the question.

Your right they will not have enough stock to sell they do not have enough now so May to September they could well be in Sh---street.

Yeah, there is no stock of decent bikes just now, everywhere is pretty much down to bare bones, you have a few brands that still have stock of some kit (spesh, giant, trek, etc), but they are the same ones selling at a good rate anyway. Prices will go up with the next lot of shipments, how it's absorbed will be the question, but i doubt with all the 0%, C2W, etc going on just now it'll be an issue for selling in the near future.

It is depressing though, our C2W has gone up recently, so 4k limit, but i'm not even contemplating it, for 4k you don't really get as much as you should, and it'll be even less with the full 2021 stuff, let alone 2022.

I’ve been thinking about an Ultegra equipped road bike. All (Trek/Giant/Cervelo...) gone up by around £500 today. Not that they’re actually in stock.

Nukeproof Scout 290... Was £2099... then bang on New Years day the price changed to £2,450. They even hand the cheek to change the name to the Nukeproof Scout 290 2021 and keep the bike identical!

I spoke to the LBS earlier and credit to them, there’s been a very unclear message from Giant as to when/if the increase is applied to pre orders.

Will wait with baited breath, I’m saving a few quid on C2W anyway and at least they were willing to reserve a bike for me that was 6 weeks away.

Re other points - The small shop most local to me said there was no motivation for him to move heaven and earth for a C2W bike when he could sell it at retail ten times over. I get the sentiment and appreciate the honesty but was worried I’d be stuck with the voucher to be honest.

So if the company has a UK distributor does that make it free of Tariff?
I've actually been looking at UK built bikes but both brands I'm looking at don't have stock. Pre orders don't restart until March so God knows when they'll actually be built and shipped out to cusotmers. Not sure if they will suffer a tariff given that frames are made in far east and the finishing kit is Shimano. I might just after pay inflated used prices instead!

I bought a cnoc 16 in August for 320, it’s now 400!!!

So if the company has a UK distributor does that make it free of Tariff?

Maybe maybe not, Trek has a UK arm but they ship through the Netherlands.

Trying to put this simply, if the bike comes from Taiwan(etc) to the UK, it gets a tariff applied, if the bike goes from Taiwan to the EU and then to the UK, it gets a tariff applied on entering the EU, then because of rules of origin it gets another tariff applied when it goes from the EU to the UK.

If the bike was, for example a campgnolo equipped Condor it is tariff free, campagnolo and condor both come from Italy and thus by Rules of origin count as EU and are tariff free under the agreed trade deal.

Problem for MTBs there is very little coming out of the EU to avoid tariffs, but it could be done If you're looking at high end stuff.

So glad I did all my bike buying between 2014 and 2015. They're both still perfect for my needs and cannot see any reason to upgrade and especially not during this period of inflated prices. Back in 2015 the pound was strong and I took advantage of it. The Euro was at the lowest it had been against the pound for a long time and I'd imported both frames and many of the components from abroad; China, Belgium, Italy and Germany. One of the bikes I bought then for around £2000 its equivalent is almost £7000 now. Just bonkers.

I'm in a similar position - not buying on C2W but I have ordered and paid a 10% deposit on a Liv Devote which has now gone up £200 overnight. Surely if I've paid a deposit and have a receipt for an order at the original price they can't just change it now? Bike is due in in 2-3 weeks, I've heard nothing form the bike shop and, as someone else said, Giant aren't being at all clear about pre orders. Someone in another group has been asked to pay £200 extra for the same bike as me that she ordered from Giant Twickenham - she's refused and found a different bike from a different retailer (no easy task these days) but I'm not clear if she'd actually paid a deposit or not. Feeling very peed off tonight, didn't want or vote for Brexshit and this was all sooo predictable.

My parents ordered an E bike in the Autumn, I thought the dealer had pulled the wool over their eyes when they said they'd paid in full rather than a deposit. The shop claimed that was the only way he could guarantee the price.

The bike isn't due until about about March time, but sounds like paying in full might have been a good decision. Let's just hope it turns up this year/the shop doesn't cancel/refund, or back pedal and try and demand extra.

Theres a perfect pricing storm going on:

Strong Taiwan Dollar
Shipping costs up
Production output overall down
Sudden lack of continuity in supply at shop levels means no discounts

All of these adding a few % each (The strong TWD caused an 8% jump in MY22 stuff from one supplier that goes on a lot of bikes this week just on its own)

Brexit will only effect companies that have warehousing in the EU to supply the UK. And that surely won't last more than this year. Opening a dispatch warehouse is surely better than a 14% surcharge on your bikes.

Is this the place to also ask -

How are bike shops predicting demand at the moment?

Will the 2020 lockdown bike buying mean fewer sales or might we see more people continue to ride?

I'm seeing the newspapers start with the 'staycation bike tour / walking / head to nature / yoga retreat in Wales type stories, this might really keep sales and maintenance demand write high. On the flip side, there has to be thousands of lightly used lockdown bike languishing unused in the shed...

Brexit will only effect companies that have warehousing in the EU to supply the UK. And that surely won’t last more than this year. Opening a dispatch warehouse is surely better than a 14% surcharge on your bikes.

Isn't it more that Brexit affects any company importing products that are not predominantly produced in either the EU or the UK, and then wants to send them across the Channel? If a UK company wants to import directly into the EU to avoid the extra tariffs, do they need to register the business over there or can they simply rent a warehouse? I can see it making sense for some UK companies where a lot of their sales are in the EU, but for a large EU company, would it make financial sense to register/setup a base in the UK for 5% of their sales...especially when the end customer is paying the tariffs anyway so the only advantage would be able to trade more competitively.

I’ll report back if I hear any clarification on whether it’s payable or not. I put a 10% cash deposit down at the time (which they’ve still got) and I’ve got a Cyclescheme voucher worth £700 so one way or another it’ll get resolved.

Just slightly annoying that it’s upping the cost of a bike that will likely never see anything tougher than a gravel path, but wanted a 1x10 and decent level components so that’s how we arrived at this one.

I think while gyms remain shut, demand will still be through the roof. I’m a fair weather rider myself (unashamedly) but put the turbo back up in December and resubscribed to Zwift, and making use of my Pinnacle Arkose with some road tyres.

My partner bless her is having to make do with my old 2011 26” Hardrock Disc Sport with some semi slicks on the turbo, hence wanting this Liv ASAP.

How are bike shops predicting demand at the moment?

Finger in the air here... We're still selling at 4x normal rate for this time of the year, and given stock constraints I can't source 4x more than normal in terms of frames and stock, so its just a case of buying as much as we can to service the number of frames we can get made.

Lack of holidays abroad is likely to create sustained demand for this year at least.

@spooky_b329 I was relating specifically to why say a Trek bike (and other bikes) went up so much in price - they go via Holland as I understand it. You're right the trip the other way adds price too but there's relatively few bike companies importing into the UK to service the EU market.

How are bike shops predicting demand at the moment?

Remember that demand isn’t confined to the UK… riders all around the world are buying bikes with the same forks, shocks, shifters, gears, drivetrain… etc.

If say a bike was assembled in an EU member state from a frame and components from the Far East, then shipped to the UK from said assembly / distribution facility it would be subject to tariff, VAT and handling costs, hence the jump in RRP?

@Steve_b77 - yes it would. It would have to have a decent slug of EU manufactured parts for it to avoid duties when entering the UK, despite having paid them once already entering the EU.

@benpinnick pretty tricky really when you consider the popularity of Shimano / SRAM and their associated component brands.

@steve_b77 to use one example, a Bianchi gravel bike with campagnolo might not see a price rise, whilst a sram  version would. Simply comes down to how much of a bike is EU, the more it is, the less likely tariffs will be an issue. A similar thing plays out with uk bikes into Eu.

I can't help feeling that the whole market is going to implode. The prices even prior to the current jumps had increased massively compared to wages over the last 8 to 10 years, whilst some of that has been exchange rates I can't help feeling the bike companies have just got greedy.

can’t help feeling that the whole market is going to implode. T

There does seem to be a bit of p*$$ taking going on. Even with all the additional pressures. Sonder, e.g., which as I understand it warehouse in the UK, have bumped the prices for frames by 25% over this time last year. That's far more than currency/brexit etc issues could justify.

I agree that there does seem to be piss taking going on with some of this pricing but its just supply and demand. At the minute stuff is disappearing as quickly as it comes in some of it probably FOMO. The bit that bites is when the demand drops and suddenly all these retailers then have to put sales on to get people to buy their stuff. Can't help thinking that there's going to be a fall for a lot of people this year due to a number of factors, furloughs ending, unemployment, inflation etc.

Was looking at a cube cross bike for 3.5 k seemed a bargain with force axs carbon wheels etc... jumped to 4.1 overnight... probably worth it but peed me off!

Just bought a Forme Kinder for the small person. The price stayed at £330, but the gears and brakes have been downgraded from Shimano to micro shift and from Tektro to some random make. That could just be due to supply I guess as they were due in the country back in October.

Gave the LBS a call, it's been delayed another three weeks. They're holding off on price rises for now/suffering them, themselves, but will be passing them on from the middle of next month. Nip and tuck as to whether it will get delivered in time.

Delivered in time before they put the price up? Offer to pay in full now

There is no piss taking going on. The buying public just haven't cottoned on to the scale of the cost implications of all that is going on. Transportation prices are through the roof. Alternative sources of components and production are having to be sought. Getting stuff in and out of the UK is a lottery. The burden of additional admin and paperwork is substantial. Most brands are soaking up what they can for now, but still having to pass on some of the extra costs.

It's Cyclescheme unfortunately so not sure I can do that without taking physical posession of the bike.

I hold no grudge against the store; he was quite forthright in saying that if it's after the deadline they can't honour it as they'll be losing money because of the price increase and the 10% cyclescheme cut (was a bit surprised to hear the latter mentioned as thought it was just smaller stores that tended to take umbrage as per a comment of mine much further up - this is a main Giant dealer). They did say they're only expecting around 1/4 to 1/3 of the bikes they need for this year.

Fingers crossed anyway but if it costs more, it costs more, just want the bike (and that's the positive message I gave the chap).

Take the Scandel for instance. It's now £1400. They don't seem to be able to get Rockshocks and so have had to source an untested new fork that probably cost more. That's on top of all the Brexit factors stated above in the more knowledgeable posts.
There's not going to be a glut as production is way down and anyway there isn't going to be a post Covid. It's going to reduce travel and production for a few years yet. There's not a magic wand as some of the less informed here seem to fondly imagine.

So for those in the know, if we consider the price rise in a run of the mill bike with Shimano Rockshox etc what percentage of it is Covid and what is Brexit? Id be interested to see which is the bigger problem which has caused all this.

All the idiots who voted for brexit should be ashamed of yourselves

The idiots that voted for brexit are too stupid to be ashamed of themselves.
its someone elses fault init

People thought we would stop giving hundreds of millions to the eu when we left, seems we've ending up more out of pocket and now the tories will start chiselling away our rights that were protected under eu laws. The hell has only just started.

Speaking as someone who works in importing, right now, Brexit is ten times the problem Covid was and we haven't even seen the worst of it yet.

These aren't 'teething issues' either, they're hard baked into the trade deal and were inevitable the minute Theresa May came up with her 'red lines.' We didn't have to do it this way, this was a choice.

Either as a country we grow up fast and realises that leaving the single market was the dumbest single thing this country has done since Suez or we lose a generation to economic implosion as the UK disintergrates around us.

We were lied to, spectacularly.

As the US is not part of Brexit and they have seen the same increases in prices.

Aluminium is up 15% since the start of 2020, rubber up 50%, steel 20%, cardboard 10%, container shipping forward year 40% spot container up to 250%.

Then you add shortage of labour in Taiwan because they can't bring in cheap labour from surrounding countries, so lobour costs have risen.

On top of that some US companies, because of Trumps tariffs of Chinese goods had shut some of their production and moving it elsewhere.

On top of that there is a boom in sales 60% UK and over 100% USA, that means a shortage, a shortage nearly always sees prices rise.

And finally can some people stop name calling others because their views are different from their own.

The islabikes creig I got for my eldest daughter in October is now 22% more expensive to buy. At this rate I might actually make money if I sell it 2nd hand in a few years.