So seeing this week's fresh goods has reminded me of a strange imbalance I have in my spending habits.
Amongst other stuff the smith helmets have drawn comment because of their price. I can't say I disagree but what strikes me is that I'd "happily" spend £800 on a suspension fork where in I'll likely never notice the difference over a £400 fork or £200 an end on brakes even though my old ones don't leak and still stop me. Yet I resent spending 100 on pedals even though I definitely do notice them - I ride CB pedals so obviously they're a throw away item... - I wouldn't spend 250 on a helmet which, in the event it gets bust, hopefully saved something worth significantly more, it might not be better than a cheap one but in the event it gets tested it might make a difference.
Is there anything else that fits into the "I'm not paying that much (but I probably should)" category?
Er my cb pedals are completely rebuild able. Not much I resent spending on I just pick things that last, are good value or that can be fixed. My previous lid didn't last a month but that's life.
Inner Tubes, I know they keep me upright, but I get so many punctures round my way that it's a bit of a PITA.
The cost of modern tyres is frankly ridiculous to me, but what choice do we have? Cheap tyres are terrible, more expensive soft compound tyres wear out quickly. I really resent the cost involved.
I would love to be proved wrong on this.
OP - why the hell are you spending £200 an end on brakes?
Pedals.
Because I want a set of flats for commuting and my business partner keeps telling me he has some I can have then constantly forgets to bring them in to the office.
👿
brake pads, and why does no-one stock pads for M810's?
Cleats for my roadie, I'm used to MTB cleats that last forever.
Brake pads, I feel I can get them for cheap so I should despite more expensive ones stopping me better.
Bar tape. Cheap stuff works fine, why but Lizard Skin DSP when cheap PS stuff does the same?
Edit, tyres as they are so expensive. However, I now buy them cheap from online places and accept that I'm generally not good enough to notice the difference. Thankfully, the most expensive of the lot are generally Continental and I really don't like Conti tyres for road or MTB.
Not too much tbh, I'm a serial bike builder so all the bits and bobs to finish can become tiresome (chain/BB/cables etc) and I do think some bike clothing is going a bit spendy, especially(decent looking) road stuff. Actually now I think about it my 29+ tyres are going to cost a bit and the rims weren't cheap either.
Tyres here too.
Flat pedals - perfect example - how is a flat pedal more expensive than a high end spd which has multiple moving parts, complex assembly and the same axle and bearings as is flat counterpart with I dare say as much or more machining.
Re the brakes, they were shiny and my old ones weren't, also they needed new rotors and adapters as I switched from centre lock wheels at the same time. Oh and I bought them from a real shop with people in it, that tends to come at a premium.
Suprised no one has said 'lbs labour' yet.
Everything, basically. All parts should last for ever. In fact... they should magically upgrade themselves as I ride. Then I can blow all my money on coke and hookers instead 😀
Oddly tyres don't bother me in the same way - I'll run them till they die to avoid buying new ones but mostly because I'm convinced there is nothing wrong with them until I can see the threads through them.
Clothing is madness, 100+ for a pair of baggy shorts?!? I could buy non bike ones and a hell of a hangover for that and still have money left over
Flat pedals - perfect example - how is a flat pedal more expensive than a high end spd which has multiple moving parts, complex assembly and the same axle and bearings as is flat counterpart with I dare say as much or more machining.
Good point - and people asking for silly money for them on Ebay too - £15 for scuffed up second hand ones when they are only about £22 new.
Binners, if you stopped buying the hookers and just bought the coke you could probably convince yourself things did upgrade as you rode.
Contact lenses. Only use them for riding, £50 for a box of 30 and I've just run out again, gah!
clothes
The prices are shocking
i once rode in my misuses leggings/tights..long story not involving cross dressing- and they performed as well as my expensive water repellent kit
they were £4 from the market apparently.
same with top £50 + for lycra basically - madness.
Parts most of them tbh are a rip off and nothing springs to mind that is reasonably priced
New standards.
Pretty much everything. Mostly because there's plenty of good stuff to be had 2nd hand or massively reduced online. Can I add internet forums 😈
Forks,
I just cannot in my head justify their cost, the extent that although I probably have the mony in the bank to buy some super dooper ones, I'd rather ride a rigid bike.
Often the forks chassis is shared with forks costing £100, if not then they don't have any more high tech, it's a magnesium lower casting, aluminium tubes, forged crown, etc on a Sektor and a Fox 36. The £100 fork has internal gubbins too, maybe not as complicated, but they're there. That leaves a frankly obscene margin between Sektors and offerings from Fox, Bos, etc.
It's an example of the market being prepared to pay n+1 for any upgrade, where n is the actual cost of making any fork, the cheapest or the most expensive in the range, then every upgrade is charged at an incremental rate regardless of whether it actualy costs any more to make.
Rant over.
Unsexy items like BBs and chains. I'm glad that Shimano sell them for reasonable prices. Suspension servicing, I've no idea if it's good value but paying 15% of the value of a fork and 25% of the shock is steep (4 services and you have a new shock FFS).
The price of tyres is ludicrous. Clothing wise; jerseys can be picked up fairly reasonably but shorts have got very expensive.
All of it.
...but then I am freeloading scum.
Stans
ISIS cranks and bottom brackets.
Thankfully sold on now so no more, but £60 for a BB that wore out in 15 minutes? No thanks...
Bloody specific items with no alternatives. My rear Fulcrum wheel's basically written off because they charge £125 for a bastard rim. And I think £5 a spoke if you're lucky enough to break one of those.
Decent MTB baggy shorts some are £70-£100 I refuse to spend that much when one little off can result in them being ruined!
Also tyres are bloody expensive too, although I do appreciate the grip of a decent tyre.
Contact lenses. Only use them for riding, £50 for a box of 30 and I've just run out again, gah!
I feel your pain brother. 😥
Chains. Every time I buy one I get a tiny bit upset about how much they cost.
The cost of parking at some trail centres, 9 quid odd for all day parking at whinlatter!!!
The wife 😀
Each time I get new bits for the bike, the wife gets a similar amount spent on her. Good job I manage to lose 50% of the real cost.... 🙂
+1 for tyres. Since when does an mtb tyre cost almost the same as a car tyre. I mean really!!
Also hydration packs. I had a look at one of those 16l evoc "enduro" ones the other day and it's about £125 for one without a bladder which is another £30.
Totally agree shorts are a rip off these days too.
Dropper posts that cost more than a front fork when all it is is a glorified office chair mechanism
650B..
when the time comes and I can't get wheels or fork for my 16 month old 26'er. That I will really really resent 👿
I've no idea if it's good value but paying 15% of the value of a fork and 25% of the shock is steep (4 services and you have a new shock FFS).
+1
Cleats the cycling equivalent of printer ink.
All the fabric items seem to be daft money these days.
Gloves circa £30
Shorts circa £80
Backpacks £100
Then they wonder why everyone waits for special offers.
Sui - Member
brake pads, and why does no-one stock pads for M810's?
Not cheap, but ere are ALWAYS cheap alternatives
DiscoBrakes, UberBike and any number of other sites sell 4 pairs of excellent pads for 20-30 quid. Bargain.
Tyres - Schwalbe from German sites, excellent tyres for 30-35 euro a pop.
Gloves - whatever's cheap on CRC - sometimes get pairs for 5/6 Euro
Shorts - Ditto CRC
Backpacks - Merlin and other sites flog Camelbaks for half nothing.
Tubes - GO TUBELESS
9 quid odd for all day parking at whinlatter!!!
its free to park at the car park below it and the blue trail exist the car park to link up with the red ! Perhaps 1 milish of [ niceish but gnar free]riding through the forest - not sure as my kids are very slow
Another personal one - tubeless valves. How are they more expensive than a whole inner tube? (is it bad I cut the valves out of old innertubes and use those just fine?)
Crank Bolts.
Don't know why it irks me so much.
"I'd like four crank bolts please".
"£13" please.... Ok then.
Junkyard - lazarus9 quid odd for all day parking at whinlatter!!!
its free to park at the car park below it and the blue trail exist the car park to link up with the red ! Perhaps 1 milish of [ niceish but gnar free]riding through the forest - not sure as my kids are very slow
are you sure Junky? I was there in May and I drove down to 2 of the lower carparks and both had pay bollard things so it seemed you couldn't escape the parking charges without parking at the bottom and cycling up that horror of a hill.
dangeourbrain - Member
Another personal one - tubeless valves. How are they more expensive than a whole inner tube? (is it bad I cut the valves out of old innertubes and use those just fine?)
Stan#'s ones are expensive, but your local Specialized dealer should have Roval ones - they're cheaper than a tube in my LBS
Whinlatter is a free car park. I have a friend who lives there, the car parks are paid for via their council tax. This was agreed when the centre was opened. The charge at the centre is voluntary, you do not have to pay. Occasionaly you may get what appears to be a fine on your windscreen, it isn't. It is a reminder that you could have paid.
When he visits he never pays, as he already has via his council tax. I was quite shocked when I heard this, but I pay the minimum when I visit, that way the centre gets something.
I resent having to get my chain covered in shite, knowing that it'll wear it out quickly and I'll have to throw it away.
£30 quid for a Camelbak bladder ??? Thankfully they honoured their lifetime guarantee on mine when it leaked after 2 years . Also does anybody ever buy their cleaning tablets somewhere around 8 quid how many bottles of Miltons will that buy ? Pretty much all of the above , my Reba's were £275 2 years ago , had a damper replaced under warranty but won't be paying 90?quid for a service thank you very much !
sui
[url= http://www.woollyhatshop.com/Brake-Pads/Other-Branded-Disc-Brake-Pads/A2Z-Disc-Brake-Pads-for-Shimano-New-Saint-BR-M810-AZ640/prod_3588.html ]pads[/url]
Money is tight at the moment so I'm only buying things as and when they break.
Chain devices (back in the day....)
Tyres, I seem to get 4-5 rides before I tear a sidewall. Tried snakeskin. Still tore.
LBS costs. £35 to replace a busted spoke and retrue.
Servicing suspension parts costs more than my cars annual service
I don't get the gripe about tyres?
There's a great range from Spesh and Bonty in the 25 - 35 quid range and they're tubeless ready, last well and perform great, or do you still see that as too steep? The basic non-tubeless ones are nearer 20 quid and still good.
Ivan understand resenting the 50/60 quid ones but you don't have to buy them!
Likewise with chains, Deore and SLX chains are pretty damn cheap online and reliable and last well enough, or are you complaining about the cost of top end kit?
Just spent £60 summink on a new wheel for the utility bike after a split rim on the way home from nursery on Wednesday..
No , it is definitely tyres. I am always really shocked when they wear out, it must be because I am harking back to the days when tyres would last longer than chains and cassettes! They lasted but wouldn't grip tarmac let alone dirt.
Tyres for me too, does no company make a single ply UST tyre that the sidewalls will survive more than a handful of rocky rides?
I've no idea how you lot manage to rip sidewalls all the time. I've never ripped a sidewall* in 20 years of MTBing all over the world and I'm not hanging around. And spokes - I had one MTB wheel that broke spokes, it was clearly mis-built - and one road wheel. Other than those two - never.
* except for the time my brake block rubbed a hole in one
35 quid to true a wheel? Jesus we only charge a tenner
Contact lenses I get from [url= https://www.daysoftcontactlenses.com ]DAYSOFT[/url]
Previously used boots but these are just as good if not better
Tyres are expensive but that's the only thing that I resent
It costs £9 to admit one at the pictures now and cost me £4.40 for a pint of the black stuff in town this afternoon.
I always pay for the full day at swinley car park despite not always staying for the duration.
Whats the gripe with £90 for a good fork service? What do you think a business needs to charge to work sucessfully? Perhaps each reply here should be followed by what you do for a living.
Dan
Small business owner
£90 to service a fork, are you having a laugh 😯 surely it's a fraction of that to do a basic one yourself given the number of videos there are showing you how to do it.
4 of those and you could buy a new bloody fork. I remember my last set of Pikes (the original ones) lasted for 3 years hard riding before I got them serviced and they didn't blow up or stop working. I wish Rockshox still made them.
ultimateweevil - Member£90 to service a fork, are you having a laugh surely it's a fraction of that to do a basic one yourself
Yup, but that's not the same thing, £90 will be (hopefully) for a full service, damper seals etc- £20 odd quid's worth of parts, plus fluid, even before you get into labour. Not to mention that it can pick up faults you didn't know about before they're a problem.
Hate paying for any kind of security products.
No real need for them here but sods law what will happen if I don't.
Decent money which could be spent on something else.
£90 pays for parts, contributes to the wages of everyone who works there, from the person who does the servicing to the person who answers the phone.
Then there is the overheads from rent on the property to hobnobs for the tea break to paying for the bog roll in the staff karzy.
All has to be paid for.
Bottom brackets, inner tubes, overpriced sram cassettes, overpriced sram rear mechs.
Lube, grease & oil.
Bike cover on my household insurance. Because some people can't keep their hands off other people's stuff and insurance companies capitalise on that concern.
Parking at trail centres and decent bike clothing.
Pretty much everything bike related is overpriced
The things that annoy the most are tyres (my toyo proxes car tyres were the same price as most mtb tyres)
Lycra clothing, must cost about a fiver to make tops/bib shorts
Saddles £70-100+ for something mass produced and made mostly from plastic
I know, R&D, wages, distribution, marketing etc...
I resent that to have a good 1x10 set up I need an expander sprocket costing £50. Shimano pull you finger out and give me an all in one 11-40 or 11-42 for around £50!!!
Chain lube- so I use chainsaw oil.
Muc off- so I use citrus degreaser
Bike specific disc cleaner- so I use stuff from Toolstation for a quarter the price.
Silicon spray- Toolstation again, quarter the price of bike shop stuff.
New rims for mates bikes when they are foolish enough to lend their bike to me..
😐
nothing at all really. i buy good quality stuff that lasts. i stay away from fashionable stuff, ie enduro stuff for example, and the latest gearing rip off stuff.
some older mtb stuff is perfect for long term use.
deore mechs/cassettes/shifters lasts forever. 4500 miles on my current set up. cost not much over £100 for the full set up.
vittoria touring tyres from on one £7.99 i bought 6.
new 20ltr rucksack and 2 ltr bladder from decathlon £16. why spend £100 on a camleback or owt fancy.
shimano am45 shoes £45 from germany. they last years
just use common sense and dont follow the sheep.........baaaah 😀
ton - Member
nothing at all really. i buy good quality stuff that lasts. i stay away from fashionable stuff, ie enduro stuff for example, and the latest gearing rip off stuff.
some older mtb stuff is perfect for long term use.deore mechs/cassettes/shifters lasts forever. 4500 miles on my current set up. cost not much over £100 for the full set up.
vittoria touring tyres from on one £7.99 i bought 6.
new 20ltr rucksack and 2 ltr bladder from decathlon £16. why spend £100 on a camleback or owt fancy.
shimano am45 shoes £45 from germany. they last years
just use common sense and dont follow the sheep.........baaaah
Ton - how many bikes you had in the last 10 years out of interest?
Whinlatter is a free car park. I have a friend who lives there, the car parks are paid for via their council tax. This was agreed when the centre was opened. The charge at the centre is voluntary, you do not have to pay. Occasionaly you may get what appears to be a fine on your windscreen, it isn't. It is a reminder that you could have paid.When he visits he never pays, as he already has via his council tax. I was quite shocked when I heard this, but I pay the minimum when I visit, that way the centre gets something.
I never knew that, I've always just stuck an hour on anyways.
Tyre prices take the piss when compared to car tyre prices. Dropper posts seem expensive for what they are too.
Ton - how many bikes you had in the last 10 years out of interest?
far too many, but in my defence, i have built most of them on a tight budget. 😀
Most of it!
Tales of a MTB numpty - after many, many years riding in the same bontrager tires and wondering what had happened to the grip, Jambalaya (of this parish) pointed out that they were basically worn out. So innocent little me, goes to wiggle and orders some nobby nics. Blimey, £30 or so, that's a lot.
Excited when the package arrived and opened it up - where's the other one??? Checked the package carefully, no just the one. £60 for two, bold hell!!!!!! Wake up call to the cost of MTBing for. Numpty!
far too many, but in my defence, i have built most of them on a tight budget.
Fair enough then 😀
breadcrumb - MemberI never knew that
Probably because its a load of rubbish.
Press fit BB's. Utter utter shite.
For those resenting paying to park at trail centres, how do think they should generate income?
Another vote for tyres here. There seems to be an awful lot of tyres with £50/60 rrp's these days, so I tend to buy my Schawbles from Germany. As much as I like them I can't bring myself to pay UK prices for them.
Clothing is ridiculous to, so I only ever buy in the sales. £80 for some shorts? No thanks. Jackets are even worse; I'm sure a good jacket is really good at being waterproof and breathing, but I'd be pretty hacked off if I crashed and totalled a posh Gore jacket.
Hydro packs have gone up a lot too. There seem to be an awful lot at £100 or so without a bladder. And then there's Acre. Is anyone really going to pay that much for a pack that's going to get sweaty and covered in crud? Madness.
Forks are silly expensive; second hand all the way for me. It's all Fox's fault too. When they bought out the original 36 most top end forks were about the £500 mark but the were £750 or so and sold. Suddenly it seemed like the manufacturers cottoned on and prices started to escalate.
But drivetrain stuff is pretty cheap these days....£40 fir a Zee mech doesn't seem too bad, admittedly that is from the likes of CRC.
Rim brake rims. I keep the work/commuter bike pretty clean but on the other hand loaded up with clothes and varoius worky bits and food it weighs far more than my downhill bike, and does well over half my yearly milage and climbing/descending like this in all weathers, i suppose i ought to expect them to wear out every so often.
But somehow i still resent £20 to replace a worn out rim more than i resent the effort of rebuilding it (and/or what it would cost me to get a shop to do it). Funny really since £20 on other bike stuff that last fewer miles (drivetrain, brake pads, knobbly tyres for other bikes etc) seems ok value to me.
Also +1 for shimano spd cleats, and now t'wife and i have had roadie pedals for a couple of years i notice the same price/materials/workmanship anomaly with look branded cleats too. And as above, flat pedals look terrible value when compared with complexity and details on same price clipless ones.
It's when the price is disproportionate to the technology that it narks me. How can a rear mech be only £40-70 when Brake pads are £25 for oem. I know you can get cheaper mind. Stans fluid and replacement hope bearings Re also vastly overpriced for what they are. Off topic I have similar issues with sofas......it's a simple wooden frame plus springs padding and material. How can that be 000,s ffs.
I resent buying helitape to prevent cable rub. I know I shouldn't and it's only a few quid. But surely with all the advances in technology why do bikes still suffer from cable rub?