For me it went from cheap to serious money when I could afford to without it affecting other aspects of my life.

Thinking about it I’ve always spent about the same amount when related to my disposable income. I did make a concious decision to not spend as much as we could have done when buying a house (and cars come to think of it) to make sure I had enough money to fund my cycling addiction, habit, hobby.

For the rest of us, I don’t see much difference in a 2007 standard Stumpy compared to a 2015 Stumpy.

😆

Of course various arguments around this but can you think of any 2k bike back TEN years ago that was as good value/good as a YT ten years later?

from a Orange Ad 2004 MBUK, Shimano Prices earlier

Ahhhhh, the days when CRC was a 6 page advert in MBUK with tiny print rather than a website 🙂

Ahhhhh, the days when CRC was a 6 page advert in MBUK with tiny print rather than a website

you and future publishing both I expect.

Full Page CRC from 1996

Its always been expensive for me as a teen i had a Raleigh mustang and dreamed of a 500 quid marin on my paper money. By the time i joined the army and had some money they had gone up so were still expensive compared to what i had. Then i worked for a telecoms company and had more money but they had gone up again 🙁 its all relative

But now im in the fire service and the money has gone down and the bikes are still rising so its now pants for me 🙁

The first time was in 1998 when I got promoted at work and spent my first month’s wages on a Kona Hei Hei frame (£1500 then).

The second time will be when I eventually replace that frame as I can’t get non-tapered forks for it and someone has decided that we can’t live without a slightly bigger wheel (industry d#cks).

At about 12 (i’m 31 now) me and a few mates use to spend pocket money on things like pedals and grips for our £120 MTB’s. We use to buy MBR and MBUK wishing we could ride expensive bikes.

There was a local event with Richard Johnson performing on a trials show. That got us hooked and all our time went into learning how to bunny hop, wheelie and track stand. We were so grateful for what we had that we didn’t care about riding heavy steel rigid bikes. I rode the same MTB (I think it was a Raleigh Nexus..) for about 2 years while my mates kept switching between MTB and BMX. I got fed up when they all started to smoke in the local woods and they didn’t want to ride much so I started riding with a new friend from school.

We stumbled across a local XC race hosted by the local club and started to ride with them on weekends. I tried to get my old mates to come along but they just wanted to smoke and moan about their rusted bikes that they stopped looking after. I was about 14 at this point and saved up with added xmas and birthday money to buy a Saracen Dirt Trax. Not great but at 14 I loved it! Did loads of local races and cherished it.

At 15 i did work experience in a LSB and ended up working there part time. In 1998 I bought a Scott Comp Racing which was mostly LX/XT, Judy C forks, LX V brakes. Raced on that for a few years. Uni then work took over and I didn’t have time to ride. My parents wanted me to sell my bikes but I kept telling them one day I’ll have a garage and house to put them in and won’t be working weekends anymore.

Several years of stress and hard work later I have a decent job, a house and garage, a nice new Whyte T-130 SCR to ride, and a GF who also rides and doesn’t mind me spending ££££ on bikes.

I really do feel so grateful for what I have. 😀

I don’t remember it ever being cheap.

All the top end kit was and still is out of my budget.

Late 80’s frames started to use better materials and spent £500 pocket money/newspaper round savings on a 5** Reynolds steel frame and sti trigger shifters LX something?

Then mid 90’s bought a steel bike with shocks 25mm of travel! £800

2001 bought a £2500 full xtr Zaskar.

2006 carbon frame mtb £1500.

Just bought a carbon road bike £1000 and alloy £2000.

Mountain biking isn’t expensive, “#Lifestyle MTBing” is.
People seem more caught up in the idea that the kit you buy, your “expectations” of the brand and “Level” of the kit you “Have to have” to take part in are some sort of reflection of your involvement and ability on a bike than they used to be IMO…
Take the humble old rear mech, here’s a bunch all available to buy right now:

RD-M4000 Alivio 9-spd Shadow Design Rear Derailleur – list price £36.99

XT M772 Shadow 9 Speed Rear Derailleur – list price £59.99

Deore M615 Shadow+ 10 Speed Rear Mech – list price £49.99

M786 Shadow+ 10 Speed Rear Mech – list price £69.99

XTR M9000 Shadow Plus Rear Derailleur – List Price £149.99

Of course all of these can be obtained for substantial discounts over their list prices (you would have to be mental to pay more than £35 for a Rear mech really wouldn’t you?) but lets imagine everyone buys them them at their list prices for the minute.

How many STWists would be caught dead using the Alivo or Deore jobs above? (I’ll own up to using an M615) Functionally they each have their XT equivalents up there for ~ 2x the price, other than saving some grams do 99% of rider’s really benefit from the XT parts the Have to buy?
And then there’s the XTR, again double the money (Admittedly with an extra click), again the genuine benefit is there only really for a small percentage of a percentage but it’s lusted after by IT managers all over the world…

Extend that way of thinking to every element of MTBing and you create the perception of it being and “Expensive” hobby

of course MTBing need not be expensive, and doing it “On the cheap” doesn’t have to be unrewarding either but the version of it that many people seem to get drawn into now does seem rather caught up with expenditure and odd perceptions of “Value”.

Personally I quite like teasing more from less, so I’ll buy cheap kit and “Make do and Mend” rather than spunk £2k every 18 months to have a fancy bollocks trail-mince-tastic danyhorse, YMMV and that’s fair enough, but complaining that you Have to spend more on something that’s an entirely discretionary purchase is a bit ridiculous TBH…

I gave up the arms race around 2006

no need for expense to have fun

cookeaa – Member

How many STWists would be caught dead using the Alivo or Deore jobs above? (I’ll own up to using an M615) Functionally they each have their XT equivalents up there for ~ 2x the price, other than saving some grams do 99% of rider’s really benefit from the XT parts the Have to buy?

Not alivio, no clutch- definitely worth having. Deore is good though. I get XT, because the jockey wheels last better and they seem generally tougher, over time that’ll most likely pay for itself.

IIRC theres something in the pivots of XT that makes it last longer before going sloppy.

But having said that, with even a moderate level of gnarr I break mechs long before they wear out so stick with SLX/ZEE.

My last build was full deore northwind silly not to spec it at the money its going for these days

I’ve been kind of amazed by how tough XT is now tbh, mine are all absolutely battered and I think they’ve all been in a wheel at least once, but still going well. It used to be, cheaper stuff had more metal in so often would be stronger but I think now cheaper Shimano has a bit of the monkey metal about it.

(the one on my XC bike has the sort of gouges in it that I associate with Saint. I had to batter the cage flat once but it still goes)

My 2002 XTR mech lasted until 18months ago. Amazed me

for all those historic bargains just see what they would cost now
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/Pages/resources/inflationtools/calculator/flash/default.aspx
I assume everyone earns more than they did back in the 90’s?

Hora’s point on distributions/direct sales falls down when you get a bit out of the EU, Canyon/Rose won’t ship down here to Oz, YT only just started. I’d certainly avoid an EU based direct model here as any issues would take weeks and cost a lot to sort out. I like having a distributor nearby. Also once you actually apply the taxes and duties to the US bargain/UK rip off situation you see that it’s the government taking the big share no the distributor.

It was when I spent a summer working (I must have been about 14) and bought brakes (Magura Frogs), Club Roost handlebars, a Flite saddle and an LX crank. I peaked around 15 years old when my bikes were full XTR and now see SLX / XT as all I need and I’d rather spend my money on holidays, family things.

It’s as I have more disposable income, I’ve settled down a bit and laugh at the idea of XTR.

threads turned into some inverse snobbery bollocks

Best not mention my titanium fat bike then .lol

Or my shand stoater rohloff i have on order 😉

And I’ve got Di2 XTR 😆

It keeps getting more expensive for me, every bike I buy is more expensive than the last (I have only bought 3 mountain bikes since 1999 though). Currently debating whether I need the stupidly expensive XTR race brakes I want or should go with the ‘more’ sensible XT brakes. It is my hobby though and I don’t have any other expensive ones (never really got into ‘hookers and blow’ or cars or boats, and heavy nights out at the pub are long past.

I spend £1000 per year maintaining my full suspension bike. I don’t do hardly any of the maintenance myself. The UK Winter and mud just wrecks bikes. Thats why its expensive.

grannyjone – Member

I spend £1000 per year maintaining my full suspension bike. I don’t do hardly any of the maintenance myself. The UK Winter and mud just wrecks bikes. Thats why its expensive.

Impressive. I probably pay 1/10th of that.

What does the £1000 buy you ?

Suspension clean and oil change (front and rear) every 50 hrs, full suspension service every 200 hrs. Wheel bearings, headset bearings and bottom bracket bearings about twice per year. Pivot maintenance. Brake pads, brake bleeding if required. Full service twice per year. Drive train replacements. Repairing odd things that break on rides. Labour costs for all this.

I’m thinking of getting a hard tail for Winter use to cut back on the maintenance costs of running a full suspension bike all year round.

Wheel bearings, headset bearings and bottom bracket bearings about twice per year.

I’m a bit shocked, what are you dragging the bike through? Are you replacing with cheap bearings with no seals? My hope gear all lasted much better than that in some fairly grim UK conditions.

I spend £1000 per year maintaining my full suspension bike. I don’t do hardly any of the maintenance myself. The UK Winter and mud just wrecks bikes. Thats why its expensive.

You sound like the sort of customer bike shops crave.

I remember the day it went from cheap fun to serious money for me. No, not the day I bought my first Marin Palisades with luminous yellow forks for £350, that was an affordable day.
The day it went from cheap to “serious money” was two months later. My friend had his Ridgeback stolen and with the insurance money we went to Stif. This was in their old shop tucked round the back in Otley Road. Once DT had shown my mate the Orange Prestige with full XT and fat Alu forks, biking was never cheap for many years afterwards.

grannyjone – Member
Suspension clean and oil change (front and rear) every 50 hrs, full suspension service every 200 hrs. Wheel bearings, headset bearings and bottom bracket bearings about twice per year. Pivot maintenance. Brake pads, brake bleeding if required. Full service twice per year. Drive train replacements. Repairing odd things that break on rides. Labour costs for all this.

😯 wow, that’s a lot of work to pay labour for. More than I pay a year in car servicing, none of which I do myself !

Bike stuff I tend to take on most things except suspension, which goes to TF once a year, so I guess maybe £300 between the 2 MTB’s, plus wear and tear replacement stuff

I think we had a post like this a while back but I don’t think MTB’s need to cost serious money.

With the internet and places like Pauls cycles, you can pick up a very reasonable bike for 5 or 600, even if you do nothing but clean and lube the chain and change the pads, you should get 18 months to 2 years out if it with regular use. Assuming you don’t sell it and sling it in a skip after 18 months, that’s still only £30 odd a month for transport, fitness and a hobby.

There are also some very good second hand bikes around for reasonable money if you look in the right places.

Maintenance doesn’t need to cost the earth either, you can buy parts cheaply enough on CRC/Wiggle/Merlin etc and with youtube vids and help on t’internet, most people can keep a bike running.

Saying all that, there are plenty of expensive things if you can convince yourself that you need them.

I can see it costing that much if you want to keep the bike feeling on point all year round.

I’ve got tyres on my hardtail that have been through the mill and would probably need to be replaced. They’ll just go on the SS when they’re no good. Some people may just want new tyres.

Seeing suspension service costs about £150 a pop it’s quite easy to spend £1k a year on maintenance if you stick to the service intervals and are fastidious about fluid replacement and whatnot. No need to give the guy a hard time about it. I know people who spend a few grand a year on nights out/the pub year round. Given the choice between shop servicing or nights on the urine I know which I’d prefer!

I personally think the lower end of the market offers less now in terms of complete bikes. I remember teh top end Rockhopper around 08/9 being good value for money with Rockshox fors, Juicy brakes etc. The newer ones are much lower spec in terms of shifters, mechs etc.

Forks seem ridiculously bad value for money these days – I remember that starting in 2005 with the release of the 36. Up until then £500 or so would get you top end forks. As soon as people started buying them everyone else got on the bandwagon.

On the flip side, the likes of Deore and Zee offer really good components for sensible money – even more so from CRC et al. The second hand market is good too and I ahve picked up some much higher spec stuff than I’d normally pay for very lottle.

I do find myself shopping around more than I did when I just coughed up RRP for mechs etc.

My first proper bike was a steel Rockhopper bought in ’97 having saved up my paper round wages / Christmas money. It didn’t last long after some a-hole mugged me for it in Burnham Beeches. The replacement was a Kona Koa (rigid) again. Bikes did get better value after these but have now slipped back (IMO – with 400/500 getting Acera shifters etc).