biggest rip off bike parts…

Came across this today…battery cover

£27 quid for a battery cover…you’d have thought that if you’d have spent over a grand on one of their cranks they would have the good grace to not completely rip the piss when it comes to spares.

So what other examples of utter greed from bike manufactures are there out there?

Ouch!

TRiathln aero kit. Water bottles etc. Complete rip off

Power meters in general – £600 for a couple of strain gauges and a circuit board in a box plus some software

It’s not so much the makers, it’s the distributors who double the price of everything by moving a box from one place to another.

Camelbak 3L bladders , 30 quid , seriously ?

camel back spare mouth valves £5.99 😯

Power meters in general – £600 for a couple of strain gauges and a circuit board in a box plus some software

It’s not so much the makers, it’s the distributors who double the price of everything by moving a box from one place to another.

It is a precision measuring tool, that you’d want to be perfectly consistent in a whole range of demanding conditions. There’d be a big market for cheap power-meters, so if it can already be done on the cheap while maintaining reliability, someone would have done it. They’ll definitely get cheaper though.

Yeah – all Camelback bladder spares are a total rip-off. Who are they trying to kid?

Expensive stuff in expensive spares shocker. The way of the world. If you can afford a £1K crank…

IMO most stuff above deore.

Mech hangers

Power meters in general – £600 for a couple of strain gauges and a circuit board in a box plus some software

Have you ever worked with strain gauges? Know anything about the surface preparation, glues and waterproofing to make them durable and reliable long term? I’m guessing not.

A good, small, fatigue rated loadcell is at least £500. So buying one of them, ready calibrated including telemetry (because they are on a spinning thing) and logging gear for £600 sounds a bargain!

1×11 powerlinks. From less than £3 to £13 for exactly the same thing depending on what greedy outlet want to sell it to you

“SRAM Quarq Battery Cover for Red/Elsa/Riken is a genuine replacement part.”

There’s the problem.

Some SRAM parts RRP can be crazy prices. Though often heavily discounted online. Guess though here it’s fancy expensive non essential kit so going to hold price. It’s almost like they “saw you coming” 😛

To be honest, ANYTHING Road Bike related,

I’ve dug out an old CX bike from 5 years ago and stuck some sensible road tyres on it, I’ve been out ONCE in 2 Months on the MTB so the majority, 95% of biking so far this winter has been done on the road.

Imagine my surprise when i ventured on to a website the other day and saw how much they charge for these LYCRA Tops, WTF ! Not just the tops, shorts, shoes, jackets, helmets, the list is endless and massively overpriced,
I know you can get cheaper alternatives from Lidl, Decathlon etc but i do like to splash out on my Hobby so when i saw these prices i pulled out my old Endura Thermal bib longs my singletrack shorts and a few base layers and set off out into the rain.

So ANYTHING road bike related, it just seems more expensive than MTB Kit.

Endura stuff seems to be rarely drop in price for the popular stuff. It’s like some sort of price fixing is going on. It’s when online prices are fairly much the same as LBS prices that makes me wonder 😉

To be honest, ANYTHING Road Bike related,

You have to bear in MIND, that road kit lasts a lot longer than MOUNTAIN BIKE stuff, so it usually ends up better VALUE in the long run.

(Am I getting the random caps lock right?)

I dont mind paying for ENDURA clobber, and i quite like the fact that the maker who is the supplier caps the prices at that so theres no skull duggery going on, it makes things fair all round,

Hang on. Just writing a list of these with this pencil I just bought for £20 – http://hiutdenim.co.uk/products/tri-conderoga

camel back spare mouth valves £5.99

Do I remember rightly that there used to be 2 spare valves in the packet? It’s big enough for 2 or 3!

Chain devices in general.

irvb – Member
Hang on. Just writing a list of these with this pencil I just bought for £20 – http://hiutdenim.co.uk/products/tri-conderoga

DAFUQ?

Artisan-craft-bullshit-shark-jumping pencils. Whatever next?

[quoteHave you ever worked with strain gauges? Know anything about the surface preparation, glues and waterproofing to make them durable and reliable long term? I’m guessing not.

A good, small, fatigue rated loadcell is at least £500. So buying one of them, ready calibrated including telemetry (because they are on a spinning thing) and logging gear for £600 sounds a bargain![/quote]

Yes, about 20 years ago for firefighting equipment – had to withstand temperatures from -40 to +200, totally waterproof and survive being run-over by a truck!

Chain guides

The Reverb remote button replacement kit.
Shit design, predatory pricing.

So ANYTHING road bike related, it just seems more expensive than MTB Kit.

Forks

RS going from dual air which was free to adjust travel to solo air which means spending £80 on a new air shaft…

Suspension oil/brake fluid

Cleats (when you can buy cleats for £15 and new M540 pedals which include cleats for £28!).

Anything from Sram…prices are eye watering…particularly their drivetrain bits. Plenty online places do discounts but even with those it is still a rip off.

Everything then!

Hang on. Just writing a list of these with this pencil I just bought for £20 – http://hiutdenim.co.uk/products/tri-conderoga

Marketing blurb even claims that’s it got a soft touch finish.

agree on cleats!

oe bearings is always a good money spinner

When it comes to odds and sods type spare parts Shimano make every other manufacturer look like a bandit. I seem to recall paying £25 for a seal kit for my useless old Juicy brakes a few years ago, about what Shim charge for a replacement Caliper with pads.

The price of top-end wheelsets always makes my eyes water

I don’t think forks are too overpriced once you’ve seen how complex they are inside- multi valve/circuit damping etc.

I agree re chainlinks, they get exponentially more expensive as you go from 9 to 10 to 11 speed and it’s obviously a tax on early adopters and disposable income.

Some stuff is incredibly well priced though- think about the complexity of an slx clutch mech that you can pick up for £35 and works for 2000 miles in UK conditions.

How about some ceramic bearings for €715?

http://www.ceramicspeed.com/sport/products/WheelKits/product/CSWK0401010/DT-Swiss-1-Coated

Probably power links – compared to the other 90odd other links you get in a chain.

However – as said above compared to road bike parts – almost £500 for a Campagnolo electric shifting replacement battery?

I don’t think forks are too overpriced once you’ve seen how complex they are inside- multi valve/circuit damping etc.

Some are quite reasonably priced by the time online retailers get hold of them – Rock Shox in particular.

You can’t get a top end Fox 36 under £800 though, and going on past experience I’d expect the lower tier models to be rubbish anyway.

Good job RS make such good forks really.

Fox evolution spec forks and shocks are incredibly basic and undoubtedly overpriced. The factory spec stuff is very good though.

Xfusion forks are still the sweet spot for price/performance imo

Camelback cleaning tablets. £8.50 for 8 from CRC.
Miltons sterilising tabs, £1.25 for 28 from Tescos…

Energy drink mix, energy bars etc

Endura are EXTREMELY picky about who they sell to, that’s how they keep prices relatively high. I wouldn’t mind if the quality was consistent and the sizing wasn’t all over the place………

Those trendy little arse saver mudguards. Seen them for 12 quid!
As I bought one from Planet X for 99p ( and I bet they made on that deal) I do feel that the price of many of them is a touch OTT.
I must be honest though and admit complete admiration for anyone who can get gullible idiots to part with lots of money for some thing that cost bugger all.
I wish I could.
Really though , no such things as rip off as you don’t have to buy them.