MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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I came across point one racing parts recently and it got me thinking. Is there any price (sort of within reason) that people wont pay for bike bits?
In many ways, there is no doubt a high price tag makes thing seem more desirable, more exclusive.
I am not dismissing anyone who spends a fortune on shiny bike bits - I would if I could. FOR SURE. But I wonder, if I found some clever engineer....and I collaborated with him to develop a super stiff and robust stem that weighed 50 grams....but cost say £300, would people buy it? Ignoring economies of scale and practicalities etc etc
I cant help but think about those arantix frames, 7k were they?
By the way let me just state clearly, I am not ridiculing anyone for spending money on something they love. Nor do I want to inspire anyone else too. I'm just museing (sp) and curious to hear others thoughts on the issue.
marketing costs money but marketing makes people buy stuff.
some people think that cos still equates to quality.
i'm a tight Yorkshireman, I'll not pay over the odds for owt
hope headset costs £55 and weighs 105g
how about saving 27g for an extra £45 - [url= http://www.balfa.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=33_31_38&products_id=151 ]acros[/url]
ok so how about saving another 8g on top of that for an extra £300 [url= http://www.balfa.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=33_31_38&products_id=179 ]acros ceramic[/url]
thats right thats a £400 headset!
They brought out yumeya for a reason. There must be a lot of muppets out there with more money than sense.
I don't think there is.
There are many many bike parts that are way too expensive for their function, but people still buy them. You can easily justify higher prices for things based on material costs, quailty of manufacture, production volumes, etc., but you can't justify the requirement to buy them.
Personally, even if I had the money to buy uber-bling, I wouldn't.
I still use Vs, and I'd love a set of [url= http://clee-cycles.co.uk/cc/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/21_73/products_id/127?osCsid=6686219f4c7ef5a7de6f7568c1be628f ]these[/url] - but £335 for v-brakes? I just can't bring myself to do it.
Until you get really ridiculous*, you'll get some people paying silly money for things, it's just that the size of your market will be rather limited. You'd get resonable, but not vast numbers buying a £300 50g stem I reckon (provided it was strong enough).
*you'd have to get extremely ridiculous to get rid of the last few.
Plenty of takers for those KCNC calipers over at weight weenies.
ok so how about saving another 8g on top of that for an extra £300 acros ceramic
Fairly pointless when you can [url= http://www.extralite.com/add.cfm?ID=49 ]save ~£300 and another 8g![/url]
I find it interesting that most world class XC pros tend to use fairly common items, XTR,etc, you see a fair few thomson stems and seatposts which whilst are excellant kit aren't the lightest.
Maybe at the highest level attention is better paid to the cyclist rather than the bike.
There's not that much Thomson stuff used by world cup XC racers! Sabine Spitz who won at Beijing did so on a 16lb Ghost Carbon hardtail. Christophe Sausers Epic is c18.5lbs. Plenty of attention is paid, and most of them have crazy parts we couldn't buy if we wanted to!
AX-Lightness did a 50g stem, which cost about £600, not many people bought them, but some idiots did!
There'll always been someone who buys stuff like that. For me, as much as I like light kit, you can go too far, it's gotta work, and I've gotta trust it!
It's all relative to how much coin you've got - there are no limits as far as I'm concerned. Is anyone telling me that if they won £80 million or so on the Euromillions that they wouldn't have the £400 headset just for kicks?
Of course you would.... 😉
I'm happy with a thomson post and stem, hope seat clamp and hubs and an XT chainset for my 'bling'
p.s. I don;t have £80 million and I wouldn't (as it stands) spend £400 on a headset in a million years.....or until I can afford it.
I see no point in having full ceramic bearings in a headset. Hubs and bottom bracket yes! In fact I'm trying to justify some for my Epic at the moment, $150 a bearing...
lightweight have a rear mech which is £800
I know I said I wouldn't ridicule anyone for splashing out on fancy bike bits, but if you met someone on the trail who'd just twunted an £800 mech......well you would laugh wouldn't you??
Couple of guys on Weight Weenies have them, by all accounts the shifting's awful! You can Dremel a Dura Ace one and end up with something lighter which works far better for 1/10th the price too!
Depends if the goods offer value for money. Some people will and do pay more than others. Whatever floats ya boat as all these things are relative. I may spend more than others but not as much as some, on saying that my salary and spare funds are more than some but not as much as others.
Njee20 - dont bother. Buy hubs with the full ceramic bearings in already. You cant simply press them in as if the tollerances are even slightly out, you'll shatter the bearing into a million pieces. There are also different grades of Ceramic out there.
Acros make their Hybrid Ceramic bearings in house but their Full Ceramic bearings are made elsewhere in Germany. Im pretty sure they are one of, if not the only people who make Full Ceramic hubs off the shelf. Super light but at approx £1200-£1300 for a set, they arent cheap. They do spin fantastically though!!
I have the regular Ceramic Hybrid headset in my bike & its fantastic. We do also have the £400 Acros Ceramic Ultimate headset in stock & they do sell. Not very often but they do sell.
J
I don't think I'd spend if I could. I tend to buy a product that's within my ability price range?
I could'nt handle the fact that all the $$$$$$ would'nt make me any better.
That said I do want a nice Colnago road bike soon, but I'm very concious about pootling around on one, I even feel embarassed overtaking a nice road bike when I'm only on a cheapy.