Has cycling become a bit of a rip-off activity?

Not sure about Carrera because I've not seen anything that looks like its value for my money. If I suddenly found myself in need of a bike I would look at Boardman. Since I've been riding around on on-ones for the last 6 or 7 years does that make me a hype buyer or bargin hunter? Currently got a soul because I fancied a treat and could afford it. Still think its more a case of prices not rising proportionally for a long time. Back to outdoor kit – part of the reason for jackets not going up in price was controling production costs. First moving manufacturing from UK to Eastern Europe and then to the far East. I presume with bike kit moving the point of production helped keep costs down as would improvements in manufacturing technology. Perhaps we've just hit a plateau as no more costs can be cut.

Top end Scott's have always had huge price tags. I think it's part of their marketing strategy TBH. Personally i think you just need to be careful. Prices of somethings have gone up for sure: Forks, drive-trains spring to mind, but look at the quality. SLX is worlds away from stuff even 5 years old.

I once bought 300 inner tubes @1.50 a go. that was 6-7 years ago, I'd love to see the source for that .80p inner tube deal

If you think bikes are a rip-off, stay away from HIFI – far away!

You're not joking. A mate was telling me about a turntable they delivered a few years back – it took 4 of them to lift it into the guys house due to the 'anti-vibration housing'. It cost £23,000 !!!

Tend to agree about the inflated price of high-end kit (forks particularly) but lower down the food chain you can get a bike that rides immeasurably better than the equivalently priced (taking into account inflation) machine of 15 years ago.

RE: hifi …

I think bikes are by and large 'good value'

The manufactures are constantly striving to lower weight, increase travel, and improve 'technologically'. It's a healthily competitive industry wherein -crucially- if your products DON'T perform at their price-point/on the trail – people won't buy them and you'll go bust!

Year-on-year the kit is improving I think we can agree – does your bike perform better than the one you rode 10 years ago? I think yes.

BUT

HIFI is a smug-club of small manufacturers who have largely retreated to the 'high end' – and churn out a steady flow of products that are rarely quantifiably better than cheaper alternatives .. trading on 'perceived value' and 'hand-wound by Japanese master' copper nonsense.

^ A $30 digital amp can have less 2nd harmonic distortion than a $3000 SET valve amp .. but try telling the owners that.

Bikes are good value IMHO.

(I have worked in bike shops for years, always paid 80p-ish plus VAT for tubes – go figure)

I buy 4 for a tenner nickc.

Tyres, brakes, suspension, geometry e.t.c e.t.c. is more than twice as good as it was 10 years ago.

But is it better than 4 years ago when I bought my pikes for £350? Will spending £900 to replace them with some fox forks make me better. Or will it be hardly noticable because all they have done is tweaked there already proven design

3500 for a mid range specialized, you're kidding me right, back in 2006 i paid 1500 for the base enduro, i think the current one is around the same price, its an awesome bike, they also have many other excellent bikes around the 1500 mark, sure you can spend more but you don't have to!

I've gone tubless, haven't bought one in yonks…. 8)

But is it better than 4 years ago when I bought my pikes for £350? Will spending £900 to replace them with some fox forks make me better. Or will it be hardly noticable because all they have done is tweaked there already proven design

Different argument, you can still get pikes or sektor now for about the same price.

Will spending £900 to replace them with some fox forks make me better.
Unlikely. I live far enough down the food chain from £900 forks not to worry about it. But I think the improvement in kit has enabled more riders to push back boundaries and which opens up whats considered possible or even normal for an average MTB to ride. MTBing's evolution is tied in with this process IMHO.

I think one my racing xc hardtails cost £1700 in 2001 only XTR and LX and I thought that was expensive but the full XTR version was £3000.

I had a Cove Stiffee full XT in '03 which set me back £1900
so in ten years I'll be looking at £4 grand? well my wage hasn't gone up by double!

But there are people who earn £300K a year who will buy these bikes.
I won't spend more than 2K on a top for me roadbike.

Getting silly money deffo

To answer the original question: no.

When i started mountainbiking 20 odd years ago a reasonable starter bike was in & around ir£200. For that you got a steel frame, steel forks, 18 gears, cantilever brakes & not a whole lot else. Now forward 20 years. With an extemely vague fag packet calculation of 3% compound interest & throw in a euro conversion to boot & it's about €500, which i suspect is on the low side. For that you'll get an alloy frame, suspension forks, disc brakes, 27 gears & a bike that weighs about half as much. Now granted it won't be a great bike but considering what else has gone into the bike over that period of time for the technological improvements i wouldn't say it's become a rip off activity.

Rock shox mag 20's were £300 when the came out. So spending £500 on a pair of high tech, lightweight, 140mm travel forks now doesn't seem like such bad value in comparison. At least to me.

At the cutting edge of bicycle design the prices have gone up considerably but mostly due to the increased complexity over the period of time. For instance a Klein adroit team was over 2 grand 20 years ago. You could buy an equivalent bike for probably the same amount of money or less now. Only difference is there's more people with more money, so there's more people buying the really expensive stuff which is what makes you more aware of it.

People always like to complain about stuff becoming more expensive but it rarely holds ground above inflation when examined more closely.

Always amused by people who think they are constantly being ripped off and the world is conspiring against them.

Biking is a business and acts like any other business, in fact its nowhere near as organised and profitable as you gyus probably think. Businesses mnaking money is what keeps all of us in work.

Every bike shop owner is now loaded and driving round in a Ferrari and bike companies are making so much money they don't know what to do with it all. Bike shop staff are now earning 6 figure salaries because they're managing to milk gullible cash rich customers so easily 🙄

I'd love an Alfa 8c but can't afford it but I don't go and whinge that its a rip off and crap because I'm too poor to afford it.

There are lots of reasons for increases in prices and they are all genuine economic reasons such as increased raw materials costs, increased labour costs in the far east, unfavourable currency rates etc etc. Bike kit spent years and years getting cheaper and now it's goign bacvk to where it should have been the whole time really as it was only our artificially inflated value of the £ that made it so cheap.

I personally think the Hi-Fi malarky is full of shit. Agree with hearing quality deteriorating plus you need the right acoustics/house environment don't you to an extent.

Lot of good arguments on here for getting a single speed 🙂

The thing that annoys me the most is I have to spend at least £25 in petrol to get to a half decent off-road place as we have nothing good around near me, biggest climbs/descents are about 100m at most 😆 That's not the mtb industries fault though, just East Midlands being shite! Annoys me so much that I'm considering getting a road bike because we have loads of those around.

Hifi is worth the money up to a point. If you can't hear the difference between say a cheap set of creatives and something nice like Mordaunt Shorts etc then you need your ears testing! Or maybe I'm just young enough to hear the difference 😛

Like anything I guess – companies will price what the market/customers are willing to pay.

Some people also believe that if something is perceived as 'cheap' it can't be that good.

Car manufacturers for instance may release certain models then realise that its popular and creep their prices up.

For instance would you pay £10,000 for an Aygo. The car that was cost-engineered right down?

No such thing as a rip off.
If you don't like the prices don't pay easy for anyone with 1 brain cell.
Five quid inner tubes! Serves you right if you pay that , I don't.
Why shouldn't the shop make some money on them if a0 dimwits pay it and b) to some how scrape back the money lost to the big outlets. Good luck to them I say.
I would have thought that in many ways cycling is geting better. A grand gets you a nice carbon 17lb bike from someone like Planet X or Boardman. You wouldn't have got that 10 years ago.
What I hate about the costs of cycling is the build in fragile nature of the bits. It's shite. We don't need to save a few grams. Surely its better to have 6 speeds that last a few years than 9 then last a few months? Must admit to blaming Shimano for this as their kit has become fragile and no backward compliant. And of course everyone follows.
But as I said before, there is no such things as a rip off, just idiots who buy when they don't need to,.

It seems to me that most of the numbers being quoted are pretty close to the actual total inflation rate over the last 10 years or so in the UK(about 30%), so this is the increasein the real cost of goods purchased in a 'virtual shopping basket'.

When you also consider record increases in freight rates, raw materials etc prior to the bubble bursting, and then since the substantial drop in value of the pound the figures sort of add up.

That's not to say that there isn't a lot of marketing nonsense involved, but you can use this to your advantage too. Paying full list for mainstream bikes is nonsense, there are bargains to be had, you just need to ask. Take my LBS, they will discount anything i buy by 10% straight off the bat, thats even before i apply some gentle pressure!

Biking is a business and acts like any other business, in fact its nowhere near as organised and profitable as you gyus probably think. Businesses mnaking money is what keeps all of us in work.

You say that like its a good thing

And yeh, biking is a rip off sport, no doubt about it. Most dont mind paying though cos its a hobby and its good fun. Or they just have too much money and dont know what to do with it.

Prices are also daft now, I remember back in say 98, the top of the range marzocchi z1 was about £495, its now somewhere near £900 i think. The technology is almost exaclty the same.

I usually just buy middle of the range stuff cheap off the classifieds and make it last rather than replacing it every other week. Therefore biking doesnt cost me much at all.

However, if your a dead brained over consumer who loves the latest shiney parts then i can see why your annoyed at prices

i was going to reply but that will have to wait tomorrow… I am off riding angela 450 kms of mountain roads. 7-8 cols 😉

TTFN

P.S no one forces you to buy high end top bikes.

i am currently using a bike that cost me £600ish
it is ace.

Yes Ton, but how much does your bike armada total? 😆

I actually think frames are value for money if you keep them for a good few years, whichever you go for – its the thinkgs like brake pads and avid juicy bleed kits that gets me.

A few FACTS

I worked selling bikes from 96-98 as a summer job.

At that time, the top of the range bikes cost between £3k and £4k

We bought inner tubes for 99p (Nutrak, in bulk). We sold them for a fiver.

Some opinions:

Bikes are much better now for the money than they were 10 or 15 years ago.

Very top of the range bikes now probably do cost relatively more but I reckon you're not really comparing like with like. The £6k bikes now are full of bling that isn't really much more functional than kit a lot cheaper and are very much there as a flagship model. If you look at the bikes at £3k-£4k then you'll see that there's next to no difference or at least, functional difference. The new flagship models are stupid expensive because technology has moved on and it's possible to buy carbon wheels that cost £2k that do have a very slight weight advantage over much cheaper wheels and so on for all carbon handlebars, etc.

Even with the recent price rises, I reckon bikes are brilliant value compared to 10/15 years ago.

Its horses-for…..

I blow too much on top-ish end kit but then I'm like that. Also, I just got a lovely carbon Cannondale road bike on C2W, £400 off at Evans, net cost is £900 for a very lovely bike indeed. You just need to look for bargains.

I live in London, yes there are quite a few guys get into road cycling, triathlon, quickly blow £7k on something they dont really need…..but so what?

Mrs McBoo wanted a bike, I got her a £300 Hardrock…..you know what, its good.

Most bike manufacturers contracts are in USD

People really do pay more for 'designer brands', with no real benefits.

I tried some tesco value noodles the other day, they were inedible.

I'm confused – what's wrong here? Bike stuff is too expensive is it? I don't get that. Are all big suppliers in a cartel? I'm guessing not.

I work at a place that makes high-tech, low volume equipment, somewhat like the high-end bike companies. Yes, sometimes R&D costs a lot and you want to recoup it quickly…other times you are just rolling out stuff you developed ages ago whilst happily charging as much as you can get away with!

The bike people know there is a paunch of middle aged men, with lots of spare cash, who are more than happy to throw money at a problem. So if they keep paying it, they will keep charging it. People who are not professional athletes love to have the same kit as professional athletes, as we see so often.

I don't know enough about bike manufacture to have an idea of profit margins, but some of the stuff we get told seems designed to confused. Yes maybe carbon takes a while to lay up and get right…then again there is zero welding to be done!

Motorbike manufacturers will have all the same problems with materials costs, shipping, labour prices etc. but look what you get for your money there.

Since starting mountain biking, back in 1986, it's only really this year I've noticed huge increases in prices.

However, i don't feel I'm being ripped off as for me a mountain bike is a luxury not an essential. If I don't think it's worth it, the credit card stays in the wallet.

I do think you get better value for money buying a mx bike over a mountain bike though when you consider what they actually do, the technology involved and the sum of the parts.

Lets face it bikes tend to cost the user quite alot of money the more passionate you get about them. Most of us here started riding on a lower end bike with the intention of that being fine for our needs, within months , possibly years we have got so enthusiastic about our biking that we want good quality componenets that suit our requirements. i dont spend a fortune on frames and whole bikes but i certainly spend alot on upgrading and replacing components through out the year….especially tyres and clothing!! all of this leads to a hobby that costs me and the familly i guess a considerable amount of cash which to a non or less enthusiastic biker would seem exorbitant. So yes i would agree that bikes are costing us more….because we have more spare time and more facility to fuel our once cheapish hobby.

According to this fella, this is what 5.5- 6k would have got you 17 years ago. I think you could get a lot more bike for that money now.

5.5k 17 years ago

Don't complete bikes cost around the same now as they always did?
ie. DH bike £3-4000, XC bike £1-2000?
prices of new parts seem to have gone a bit mental in the last year or so but it has little consequence to me as I still run 8 speed on all my bikes and am perfectly happy with older forks and parts rather than lusting after the next new thing like I see a lot of other people doing.

MX bikes have always been better value, until you factor in running/maintaining costs that is.

I think the golf analogy is quite interesting. I have a mate who plays every weekend. Was comparing the cost of his hobby with mine. He pays £800 annual membership for his club (apparently this is cheap, those in the posher end of town are £1200) plus a small amount to enter competitions, goes away a couple of times a year plus occasional new gear, clubs, trolley, shoes etc. He reckoned £1800 a year. My wife is hankering after a horse- her friend has one- costs her £2000 upkeep a year (plus all the hours of mucking out- how do you put a price on that?)
So I actually think MTBing is good value. Once you have your bike and kit it costs nothing to ride. I have spent prob a grand on bike related stuff in the last year- building a frame up, upgrading forks on another bike etc. So I am still at least £800 up on the golfers/horse riders and the new kit won't "need" replacing for 2-3 years at the earliest.
When we start having to "pay to play", then we're in trouble 🙂

I don't feel particularly ripped off, but I do know there's a lot of speculative pricing for niche products. You'd have to be fairly close to certifiable to pay £450 for a pair of handlebars (this week's Cycling Weakly), but nobody makes you buy them. And I suppose they might make a certain kind of spoke-sniffing aspirational buyer happy, for a while.

For some people a high price is almost a good thing, it raises the drawbridge behind and keeps the great unwashed out. But the mid-range, just-enough technology and mass-market economy of scale can be quite a good place to hang out.

My wife is hankering after a horse

My wife once vaguely mentioned this – gotta be a quick way to lose a lotta cash even if you have somewhere to keep it. Far more sensible to pay to ride and let someone else deal with the upkeep.

You don't have to buy the expensive stuff.

Most brands will have top end kit to make their mid range stuff more acceptable.

E.g. Not many people by XTR because it is too expensive but if XT was the top end people would got for SLX but adding in XTR means people are prepared to pay for XT.

It's a common marketing statergy. Also having top end kit is good marketing. People don't talk about £1000 hardtails much but they do dream of owning hand made titanium which makes you think of the brand and maybe a lower end frame from them.

Don't forget that we have all got older, closer to middle age, increases in income etc. We have therefore got to the stage where we are more aware of the bikes that could be in our price range. Also the technology has moved on. Sure my high end spesh Stumpumper Team was £1000 ish new back in 1993 ish. But it had forks made of steel, wheels that were pretty bendy, gears that didn't work and the rest of it was pretty poor too! I could go and get something better in halfords for £450 now without any effort at all!

So really the prices haven't gone up that much. Just the technology has found its way into a market that is full of middle age people with middle and indeed high incomes. If we buy it they will continue to make it. And we do!

Quit complaining, but what you desire or what you can afford. The desire stuff is way about what you dreamed of 20 years ago! Disk brakes, suspension on both ends that works, light weight, soot and plastic etc.

Yeah – £7500 is a lot, but carbon frame, rims etc are always going to push the price up! You probably aren't good enough to warrant it, buy something sensible. A Specialised Pitch is a good option or maybe a Turner or a nice On One (now there is a bargain), still better than my old spesh!

More bike shops due to bigger market. More sales overall for the manufacturer, spread across more retailers competing with each other.
People grabbing money while they can milk the situation.

Plus cycling is becoming 'Fashionable' in the worst way – note the growing number of comments you come across from many sources extolling women to 'look pretty and fashionable' while on their bikes. I can hear the clothes industry rubbing its hands in glee in the steady drip of money.

Plus cycling is becoming 'Fashionable' in the worst way

God forbid cycling becomes something ordinary people do in ordinary clothes in order to get about the place.

More cyclists is always good in my view. Drivers who don't cycle are more conditioned to expect cyclists, and there are more drivers who do cycle.

Economies of scale would suggest that bikes will eventually become cheaper as volume increases. We might even be able to buy an attractive 8 speed hub geared utility bike for a decent price, rather than spending a mint on a Pashley.

I do think that marketing is what holds up prices to a massive extent in bikes. There's a huge information assymmetry between the buyers and sellers, so they can spout any old bull and we, and often, the specialist press just soak it up.

I also agree that bike prices are daft. How come the old Octalink Deore cranks were hollowtech, and the current ones aren't? How come so many people are using BBs that don't last?