[Closed] SRam XX drivetrain kit 2010. What the fug?!!! Pricing

It's not aimed at thee and me, it's for racing folks and of course the middle classes 🙂

yes, its a "race only" aparently, its only the same price as sram red on the road, its a fair price for what you get. its far to good for anyone unless they are elite quality anyway, its a hobby, we spend money on it, im sure you throw ridiculous amounts of money at ridiculous kit, if people want to blow £1500 nicker on a groupset, let them.

I saw that in MBR, the pricing is special to say the least but if you squeeze a couple second on a trail that could be the difference between winning and loosing for me though more than happy with SLX 🙂

Some people have money and they like to spend it. There are plenty of more expensive sports than mountain biking, just look at the prices of luxury/sports cars. Bikes are peanuts by comparison.

[i]No offence but is this where we are going now? The future? Pricing people out of a hobby? [/i]

Other groupsets are available.

"Other groupsets are available" nothing else needed to be said. move along.

Pretty much any hobby has some ridiculous high end kit, and so do many if not most sports. As has been mentioned, possibly not for the likes of "us" unless we want it.
That said, couple of grand on a frame, couple of grand on bits, complete bikes retail for more don't they?

[i]No offence but is this where we are going now? The future? Pricing people out of a hobby?[/i]

Its not carbon, nor is it especially ground-breaking or ultra ultra light over whats available now. Its USP is 'you can do away with a third ring' WOW!.. I think its an exercise to see how much amateur riders will spend. How you can price your goods in the future when compared to demand for such goods TBH.

why bother ? i run 2x9 on xtr / xt mix and i'm a tart. it's good enough for my torque ridden legs.... who needs more at that price ?

Its not carbon, nor is it especially ground-breaking or ultra ultra light over whats available now. Its USP is 'you can do away with a third ring' WOW!..

Shows how much you know Hora.

You know a better benefit apart from profit margin?

I agree Hora.

Just look at how many of us are happy to pay £50 for a XT cassette, thinking it is now a "bargin"!

I see the bugatti Veyron is £839,28. Scandalous they should be pricing folk like me off the road. 🙂

yeah but you could get a Caterham csr260 for 34k and it'd beat it round a track.

[i]Just look at how many of us are happy to pay £50 for a XT cassette, thinking it is now a "bargin"! [/i] of course 2010 will bring a price drop for kit in general?... (£.v.$) 🙁

Hora, who cares, your going to buy it anyway, complain, then flog it on here in a blaze of glory.........isn't that what you normally do ;0)

Dunno, I bought a M960 XTR rear mech from CRC two weeks ago. My last mech has lasted me the last 10years and is still in one piece. I might swap frames/forks out every 5mins...but other stuff not really- King headsets/wheels (6yrs/7yrs each so far) 😉

Theres a lad on here, seems to be buy a new frame and groupset, build it up- ride it, take a pic on his balcony then flog it all and start again?!!

Re $/£ price shift and 2010 pricing....

... don't forget that this year's price rises are in spite of a VAT drop. Next year VAT goes back up

So it should equal out back at 2008 prices then? I cant see any manufacturer explaining a rise or 2009 levels of pricing again. The Yens fallen back as well.

Prices for 2010 on everything are going to make 2009 prices look like a bargain! Expect to see 25% increases on bikes across the board.

njee20, why??

Yep - I heard they were going up 10 - 15% on shimano again

Sram Red/Campag Super Record/Shimano Dura-ace are all mega money so something this price isn't out of the ordinary. As a side note, its MUCH easier to spend massive amounts of money on road bikes rather than MTB's. Has sir visited the Poshbikes website? Storck scenario anyone?

Maybe this'll kickstart the british manufac. industry again? I've just got a set of brand spanking middleburns for less than the price of a set of XT cranks. huzzah

[i]Yep - I heard they were going up 10 - 15% on shimano again[/i]

How are they justifying it?!!

Not sure - can't remember how they justified this years to be honest.

I do know that they now have a surplus of XT/XTR that they're selling cheap to the shops because no one is buying it. And still they hike the price.

Price of raw materials is the commonly cited reason at the moment, plus the cost of parts to the OEM manufacturers. Shimano prices increasing during 2009 affects they're buying for 2010 bikes.

I still think its the 'what can we get away with' pricing strategy. Chasing bigger margins. i.e. Like with gas bills, once you've seen what your customers will put up with you dont have to shrink your pricing back when the currency fluctuation has fallen back..

probably because they didnt pass on the full increace this year? (im guessing)

I dont think people are spending any more than they were last year, just look at the number of people extoling the virtues of SLX. LX was always the stronger/cheeper/heavier cousin to XT, yet the advice was always "XT is all you need".

If prices creep up again, I'd be very supprised if theres not people on here declaring their love for Deore as "cheeper and stronger than SLX for only a slight weight penalty".

I've just put a new groupset on the road bike - I wanted at least Chorus but instead got Veloce. Its obviously not as nice, but the massive difference in price is

Agree. the more rises the more of an opportunity for a new Uk manufacturer...

To see the money that can be made and offer the same pricing as Shinamo etc with better profit margins for themselves....cough uk manufacturers already do this 😉

Price of raw materials is the commonly cited reason at the moment

That might have been true 12 months ago, but as the recession has reduced demand on commodities, prices have collapsed. Probably more a case that sales volume has fallen off dramatically so pricing has had to increase to maintain at least some revenue.

I too have recently fitted a Middleburn crankset at what now appears to be good comparative value... Always wanted RS8s on my Ti hardtail, but when I first built it up in 2004 the differential between Middleburn and XT was huge.

We buy lots of [non biking]kit in from the US, Europe & Far East

Pretty much everything is down in price or - at least - no increase from last year

No I think it's just that prices have been held low for a long time, and now they're going up in one massive go.

In 1999 an XTR chainset and bottom bracket cost £325. In 2008 it cost £260. Not that many other things have decreased in price over the same period. Agree it's harder to swallow than 5% year on year increases, but it's not that surprising!

njee, I hear where you are coming from. The cited reason for the increase was the Yen to the £. Nothing to do with a shot-gun style pricing strategy!!

bedroom economics isnt like the real world...

Just remember most distributors will fix their currency for 6-18 months ahead, so you will be paying for a pood £ for months to come.

Also aluminium suppliers will still be selling on their expensive stock, there is a long lag for things to catch up. Give it 18 months or so!

[i]Its not carbon, nor is it especially ground-breaking or ultra ultra light over whats available now. Its USP is 'you can do away with a third ring' WOW!..[/i]

Eh? The groupset I rode had plenty of carbon and magnesium parts to drop weight. Do some research before posting.

[i]I think its an exercise to see how much amateur riders will spend. How you can price your goods in the future when compared to demand for such goods TBH. [/i]

It's not aimed at amateur riders though, it's a top level groupset.

The cassette takes nine hours to machine, it's not going to be cheap is it.

just to throw into the mix, commodities are rising again, so don't expect prices to come down much from that score. There may be some movement on currencies but that'll be about it.

These price hikes only shaft the LBS who has to buy stuff through official channels.

At the beginning of the year you couldn't buy a 20mm U-Turn Rev for less than £600 (I think the RRP is £699), I know as I tried to get hold of one. It appears that they couldn't sell them at those stupid prices and they are now being offered to the internet big boys at a massive discount.

An LBS who buys their stock of Rock Shox through Fishers will have to pay at least £420 for a Rev with a RRP of £699.

You can buy them online for £450.

jim the saint, ah. I see exactly what you mean. That isnt good news at all 🙁

Dave, do you think with the carbon-content it offers value for money? Or the additional semi-exotic material helps justify the planned price point?

Hora,

are you on drugs?

If only it were that simple, Dave.

Hora, it's a groupset designed for the best performance that they reckon they can get with little consideration for cost (eg the 9hrs machining for the cassette).

If it's successful, no doubt similar setups will become available at X9 and lower levels to avoid pricing you specifically out of the market. Or are you suggesting that they should only market to a level that you specifically can reasonably afford to pay?

Numpty 🙄

9hrs machining for the cassette

Pre-production, maybe. I honestly don't believe production would run that slow. Where do they source their manufacturing/capital goods from, the 18th century?

You'd be surprised. I work at a company that does some complex machinining and fine stuff like that with lots of different cuts necessary (angles, tools, etc)takes ages...

But of course, Hora, you're probably an expert on industrial machining and can tell SRAM how long it should really take... 🙄

I could understood if it was hewn out of a solid block of aluminum.

You are taking the p!ss now, aren't you...

With X-Dome, eight of the cogs are CNC-machined together out of a single block of billet steel

You know what they say about arguing with idiots...