Following on from a thread on Pistonheads aboout seriously overpriced cars and just seeing a On-One 456 Summer Season for sale on eBay for sale for £1250, what massively overpriced bikes have you see out there (FWIW I had to break my 456 SS about 10 years ago as there was no interest in and ended up scraping about £400 for a reasonable specced bike!).
Santa Cruz.
Lights the blue touchpaper, and runs
Anything with a motor, all seem to last a few months and then need a new motor or battery.
Santa Cruz.
It's hard to argue though isn't it. They're insanely expensive for what they are.
Not a bike, but this chainguide is currently on clearance at CRC for just €148.49. That's 19% off the frankly insane €182.99 RRP.
The top-end specialized bikes. Their lower levels of each model are expensive but not wildly more than other big brands; then the s-works bikes are crazy money. e.g crux expert (top of the normal range) £4249; S-works Crux £8249.
I lust after them so much though... even worse I'd need two!
Every other bike in the classifieds.
Every other bike in the classifieds
Ain't that the truth.
On a similar theme, most 'gravel' or CX bikes on Facebook groups.
#OnTrendPremium
The cost of brake pads is what always amazes me. I have a motorbike that apparently is capable of over 180mph but the brake pads for that are less than I spend on my pushbike, and last a lot longer too.
It’s hard to argue though isn’t it. They’re insanely expensive for what they are.
There's a Hightower in Pinkbike's value, sub $3000, bike grouptest at the moment. I agree the top of the range ones are silly money, but that's not all they offer.
+1 on S-works full bikes. You can buy the frames separately then build the same spec, at RRP or close to it, and still come out cheaper. (or you could when i last looked into it, and prices have gone up since then.)
I have a Trek Remedy which I love and have been using for a good few years now. But new, they were something absolutely demented like £3800, in 2015. The spec was alright, but really nothing to get excited about- pretty basic wheels, XT, stuff like that. Really not sure if anyone bought them at that price.
I think if you did a graph of the performance of bikes over the last 30 year that were sold for an inflation adjusted £1k in 2020 money you Would see a huge leap in value and capability of the humble ride.
If you then did a graph of the price of the average highest priced bike in the range of say the top 6 selling brands adjusted for inflation over the same time period you would see it is possible to spend a hell of a lot more now than it was in years past.
No sure what that says - the need to spend more has never been so unnecessary but the demand is there more than ever (or they would go to the trouble of getting them to market). Probably bad things about the 21st century consumerism problem.
Pivot is another with crazy prices..
£3.5k for the 429 Trail vs eg Intense Primer 29 £2.6k - both frame only..
Anything by Salsa.
Sick cycles frames probably the most expensive waste of money for nothing to show for it
Makes an santa cruz seem a worthwhile buy - at least you'll receive an actual physical item
+1 on Salsa
My bro still rocking a gen 1 SpearFish
Oh & Rocky Mountain again my other bro rocking an old vertex
Pivot is another with crazy prices..
£3.5k for the 429 Trail vs eg Intense Primer 29 £2.6k – both frame only..
Both with completely different business models.
Surly.
I love Surly bikes, but the prices are insulting.
The new S-works Enduro is about 9 grand. Multiple reviewers have pointed out that you can buy the (also very expensive) frame and all the components to build the exact same bike for less. And that's assuming you're mad enough to pay rrp for bike parts.
Again, just a component but these are utter madness - https://cyclingtips.com/2020/02/spengle-gold-wheels/
Salsa are hideously expensive, stunning bikes but my goodness!
S-Works have always been top end cash but once you start to look at the top tier Road frame only builds over 10k is easy to do!!
Cotic FS always strike me as being pretty pricey. Not ridiculous, but still.
Again, just a component but these are utter madness –
Have any actually sold, or is it just a publicity stunt? The ones that aren’t gold plated aren’t cheap, but at £850 a pair, they cost less than one enve rim. Speaking of which...
Both with completely different business models.
& which model do you think offers better VFM?
Having owned & ridden both makes - I know where my money goes.....
The cost of brake pads is what always amazes me. I have a motorbike that apparently is capable of over 180mph but the brake pads for that are less than I spend on my pushbike, and last a lot longer too.
brake pads - I would have thought very little of the finished cost is materials - and every other cost will be the same for a big or a small pad. also economies of scale. Far more brembo motorccyle brakes than hope bicycle brakes being sold worldwide. Same for Japanese stuff. How many pairs of bicycle brakes compared to motorcycle?
Ha Ha about brake pads that one has amazed me for years two pairs of pads for a trials bike under £18 say a GAS GAS yet you cant get one set of Avids or Hope for that.
Has that Forestal thing been mentioned yet?
I have a Salsa bike and even though its at the lower end it still really well made, rides fantastically well and has none of the 'they won't notice if we just stick a cheap component here' bollox that so many brands try to get away with.
i.e the BB is higher spec than the crank, bolt through are DT swiss, rims are expensive etc etc
Salsa are continually at the cutting edge of design whereas plenty of bigger firms just jump on a bandwagon when its clear its going to be a success.
So I disagree that they are seriously overpriced.
salad_dodger
SubscriberThe cost of brake pads is what always amazes me. I have a motorbike that apparently is capable of over 180mph but the brake pads for that are less than I spend on my pushbike, and last a lot longer too.
To be fair, you're buying damn expensive bike pads then! £24 for 4 pairs of Discobrakes kevlars which are perfectly good.
(I buy mine from aliexpress, $9 for 4 pairs of Bikein ceramics... They actually work great, I used 'em for the Mega among other stuff)
Nobeerinthefridge
MemberCotic FS always strike me as being pretty pricey. Not ridiculous, but still.
They're not cheap, but otoh they're made just along the road from me so that's definitely a good thing
Specialized S works always spring to mind but take a look at other manufactures top end and most are stupid prices, Cannondale Super Six Evo £9000, SCOTT Addict RC ultimate £10,799.00
I have a Trek Remedy which I love and have been using for a good few years now. But new, they were something absolutely demented like £3800,
It didn't cost me anywhere near that when it was new. 😁
Anything cycling related nowadays - ive ridden mtb’s since the late 80’s and despite earning a good wage nowadays (for the moment) I’ve turned my back on Mtb’s due to getting screwed cost wise.
I sold mine whilst they were still worth something - ive kept my worthless Transition Klunker, and my 5 year old gravel/commuter.
Im not interested in low end crap groupsets or suspension without adjustment.
That's because you (and I) bought the sane one! The shiny one was mental
Having owned & ridden both makes – I know where my money goes….
Not those specific bikes, but I’ve owned an Intense and a Pivot, I ain’t buying another Intense.
+1 for S-Works stuff. I was bored a while ago and totted up the cost of me buying the same parts (or better in some cases) at RRP to add to one of their S-Works frames and it was less than Specialized where charging for a complete bike with presumably decent discounts for bulk purchases.
+1 for S-Works stuff.
There's a definite theme going on in here... Can't say I disagree! A slight change in the fibre layup in the frame (on the same mould), and slightly better components, do not justify a doubling in price!
The S-Works "Founders Edition" Levo SL is £12.5k FFS! Some might find that rich coming from someone riding an Evil MTB and a Colnago road bike, but the Spesh S-Works price justifications (or lack of them) stagger me! Same goes for Trek "Project One" stuff whilst we're at it...
Different strokes for different folks isn’t it? They wouldn’t build the s works completes if people weren’t buying them so clearly someone is. And that someone might have muchos cashola and not blink about spending 11k on a pushiron. In addition, the likelihood of the same person spending hours on Bike24 and similar finding who has the cheapest Red AXS rear mech is slim.
The price of forks amazes me these days. I’m currently rebuilding my Remedy and after some decent 29er forks. Anything upwards of £600 seems to be the going rate. In most cases, £700+. Now I’ve never considered myself tight but that seems like mental money
Only thing Intense had going for them was their paint colours jobs on their alloy range
Cotic FS always strike me as being pretty pricey. Not ridiculous, but still.
They’re not cheap, but otoh they’re made just along the road from me so that’s definitely a good thing
Yup, new frames are being painted by Fiveland too, thats the price of buying local.
Same goes for Trek “Project One” stuff whilst we’re at it…
At least with P1 stuff you can get something unique, paint wise.
Yup, new frames are being painted by Fiveland too, thats the price of buying local.
My bad, I was referring more to build costs. Frames didn't seem too bad IIRC, but tbh it's a while since I priced one up.
Fox 36's.
When you are over £1000 for a fork something is not right.
They are the best though.
Orange!
Why don't they do a direct sell business model like Bird?
In 2018 I bought a Genesis Fugio with Apex groupset for £1200.
In 2020 I bought a Genesis Fugio with GRX groupset for £2600.
Take away the cost of the apex group and add the cost of the GRX and I`ve just paid £1100 for a fancy paintjob! Still love it though and would buy another tomorrow.
