I really noticed a recent change of bikes around the £2,000 to £2,500 mark that have poor quality & heavy components, lots of bikes in that range come with Rockshox Judy/recon forks, Alivo budget brakes, cheap heavy wheel sets and low specked drive chains. I guess it's all part of the inevitable rise of goods/cost of living etc. In a recent Singletrack review they refer to the Canyon Al (£2,300) as an "entry level" bike... have we reached the point where £2K is now the lower end for an "entry level" bike?
Seems crazy to buy a bike for that price knowing there's parts you would want to swap out/upgrade.
Only a few weeks wages for some people?
I remember once buying a bike which was around 30 weeks wages for me at the time. Took a lot of saving up.
Now I rarely buy bikes and when I do they are way cheaper than what I paid when I was a kid/student.
In a recent Singletrack review they refer to the Canyon Al (£2,300) as an “entry level” bike… have we reached the point where £2K is now the lower end for an “entry level” bike?
I think the absolute minimum spend for a decent MTB (as opposed to a catalogue special) has always been around the £400 mark, even back in the 90's / 00's. It's basically the cost of a Specialized Rockhopper / Trek Marlin.
Entry level in terms of something a bit lighter/stronger/more capable has gradually risen from about £1000 to about £2000.
But then again, a modern MTB at £1000 is way better and more capable than a £2000 bike from 15 years ago. 🤷🏻♂️
Inflation does that.
New bike stuff is much better than old bike stuff though. Most forks work well these days. The returns are minimal for you average non racing rider.
It's often been the case that manufactures put on things like top end rear mechs and scrimp on bits people are less likely to notice.
I find it frustrating. I don't buy into the constant upgrade thing so would rather balance the cost across the whole bike.
Poor spec, due to your experience? Or what the media says about a cheaper fork? Or what the riding culture says as it doesnt have kashima, lots of knobs and a funky colour?
Whilst it might be 'low end', its probably more than enough for a regular joe.
You probably have riding buddies that ride 10k's worth of bikes that are no quicker, better, faster or whatever unit of measurement you want to use, than if they were riding something a quarter of the price.
Also, a lot of 'low end' stuff is so much better than it used to be.
But ultimately, yeah, it does suck that you buy a bike and instantly want to change 75% of the components 🙁
It’s one of those, if people will buy then you can charge.
There was a clear change a few years back where cycling became the new golf and prices went. I think that was exploiting. There is no doubt now that inflation and material costs have gone up, but IMO this now means bikes are out of reach
Watched a YT vid last night on cars . They were saying a bottom of the range car in 2020 was £7,999. That same car now is £13,999. Nuts
I remember once buying a bike which was around 30 weeks wages for me at the time. Took a lot of saving up.
My first washing machine in 1985 cost £250 which was about a months net pay, the one we bought last year also cost £250.
As for MTB's I reckon it's because they hit peak 'value' sometime 5-7 years ago, a bit like cars/mobiles and various other consumer goods. The full extent of China (and other Far Eastern manufacturing prowess) was apparent in the supply chains and we'd had years of 0-2% inflation in the Western World. The double-digit inflation over the last couple of years is now really starting to show, mainly because it's on the Western World 'end' costs, which were always the highest in the supply chain.
Won't be changing soon IMO, inflation is here to stay for a considerable period.
They were saying a bottom of the range car in 2020 was £7,999. That same car now is £13,999. Nuts
My last company car, a Vauxhall Vectra 2,2 petrol SRI auto was £14k new in 2008, an 'equivalent' Insignia last year was £30k. My current 3 series was £40k in 2018, a same-spec replacement is past £50k now.
Also, a lot of ‘low end’ stuff is so much better than it used to be.<br /><br />
very much this.
Poor spec, due to your experience? Or what the media says about a cheaper fork? Or what the riding culture says as it doesnt have kashima, lots of knobs and a funky colour?
Whilst it might be ‘low end’, its probably more than enough for a regular joe.
You probably have riding buddies that ride 10k’s worth of bikes that are no quicker, better, faster or whatever unit of measurement you want to use, than if they were riding something a quarter of the price.
Also, a lot of ‘low end’ stuff is so much better than it used to be.
But ultimately, yeah, it does suck that you buy a bike and instantly want to change 75% of the components 🙁
I completely agree with this.
Marketing is huge in mountain biking. And being suckered into spending huge amounts of money on a bike is all part of it.
My hardtail cost £1500, but more recently was on sale at £1000. Fox 34 fork which is brilliant. Shimano deore brakes/drivetrain which has been faultless. Have given that bike an absolute hiding and it’s still running. A lot of “low end” stuff is good these days.
But magazine's will be referring to RRP, does anyone ever pay RRP for a bike or bike part?
But magazine’s will be referring to RRP, does anyone ever pay RRP for a bike or bike part?
This is true and I like to remind people not to cry over RRP. Personally I can't remember the last time I paid full price for anything. The manufacturers must know this and at least some of the discount is built in. That way they can still make a profit when everything is 12 months old and reduced by 40%.
it’s because they hit peak ‘value’ sometime 5-7 years ago, a bit like cars/mobiles and various other consumer goods. The full extent of China (and other Far Eastern manufacturing prowess) was apparent in the supply chains and we’d had years of 0-2% inflation in the Western World. The double-digit inflation over the last couple of years is now really starting to show, mainly because it’s on the Western World ‘end’ costs, which were always the highest in the supply chain.
This is it basically, plus an element of the Covid boom encouraging some bike companies to think they can take a bigger margin because demand is there.
Obviously we're in a period of adjustment now, and I've noticed prices creeping back down a bit (plus the 50% discounts obvs).
Yeah, bikes have got way better over the last 10 or 20 years - but some of the shit on those £2k bikes isn't really better at all.
It's not like phones where you're getting better for the same price, or you can pay a silly high price for something extra extra better.
But magazine’s will be referring to RRP, does anyone ever pay RRP for a bike or bike part?
The mystery of why the bike industry is collapsing around us in one simple sentence....
(admittedly, I just bought my new MTB at nearly half price so I'm not innocent in this either!)
But ultimately, yeah, it does suck that you buy a bike and instantly want to change 75% of the components
Most people wouldn't, they'd ride it and be none the wiser.
The recon and Judy aren't brilliant but they're a passable fork - I'd personally look at something else at that price point that didn't say rockshox or fox but people are generally heavily focused on brands.
Alvio brakes are not going to be bad, they're just heavier shimano ones but there's not much to pick between basic shimano and xtr beyond weight and finish.
Cheap wheels have been the way since the year dot, even on much pricier bikes.
Your problem is you're looking at low cost kit and you've aspirations of not owning low cost kit. Most people looking at 2k bikes will be very happy with that spec, some will ride it twice and stick it in the garage until a car boot sale in twenty years, others will decide they really like it but they need new tyres or saddle etc. It's what we [mostly] all did when we got into mtb too, we spent what we considered to be a lot for a bike, rode it a bit, then changed things.
It's crap that spending power hasn't kept up with prices but on that front I'll bemoan the price of beans, milk, eggs etc long before the price of bikes.
The mystery of why the bike industry is collapsing around us in one simple sentence….
Do you think it's our responsibility to rescue the industry by paying whatever sticker price they slap on something?
That Canyon mentioned seems a reasonable spec to be honest - decent fork on it, mid range drivetrain (think it has slx), dt swiss wheels, DB8 trail brakes etc. The only thing I’d change is the tyres annd a longer dropper probably. And that’s just a personal choice.
Do you think it’s our responsibility to rescue the industry by paying whatever sticker price they slap on something?
It's not just a bike industry problem. The system is knackered but it's not one sided, crazy rrp is a result of people only being willing to pay rrp -x% but people only pay sale price because rrp is silly. And round and round it goes.
Ultimately its a wages problem but you're not fixing that anytime soon.
I've always bought complete bikes with the lowest end components but the highest end frame that I could. Because Inevitably the spec isn't going to be exactly what you want even at a higher price point so you'll swap stuff out. At least with the good frame you can bolt on your fav components when the stock ones wear out. It kinda spreads the cost of your dream bike out over time rather than one hit
Probably man economics but has always worked for me
I’d also say there are also quite a few bikes that are bizarrely good value in that price range and even below. Look at some of the offerings from the likes of Canyon, Boardman and Polygon. Some of the lower end components now are also excellent and that wasn’t the case in the past 🙂
I won't ever buy complete bikes as I'm buying components that I don't want. It's so much better to buy everything separately, expecially with some of the crazy deals about at the moment.
Ragley frame £170
Marzocchi bomber z1 £180
Trp slate evo brakes £90
Microshift drivetrain
Superstar wheelset £80
Yes, all of those arent available at the same time, but have been within a year or so. Pre planning what you want and collecting parts along the way saves alot of money.
This subject has been coming up on threads, and chat boards and in magazines since i started riding in, errrr, 84(?).
Cheaper bottom brackets and cheap headsets on suntour and shimano equipped Konas i can remember.
Cheaper freewheels and chains on Shimano equipped Saracens (when they actually made decent bikes first time round).
Trek used Shimano pattern brakes (cantilevers) on their mid 90's Singletrack MTBs. (i had one)
Shit Tektro (and worse) brakes on road bikes since brakes were invented...
It's always happened. Across the range of manufacturers and up and down their range.
Everything just costs more these days. It sucks but we have to accept it if we want to buy new things. It’s not just the bike industry (which has always been expensive), have you seen the price of Heinz Ketchup or baked beans nowadays?!!!)
My current hardtail has a RS fork with MoCo (Sekter? recon?🤷🏼) and I was a bit grumpy coming down from the likes of fancier forks, but to be honest on an £850 hardtail it does the job remarkably well. Same for the group set, items 11 speed NX and prior to that I was running old 10 speed XO. It works fine. You see people whinging about bikes ‘only’ having GX on them for £4 or 5K but it all works much better (apart from SX, that can do one!) than the equivalent 5-10 years ago.
Do you think it’s our responsibility to rescue the industry by paying whatever sticker price they slap on something?
No, not at all but as @dangeourbrain says above, it's not just a bike industry problem, it's embedded throughout society and the bike industry now is a bit like DFS. Always a ****ing sale on!
The industry promotes it and the law says that if, once upon a time, you sold a TV at £599, you can claim that TV has always been RRP £599 but it's now on sale at £399.
The manufacturers must know this and at least some of the discount is built in. That way they can still make a profit when everything is 12 months old and reduced by 40%.
Not at those margins it's not. They just have to hope that enough people are buying The Latest Thing at full RRP to offset the losses made on What Used To Be The Latest Thing.
It's not helped by the likes of the big mail order companies relying on free money from investors to undercut the competition and sell some parts at or below cost because that then gives an artificial idea of how much things cost as well.
The cycle to work schemes ushered in a wave of cheaper/heavy kit being offloaded fitted on half decent frames.
Perfect for people that actually use them to commute and don't race/thrash them at weekends.
That used to be on £1000 bikes,now it's £1500-2000ish.
Pre planning what you want and collecting parts along the way saves alot of money.
But its also a completely different market to the one looking to buy a 2k bike.
See also people who do up a cat d vs buy a new car
People who buy ready prep vs fresh veg.
Etc etc.
I spent £1k on a Giant Defy in 2014, full 10 speed 105 group set (except for brake callipers) bottom-end wheelset.
A quick Google suggests £1000 in 2014 is worth about £1300 today. (bank of England inflation calculator)
A comparable purchase today (decent Alloy frame + 105 group set) suggests you'd need to be spending £2k+
However, having recently bought a Basso Venta with full 105 and a bottom-end wheelset for £2.5k i can confirm bike tech has moved on considerably in the last 10 years (Yes, i know its carbon and not a direct comparison)
crap wheels and sneaky component downgrades are nothing new when buying a whole bike. The Basso will be getting a decent set of wheels as soon as i can afford it.
Our first house cost the same as a Santa Cruz E Bike 🤔that’s inflation or what people are prepared to pay for a certain brand , my mate reckons I still think a fiver is a lot of money and constantly asks “ Have you ever paid full price for anything? “ To which I answer “ Not if I can help it why would I ? “
Back on topic , when I bought my Orbea Rise every keyboard warrior and the bike shop where I bought it said I needed 4 pot brakes straight away , along with new tyres and a bigger rotor on the back . Just over a year in alls fine with the stock set up , I’ve just replaced the rear tyre only because it was worn out . The Shimano brakes aren’t even marked as Deore but they are absolutely fine for what I need and the icing on the cake is genuine pads for less than a tenner , what’s not to like ?
When you see certain magazines, not this one 😉 getting bikes in for long term testing and straight away they change this that and the other I think that makes the test completely irrelevant to the person thinking of buying that particular bike .
The most important factor with any bike does it make you smile riding it ? Who cares what’s on it unless you are a complete tart 😬
From the perspective of someone working in manufacturing with a global supply chain, costs have gone up, and not insignificantly. I’m not saying you need to buy this new more expensive stuff but there are reasons behind many of the price rises…
RRPs have definitely gone up for various reasons, though I think the golden times where MTB prices were going down in relative terms year-on-year ended something like 10-15 years ago anyway. That period ran approximately 1997 to 2008, with advances since that time being more about capability than spec-for-price.
As others have said, there's currently a (possibly short-lived) downward price shock going on at the moment on 2022 cycles & gear. I've bought three complete bikes since March - admittedly all rolling on the tentative 650b gravel / hybrid standard - and rebuilt my MTB, all at great prices.
Quite a bit of what's being sold now had to be specced and signed off during the component supply madness period, so some choices are just what they could get in time that met the budget and other requirements.
There's a lot of snobbery based on how things were a decade or more ago. I've got Deore and NX on my bikes and happy with both. In the ebike group they all seem to want to bin the SRAM DB8 brakes but they've been fine for me.
Every bike I've ever bought I've swapped the wheels on within a few months though. Seems to be the prime place to shave cost and particularly if you buy towards the bottom of a spec range they can be downright unsuitable (like the i19 rims on a Cannondale trail bike I bought in 2015).
4 years ago I snapped up an Onza Jackpot for £699 , my inner tart wanted to upgrade the wheels straight away but I thought see how you get on . They've been fine , even worked tubeless 👍
I know I'm riding around on an over-specced bike, and I suspect many others are too.
My Scott Genius 20 cost £3600 in 2009, which would be £5400 adjusted for inflation.
My Stumpjumper Evo was £5800 last year. Can be had much cheaper currently though...
The equipment levels are equivalent - two down from the top model. My current bike has more adjustability in the suspension (fork especially) and is probably specced with a higher groupset - XO sram vs XT shimano on the Scott.
We ourselves must be responsible for the rule that all new bikes come with shit wheels.
In the 90s someone must have tried selling a bike with wheels commensurate with the frame, thinking wheels are obviously ten times more important than an LX or XT drivetrain. Think again, shiny drivetrain rules all.
Marketing is huge in mountain biking. And being suckered into spending huge amounts of money on a bike is all part of it.
*cough*freshgoodsfriday*cough
Marketing is huge in society. And being suckered into spending huge amounts of money on stuff is all part of it.
Edited for accuracy. I’m not really sure why people think bikes are immune from the pressure of large cost increases because of raw materials, labour shortages & inflation.
Our first house cost the same as a Santa Cruz E Bike 🤔that’s inflation or what people are prepared to pay for a certain brand
That's a strange comparison considering the cost of houses these days and the fact that masses of people can't afford to buy one anymore.
Idle Jon it's just how I compare things sorry ,a point of reference IE " Christ that bike costs the same as our first house "
Wasn't intended to be bragging apologies if it came across like that.
We have been married for over 40 years and I'm old so just humour me 😔
if anything bikes have dropped massively in the last 6 months and they will for the forseeable future, but agree the spec on certain prices are ridiculous.
just buy a 2022 deal and ignore rrp like
£2,600 for a carbon trek slash 9.7 2022 model with slx/xt 12s and fox rhythm 36 fork (ML/L/XL in stock)
I think we maybe lost perspective on pricing in the last few years. I look at some 3k bikes now and think they are a bargain. Whereas I'd not have went near them 3 or so years ago.
I think we maybe lost perspective on pricing in the last few years. I look at some 3k bikes now and think they are a bargain. Whereas I’d not have went near them 3 or so years ago.
When I first worked in a bike shop (probably about 1996), it was unusual to have anything much above £2000 in store - not because it was a bargain basement place, it wasn't at all but most bikes topped out at about £2000, maybe £2500 at a push.
I remember selling a GT STS 1 in about 1998:
[img] 
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to some flash git who had zero interest in how any of it worked he simply wanted "the most expensive bike in the shop" and I think that was £3000 for a full XTR, carbon frame, RS Judy XC Ti forks etc.
Now, £3000 is an average price in any half-decent shop. Probably entry-level if you consider road-only shops where £6000 and upwards is "normal".
It is insane.
I don't think mountain bikes have ever been such good value unless you don't understand inflation or insist on paying full price.
Parts too. I just built a very nicely specced Big Al for £1,100. SLX, 36, DT Swiss, carbon bars, 200mm dropper, 4 pot brakes, etc...
yeah but the original post was about 2k bikes having crap kit on them which is mainly true. I've a Procaliber 9.6 for instance. The frame is superb and the brakes and forks should be illegal. I can't believe RS can produce such a crap fork in 2022 as the Recon - its worse than my 10 yr old sektor and that was a cheap fork. The brakes are one or two down from Deore! They are so bad its comical. How much more would it have been to put deore -- oh but then we'd have had to lose the totally pointless (comparitively) 12sp drive train with an XT mech. WTF??? an XT mech yet we have brakes that wouldn't look out of place on a £300 Halfords bike. Yes its marketing and one of many many many reasons why I hate marketeers.
The marketeers are at it again... https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/mountain-bikes/trail-bikes/spectral-125/cf/spectral-125-cf-7/3426.html?dwvar_3426_pv_rahmenfarbe=SR&dwvar_3426_pv_rahmengroesse=S
£2,350 delivered. Pike, DT Swiss, GX, Code RS, full CF.
The bastards, I hate them.
£2,350 delivered. Pike, DT Swiss, GX, Code RS, full CF.
No xx1 axs pft, in my day you'd have had yumeya at that.
Non RSC brakes? Instant death, not even good enough for pedaling round the office carpark.
Not even 38mm stanchions, they'll flex more than boris's morals.
^^^^ 😂
rOcKeTdOg
I’ve always bought complete bikes with the lowest end components but the highest end frame that I could. Because Inevitably the spec isn’t going to be exactly what you want even at a higher price point so you’ll swap stuff out. At least with the good frame you can bolt on your fav components when the stock ones wear out. It kinda spreads the cost of your dream bike out over time rather than one hit
Probably man economics but has always worked for me
Y
Yeah, I fool myself with the same nonsense. I'm glad to have someone to back me up.
I brought a 2022 Ripmo at a heavily discounted price. The frame and suspension are excellent, lovely frame and top end fox factory, everything else although perfectly usable is what I would call budget for a bike that had an RRP of £6799 earlier this year. I certainly wouldn’t pay RRP.
@Winston - It’s always been this way. For years they’ve stuck a fancy mech on a bike to make it seem fancier. And it works, people look at the fancy mech and fall for it.
But as someone earlier said, a lot of these bikes would have been specced a few years ago when brands were struggling to get components. Some product managers (can’t remember who) stated on a podcast that to get parts they were sometimes having to buy bits from CRC, Jenson, etc because it just wasn’t available OEM.
The brakes are one or two down from Deore!
Aw you poor dear!
Aside from the fact they work fine (I have 2 sets of pattern Shimano brakes) I can actually see your point. That's what Pinnacle Ramins were getting specced with around the 400 quid mark about 8 years ago.
anderzzFree Member<br />I think we maybe lost perspective on pricing in the last few years. I look at some 3k bikes now and think they are a bargain. Whereas I’d not have went near them 3 or so years ago.<br /><br />
Really ? A few years back I could afford nice bikes, nice cars. My wages simply haven’t kept up to be able afford these luxury goods and I’m sure many others haven’t. Mind you Mrs FD and I work in the NHS so maybe other people’s salaries have kept up with this huge price increases
Welcome to inflation. Back in 2000 (for instance) the equivalent price tag for a bike being sold for £2000 now would’ve been about £950. What spec would you expect that bike to have?
£1150 according to the BoE, but of that £850 increase over the last 24years, £360 of it (~40%) has happened in the last 3.5y....That's quite alarming.
Everyone is aware that SRAM, Shimano and all the frame factories charge in USD right?
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/GBPUSD=X/
We have fallen a long way from the dizzy heights of late 2007. We have fallen further since the crash of 2008. We have fallen lower than the point it crashed to after Brexit vote was called.
I think some bike specs are deliberately poor in order to make the more expensive model seem like better value. I've seen this numerous times especially in Decathlon.
But there is plenty of evidence that bicycles RRP has definitely gone up over the last 3-4 years by quite a margin.
This article outlines the reasons why quite well.
There are however some fantastic bargains out there at the moment so I'd not pay RRP for any bike in the current climate.
There are some really good £2k bikes out there, as someone up the thread pointed out - kit like Deore gears & brakes and Marz Z2 forks are functionally excellent.
I took the thread to be about the other half of £2k bikes that have RS 35 or Recon Silver forks, Sram SX or worse, terrible brakes etc. and feel like they've been put together purely on (low) cost rather than by a rider.
I agree with you Chakaping, nothing wrong with Deore on a 2k bike, it works great. I thought this thread was aimed at the bikes that until recently would have had Rockshox Rev/Yari, Deore/NX gears, mid level brakes, etc now being shipped with tat like SX or the really low end RS forks? some of the equipment spec'd on 2k+ bikes is woeful.
some of the equipment spec’d on 2k+ bikes is woeful
But this has always been the case.
Yes it's SC and they've always been pricey with crap kit but that's sort of the point.
You can still get a good bike for 2k rrp so long as you're not a brand snob. You can buy a PoS with fancy stickers if you are.
20 years ago you could still spend circa 2k on a nicely suckered* poorly equipped bike.
*that should have been stickered but auto correct seems to have done a better job.
Think again, shiny drivetrain rules all
TBH it always does on the show stands,advertisements it’s part of the being the halo product that gets your attention.
That ultra lightweight carbon frame woven on the thighs of nymphs which is 4x the cost of the one you end up with but is only 200grms lighter but has a distinct frame colour to mark out its rarity/exclusivity.
It’s just bike snobbery, in the reality the low end isn’t really low end it shifts just as well as the high end nowadays but that has a prettier design or materials.
'entry level' now seems to include a full Sus frame, dropper, 4+" of quality damped travel front and rear and comparatively lighter, stronger, cheaper parts than ever before.
At what point did entry level change from a £700 hardtail to a 2k full Sus. - you can still get a good entry level hardtail for the 700-1000 mark.
It's not that the 'entry level' prices have risen, just our expectations of what 'entry level' should contain.
It’s just bike snobbery, in the reality the low end isn’t really low end it shifts just as well as the high end nowadays but that has a prettier design or materials.
It does, but IME you’re often sacrificing durability and build quality at the lower end. Quite often, outside of what is said in the initial press releases, that’s not obvious.
If I’m planning on using something regularly, in the long run I tend to find it more economical to spend a bit more initially.
For example higher end chains and cassettes seem to last much longer than cheaper ones IME.
Now, £3000 is an average price in any half-decent shop. Probably entry-level if you consider road-only shops where £6000 and upwards is “normal”.
My LBS is a Specialized dealer. They sell more than a few S Works models (although Specialized apparently wants them to sell even more) so £10k +
According to the manager, a lot of those sales go to people who aren’t even that keen cyclists, they just want something that’s “the best”.
I’d love to know what % of the bikes sold for over a £1000 are basically ridden very little. My hunch is that most don’t get through a drive train. As we came out of lock down there were loads of high end e-bikes out on local gravel rides. I haven’t seen one this year. I have a cousin with a carbon BMC, full Dure-Ace gathering dust in the garage. I remember Phil Corley (who runs a bike shop) telling me that in some ways his competition in retail are Hi Fi and other stuff that’s a discretionary high price purchase.
I think the effect of all of this is that bikes aren’t necessarily specked for cyclists. Most owners don’t need to replace that cheap bottom bracket.
I think the real pain of bike inflation will hit next year. I think the high rrp will stay and the discounts will go. They’ll just build less bikes for next year
They’ll be a moan from many that this is profiteering. I think the reality as is that it will be a fight for survival
I’d love to know what % of the bikes sold for over a £1000 are basically ridden very little. My hunch is that most don’t get through a drive train.
I think that you're probably right.
Another thing that I think that has contributed to bike price inflation is the replacement of the mid-range hardtail with the lower-end full suspension in many manufacturers product line ups.
I’d love to know what % of the bikes sold for over a £1000 are basically ridden very little. My hunch is that most don’t get through a drive train.
In about 2013/14, eBay was full of road bikes for sale, many of them Pinarello, most hardly used.
The aftermath of the London Olympics / Bradley Wiggins / Team Sky boom all being sold off... I remember reading one of the adverts which openly stated that it had only done dry weather laps of Richmond Park...
(yes, I know, how very stereotypical! 😂 )
They’ll just build less bikes for next year.
This is absolutely happening. Not for the brand I work with, but with others using the same suppliers.
They’ll be a moan from many that this is profiteering.
Much moaning.
Part of this doesn’t just relate to the bike industry. I’ve been saying since 2016 that, once we are far enough away from the “decision”, the stories of “rip off Britain” will start being everywhere. In most sectors. We are poorer. Segmented markets add massive costs and reduce choices.
The other part is about unsustainable businesses in our sector setting unrealistic expectations on prices. Yes, some brands can still sell at prices that look more like those of the previous decade, but their costs and market access have changed completely (and many of the new customers the pandemic brought to them are happy with their relatively new bike, or moved on). Without realistic pricing, they will fail… but also take with them some other brands who can’t match their prices. We can see this happening right now.
If you go into a specialist concept store at the moment there are a load of fairly heavily discounted road bikes (vs rrp) that are still all north of £7k. When I price up my current road bike with a Dolan carbon frame (1100g ish), 11 speed Ultegra di2, Hope RX4 brakes and various carbon finishing kit / Hunt 4 seasons road wheels it come in around £3.5k. Other than sticking some blingier carbon aero wheels on it I don’t fully see what all the extra money really buys you. Maybe a little bit of weight saving and a fancier name on the frame - anything else? Would guess mine is 8 - 8.5kgs so could maybe lose a kg off that with a fancier bike?
Oh, I rock Deore and Fox Rhythm on my bike… find a £2K bike with that stuff on and it’ll kick the nuts of any £2K bike from a decade ago… some amazingly good and reliable kit available now for affordable builds. Better than ever.
The thread is really about this:
I thought this thread was aimed at the bikes that until recently would have had Rockshox Rev/Yari, Deore/NX gears, mid level brakes, etc now being shipped with tat like SX or the really low end RS forks?"<blockquote
I'm not bemoaning inflation and another "aren't bikes so expensive" type thread. I find it surprising certain manufactures (Giant for example) are happy to put out £2-£2.5K RRP bike with a Rock Shox Judy and still put these on their £800 hardtails. If you look at the 2023 Giant line up all the full suspension bikes in that price range have low end forks, do they just assume the riders buy and upgrade them? Low end Deore is really good kit no issues with this, it's the cheap heavy wheels and forks really.