[Closed] down turn in bikes sales and spares

Who is Kyle Strait?

Well that proves he's living in the past.

Hora, whilst you've decided to relax, some of us have decided to have different goals. Different strokes etc... Don't knock it, its a choice for everyone and we're all free to make that choice...

Anyway I'm off to place an order for a gopping bike that matches the colour of my helmet and glasses at least, and is described by several vomit inducing buzzwords.

ttfn

Also many of we older riders may be alienated by the dog straining for a crap cybercreased fugly monstrousites which pass for frames these days. Having your bike covered in lurid, in your face garish decals may appeal to a certain demographic but it I find it a turn off.

It'll soon date.

hora - Member
It'll soon date.

An excellent excuse to buy a new bike then, and if not, there's plenty that spray frames.

At what point do we stop buying into '2015 brings you the best bike yet'.

I'd be disappointed if 2015 didn't bring the best bikes yet. I can't think of a year in which bike technology as a whole went backwards even if blips like flippy shifters sometimes give that impression.

there's plenty that spray frames.

Carbon may be a bit tricky for the average paintshop under the arches.

Still- my alu Butcher is going signal yellow next week 😀

Hmm. It's not too bad in my workshop. Sure, October has been quiet, but that's seasonal, and it looks like I'll smash last Octobers workshop figures by quite some margin.
I'd hit last years workshop figures before the end of last month, so I'm happy.

this year Autumn/winter happened suddenly from a long settled dry warm period, well it did in Yorkshire. speaking to other high street traders around town, the bottom suddenly dropped out of high street shopping on Monday 6 October when it suddenly changed to cold wet and windy and hasn't really recovered 2 weeks later. Someone just turned the light switch off on a good long summer

650b is as here to stay as anything is in this industry. Which isn't reassuring, because that was true of 26 inch 2 years ago. So what that basically means is there's no reason to specifically doubt that 650b will stay, but that absolutely everything on your bike is now fair game and might suddenly be obsolete tomorrow.

So don't not buy a bike because it's 650b. But also don't trust the bike industry, because it absolutely will **** you for a dollar and your £5000 bike might be old hat 1 minute after you buy it, for no good reason at all.

scotroutes - Member

Who is Kyle Strait?

Renowned maker of kneepads.

Another not buying a bike for a while.

The arrogance of 650b and the price of new kit has put me off buying a new bike - the introduction of road discs will lead to new standards and I just can't be arsed with it all.

It's put me off the bike media too, tbh.
It was a fait accompli, I understand that.
But not one negative article about 650B in the mainstream media?
Not one acknowledgement of the pointlessness and arrogance of it all?

So I don't read any of it these days, STW aside.

I'll stick with the current stuff until I can't get the bits and then either do something else or buy secondhand.

[quote=Northwind ]

scotroutes - Member
Who is Kyle Strait?

Who can afford to buy and change bikes every year?

The wheel size thing has p****d me off as well, and will probably delay me buying a new MTB.

I'm sure 650B and 29" are both here to stay, the industry has invested far too much in them to suddenly do a U-turn and go back to 26".

However as I've invested quite a lot in upgrading my MTB, I may well investigate the idea of building a new one, rather than buying whole.

With regard to road bikes - I bought a MY14 Giant Defy 1 a few months back, which I really like.
However the same applies to road bikes - I'll not replace it until the situation with disc brakes sorts itself out.

The wheel size thing has put me off the idea of buying bikes or looking at reviews.

The industry gets what it deserves. Sorry.

the reason I'm contributing to lack of 26" sales is NOT because I don't want 26, and about to buy 650b. It's because I'm sitting waiting for the industry to sort itself out. So the industry better think again whenever they use the words "sales of 26 have plunged" as a sales pitch trying to promote 650b.

I don't want to buy 650b or 29, because it's 650b/29. But in 2-3 years time I may buy whatever is the standard.

In the mean time, I'll keep riding what I have. And the last bike I bought was intended to be a bike for life.

If the "industry" has shot itself in the foot being greedy, then that's not my problem.

Just because a 'standard' has bern introduced, there is no guarantee of it sticking. Who remembers 1¼ headsets?

Wheelsize thing, which also contributed to cancelling of mags.

The wheel size thing has put me off the idea of buying bikes or looking at reviews.

The industry gets what it deserves. Sorry.

Plus 1.

PS, add forks,headsets stems+bars, 9+10+11, and even before that I had a problem with the extensive variety of mech hangers that seemed totally over the top.

My options now seem to be stick or twist(new bike) - which I might have done if I was young and trendy[and was prepared to do same for gf so eases carrying tubes/spares etc] - I'm neither, I started mtb on a 7 speed and am happily bimbling around on a 2005ish Orange 5, me and the gf have 4 'old standard' bikes, with a fair level of spares interchangeability etc, given our ages we'll (*hopefully) be finishing our careers on 'old standard bikes' and I've stockpiled accordingly.

The Orange was bought new(*admittedly at bargain price) but the discs were to me a quantum change (worked better, much less maintenance and no hideous screeecwrecchhhhh either on muddy days) and the suspension was much more advanced (I went from elastomer and underdamped coil) - bar sizes and wheelsizes don't (imho) give anything like that level of gain.

+1for disc brakes and suspension being game changers in their day. The very fact that there is still a wheel size debate still running suggests to me that the new wheels sizes , whichever one you choose, are not game changers. It they were our trendy freinds with new bikes would be at the top of hills waiting whilst us old schoollers were still puffing up the hill. I dont see that out on the trails.

I also think that those of us who have been around for a while have got sceptical of the big bike brands marketing hype. To me when i read the mags and corporste webs sites I hear the following.... you know that bike we sold you a few years ago that was the best bike you were ever going to get..... well weve decided it wasnt that great after all and now we want to tell you about this new wonder bike that reinvents every detail of the old bike.

Change for change sake. Did the old octalink bb ever have anything wrong with it. Lasted forever, stiff in a real world sense (not lab test stiff) and silent running.

There's nothing wrong with square taper BBs.

I hate his thread. I haven't ordered my new bike because of it.

All I wanted was a better platform on the rear end and something faster than my Yeti that's the right size. And now you all talk as though it'll be the wrong bike again soon. And if I buy it, who's going to buy my yeti bike or frame? Two outdated bikes in 12 months and a shed full of tied in cash.

Boo. 🙁

Which makes me think I should keep my yeti and pile of 26 spares for the fun days out and go and buy a £1500 anthem 29er for endurance events.

Why would anyone want to buy your Yeti if it's not good enough for you?

It is good enough for me. It's lacking a platform back end and the (marketed?) capability of bigger wheels for speed over long distance. Hence my second post.

Hence, by buying the Anthem I'm effectively throwing the Yeti in the bin. Why not buy the 29" anthem for e long days and nights out and use the yeti for the fun times?

Sounds like a first world problem, head turned by marketing bs, mid-life crisis.

Keep your bike; ride it and enjoy it.

Good advice methinks.

Was discussig thi and agreed that actual suspension and actual brake smade a difference
the kille ris My Ornage 5 is pretty much like every other Orange 5 ever made in 26 flavour

10 or 11 gears is not any reall difference over what i have it is just spread differently
If they want to get me to spend 4k on a bike they need to make what I own obsolete as I am not doing it to get 11 gears. That is what they are trying to do in some cases it is working in some ways it is not. They need to persuade those of us daft enough to spend 4 k on a bile to do it. Wheel size is there new way
IMHO they will have to accept they will need to service all standards. Fork choice is not great but i guess i will make do with some 650 b if I need to change.

Whatever you buy is going to be Superseded....

I really wouldn't worry about it...just buy ride and enjoy..don't overthink it.

it if you ride it enough you'll wear it out anyway it's only another consumable 🙂

After reading this I see its not just me and the people I ride with who had stopped buying since wheelgate. All that crap just gave me the hump and now im not buying anything unless something brakes.

I would have been in the market for a frame change by now but you know what bollox to them. I would need new wheels and a set of forks and that's not happening.

Even though I can afford it I don't want to, and now im not buying anything bike related and plenty of others feel the same.

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I opened my shop at the beginning of summer, was rather busy but tailed off towards the end of the holidays and when the kids went back to school. Sales however haven't been stellar compared with industry benchmarks but despite new bikes coming out, most sales will be prior to the spring.

Blimey! A dyslexic stonemason; he can't get much business...

I would never have guessed you were homophonic.

Two outdated bikes in 12 months

I only got back into MTB-ing a few years ago. I didn't and in fact still don't really know about all the standards. What I do know, is it's confusing and alienating for people getting into it, or trying to get into it. The cost of everything in the industry is way OTT. I can't begin to imagine ever spending thousands on a mountain bike. I could never justify that to myself unless I was seriously minted. Even then, the mark up and profit is at greedy levels which annoys me.

The wheel size thing is a genuine frustration for many, myself included. Nobody wants to be left holding an out of date standard that nobody will buy and that becomes worthless. It doesn't mean they become a bad bike overnight, no, nobody is saying that. It's that as consumers, if we are left holding on to older standards, we get hit with lack of availability, higher prices and lack of development and innovation. We buy new tech and we get hit with more price premiums that are simply unaffordable, and it's too much of an expense to gamble as to which ones remain supported and backed by "the industry". Then the cycle starts again...

For me there is too much greed. What justification is there for some components to cost what they do? A single piece of machined aluminium with a logo on that takes 1 minute to make...that'll be £175 please.

ohnohesback - Member

Sounds like a first world problem, head turned by marketing bs

Said this before but it actually doesn't seem to be like that... Santa Cruz were one of the first companies to really get into 650b and they've said that they did it because of public pressure- and interestingly, public pressure from people who've never ridden a 650b bike. So sure, they're selling us the emperor's new clothes but it doesn't seem to be marketing or even particularily industry led. At least, not initially.

Not to say there's not a huge amount of marketing bullshit involved. Giant's was genius "That 29er Giant you love? It's AWFUL. Why did you buy that? You moron."

Why were we asking for a bike with a wheel size that did not exist that we had not tried?
IT was BS with them trying to say they were serving us

In all honesty I have never heard anyone demand a new wheel size before the industry started it. I doubt any of us did.

Well these threads do remind me how much STW is a magnet for grumpy old men in rose tinted specs..

"I'll never buy a new bike again after how they treated me"
"it's all just marketing BS to steal my money from me"
"Road's where it's at"
"CX's where is's at"
"Commuting's where it's at"

blah blah blah

Personally like innovation, better ranges of gears, engineering out the front mech, wider bars, innovation from different sources not Road or maybe a bit of XC racing.
Yes 650b has been a right balls up and has stopped the new 26" market but it will pass and we will get over it, in a few years you will still get rubber and rims for 26, forks might be harder but things will space to fit. People will replace what they have because it's old and tired or knackered.
When they do they might get a shock that the 10 year old wonder bike they had could have been improved on.
And while were here whats with the fixation on picking the most expensive version of a bike and declaring they all cost that? Cars don't all cost Ferrari money bikes don't all cost £7k. The modern bike world is providing some real quality at the cheaper end with reliability and spares that were not there historically.
On price the likes of Superstar etc. have kind of turned the component market a bit upside down, simply copying stuff or buying stuff to be branded up with no R&D etc. means they can undercut people. Just means they don't have anything to give back to come up with something new themselves. The French and German sellers in the race to the bottom on pricing will do each other out of business or pressure from the rest of the retail sector will cut off their supply of very cheap parts - would you rather your LBS had access to the parts at those prices?

Mikewsmith, if ever a nail has had its head hit more accurately, lasers must have been used.

Junkyard - lazarus

Why were we asking for a bike with a wheel size that did not exist that we had not tried?

Because we're muppets. Or, well, more specifically the US market are muppets since that's what drove it. 29ers created the interest but people were nervous of such a big change, even now people still say "oh they're cumbersome/can't do corners/only for XC".

So 650b is the option that offers all of the novelty, and much less actual change- perfect. "I want bigger wheels because 26 inch is boring, but I'm worried I'll notice"

better ranges of gears, engineering out the front mech,

NW I do not believe that explanation for one second - I assume you are saying what they say rather than what you think.

Yeah, that's what I do 😆

I've never heard anyone in the industry describe it tthe way I do tbh but it seems pretty clear. If it'd been industry led like most people believe, how is it that most of the industry was caught so much on the hop? None of the biggest manufacturers had a 650b product ready to go.

I am tired and my senses are dulled...... I still cannot tell if it is sarcasm 😳