Have you been priced out of biking?

It’s maintain a bike that’s eye-wateringly expensive
GX cassette has worn out,…. That’ll be £200 please
Maxxis tyres….. £80 an end
Fox 36….. £1000 😳

Bargains can be found, I tend to buy spares when I see them cheap

will the fuel costs going up I feel priced out of getting to places to ride.

I am priced out of buying things I don’t actually need.

Well this thread just goes to show that for some people, “biking” means buying a new bike every year or two. Whereas for others, it means riding your bike.

We have bought a lot over the past few years, but prior to that, my wife and I both went more than a decade between purchases. Perhaps coincidentally, that’s the decade we did the most actual riding. I’ll leave others to debate whether we were doing more “biking” then, or now that we have 5 newish bikes between us with under 1000 miles on each.

In 30 years mountain biking I’ve never bought a new bike. In fact I think I’ve only had 7 bikes in that time.

My last bike (2 years ago) was £1200. Great price from a mate for his sons Whyte T-130.

Things are getting pricier though. I’m ham fisted but can do a lot of repair and maintenance myself which saves money. Dropper/forxk shock services cost a lot of money.

You can spend a fortune on clothing though. I tend to buy from eBay or similar to keep prices down there.

I need new shoes and helmet soon – you’re talking £200 or so for that.

I’m lucky in that I can ride straight from the door. Once a year a few of us head off for biking trip but it’s unusual for me to travel to ride though. Guess that keeps costs down.

You have to take the cost in context.

My context is below inflation pay ‘rises’ since 2010 (I’ve moved up scale, but teachers are 20% worse off than if it had tracked cost of living) plus current absurd overall inflation rate.

Bike inflation is running much higher than general inflation.

Prices are rising 10-20% a year. Technology isn’t improving 20% a year, so while bike stuff is better than 10-15 years ago, it’s much worse value than 3 to 4 years ago.

Not in the market for a new bike, but cost of parts worries me. Getting harder to make smart choices.

I said it earlier – for me it’s the maintenance that’s getting a bit daft in cost without serious effort to shop second hand and sale bargains.

I don’t care that the bikes are old and not on trend – they are still fun to ride

@tjagain is right. Ride what you have is a great attitude.

Another factor, I think, in the ‘new bikes are silly £££’ is that previously, there was a bit of value in buying a full bike, rather than building from a frame, thanks to the economies of scale/OEM pricing. Now, the further up the ranges you go, the worse value the full bikes, to the point where you are paying a premium for a built bike over a pile of parts bought at RRP. The direct sales brands have helped a bit, but even they are creeping up.

On the “I’m used to XT” point… I used to ride XTR, now ride Deore. Has it impacted my enjoyment of riding even one tiny bit? No.

And as for ebikes being far more expensive than your old mountain bike… well, of course they are.

Affordable bikes are fantastic these days. There are also ways to spend huge amounts of money on a new bike. Huge amounts! You don’t have to.

Everything is more expensive, lots of good points made in this thread as well, like spares shortages driving up prices, i’m the same, used to check CRC and Merlin, then buy, haven’t used either in a couple of years as their prices are just as much as normal places.

As for actual bike prices, the thing that’s driving up prices are pretty simple, material price increases and cheap access to credit, materials are more expensive as we all know, but credit is everywhere, a decade ago you couldn’t get 4 years 0% on almost any bike, now it’s everywhere, you have Cycle to Work, which can give you up to 42% discount on the price, and you pay the rest via pretty much interest free credit, so sales are up, and discounts are down.

You just have to get used to the new reality, you have a budget, and you have priorities, i have never bought a new car in my life, i earn a good wage, but i just can’t justify paying so much for a vehicle over secondhand, same with wanting a campervan for family holidays, a nice one is just too expensive secondhand, and impossible new, so i just don’t buy it. Reality is you just get priced out of everything over time, as your disposable income gets very much used up elsewhere.

I’ve always ridden XT equipped bikes with Hope brakes and hubs, I’m constantly picking up bargains so very rarely pay rrp, usually buy frames instead of complete bikes, but looking at the prices for bikes with XT its quite alarming, when did £5500-6000 ish become normal.
Pretty sure my current set up hasn’t cost me anywhere near that and its all up to date. If it got nicked it’s gonna cost a bloody fortune to replace with all my prefered bits.

I’ll be running back tyres till there canvas.

Reality is you just get priced out of everything over time, as your disposable income gets very much used up elsewhere.

It’s been the reality since the credit crunch, but it’s a fairly new thing. I don’t think people will be happy with their (declining) lot – it’s not part of the bargain. There isn’t less wealth about for sure – so why should they?

It’s been the reality since the credit crunch, but it’s a fairly new thing. I don’t think people will be happy with their (declining) lot – it’s not part of the bargain. There isn’t less wealth about for sure – so why should they?

The problem is we haven’t learnt from the credit crunch, the world was falling apart 15 years ago due to it, but now we’re back to credit everywhere, house sales and prices going up and up, and everything costing more, I think we’re about to hit a recession again that could potentially pop a similar bubble as the sun prime disaster!

So as mentioned, bike cost yes it’s gone up.
But maintenance has drastically got more expensive. Cassettes are now three figures easily. A winter in the grinding paste that is the local woods will eat a chain and cassette.

I realised over winter I wasn’t going out as didn’t want to be wearing the drive train in the mud. Plus the pares shortage.

I’ve always ridden SLX but that’s risen lately. I actually looked at a group set as it look a more cost effective spares option.

I’m used to XT” point… I used to ride XTR, now ride Deore

Tbf Deore stuff is amazingly good these days
Also a wide range 12 speed drivetrain doesn’t offer much benefit over a wide range 11 or even 10 speed one

@tjagain is right. Ride what you have is a great attitude.

I have never had the skills or bravery to be a true mountain biker, but I love riding a bike. However, over the past 18 months a combination of two health issues has reduced my riding to almost none. Take every opportunity to ride what you have and do all you can to appreciate what you do – I’m not sure I always have.

Affordable bikes are fantastic these days. There are also ways to spend huge amounts of money on a new bike. Huge amounts! You don’t have to.

This sums it up for me. Yes, stuff has got more expensive but I’m assuming you’ve watched the news recently. A global pandemic, the UK arse **** itself for a blue passport, and the first European war in a generation. We are slightly more **** than the price of rear mech going through the roof.

Beyond that – stuff badged ‘just’ deore that might have been a bit rustic 20 years ago is now more than good enough. Just because some of the top end stuff is stellar in term of both functionality and price does not mean you have to own it to have fun. If anything I’d say you have been conned by the marketing gods – they have taken your ‘XT’ moniker that you were used to buying and elevated it in terms of quality with a corresponding cost and made you think that just because that’s what you had printed on your 90’s mech you HAVE to have the same now.

It’s not the only sport that’s gone this way. Dinghy sailing….back in the day boats were a bit rough and ready and made of ply or heavily constructed GRP. Now you can buy seemingly spaceage craziness made of 100% carbon that foil and dash about at stupendous speeds. They also cost north of £20K a pop. Does that mean that the normal man has been priced out sailing – hell no! The ply and heavier GRP kit still exists both new and secondhand and the sea/lake is still made of the same water it always was. You can still have the same fun you could before. In fact you can probably have more fun than you could in the 80’s for the same (relatively speaking taking into account average incomes etc) cash.

Think airlines…..flying economy is by and large a better experience than it was 30 years ago. First class back then was roughly what economy is now but with a cup and sauce. Just because they are now putting full on beds in first class and charging spunk loads for it does not detract from your economy seat being a little bit more comfy and the plane being a little bit more quiet than it used to be. Your aspirations to one day fly first class may now be a pipe dream but so what?

Bike companies are making more top end shizzle than they once did presumably because biking now attracts more high earners than it once did. Meh – leave them to it.

Cassettes are now three figures easily. A winter in the grinding paste that is the local woods will eat a chain and cassette.

this is where riding old 9spd bikes  is great.  Cheap spares

Maybe its a splitting of the pastime – go old and stay cheap, go new and pay thru the nose.  One of my bikes has a worn out drivetrain.  Cassette under £40, chain £15.  that will last me several thousand miles.

I am not racing, its still fun to ride and its very cheap

Try to time buying high end with advancements and make them age well:

Around 2015-2017 geometry and carbon got kind of dialled for most brands. Updates now are incremental unless you’re a pro. Compare a 2015 – 2018 Bronson that came with lifetime frame warranty to a 2022 model. Bit more travel, heavier, zero impact to enjoyment for the average rider…

Have you been priced out of biking?

 I built up to good spec bikes, love riding them. Call em the XT general spec. 

Why do so many people on STW not understand what biking actually is… it is the act of hoiking a leg over a bike and then pedalling it along. You can do this on loads of bikes that you may own, or can buy within your budget. This idea that you need XT level since you’ve always had it is just toss. The activity you are bemoaning the loss if isn’t ‘ biking’ it’s ‘shopping’

but for a lot of people nice kit is part of the sport.

Ugh 🤨

It’s never been a better time to adapt to the fact that the sport of riding your bike is riding your bike – not standing next to it.

Praise the Lord, at least one person on STW that realises what biking actually is.

Having said ranted all of which, the price of bikes and parts is indeed completely nuts. I thinks I’ve spent about £2.5k in the last 8 months, just on components 🙄
( but most of that was just gearfreakery rather than essential)

Cassettes are now three figures easily.

As I understand it though, that applies to the dinner plate sized ones for 1x set-ups (but I don’t have one so don’t know for sure). You can still get cassettes for older bikes with a 2x or 3x chainset for a sensible price – one of the reasons I keep my old bike (10 yo) and resist buying a new one. I keep a lookout in sales and Ebay for parts and if something comes up at a good price that I know I will use I will buy it and stash it for later. When I do eventually need a new bike I’ll probably buy something entry level but decent and upgrade a few parts as and when the opportunity arises.
Edit: beaten to it 🙂

As I understand it though, that applies to the dinner plate sized ones for 1x set-ups

I’ve always found people complaining about the price of new, fancier cassettes a bit amusing. I can only assume they have little understanding of engineering. You add 2 or 3 extra sprockets and (collectively between all the sprockets) triple the number of teeth. You by necessity increase the manufacturing tolerances to make it work and you further complicate the manufacture by machining out more material and/or switching material to stop it weighing the same as the moon. And then you are surprised how much more it costs than an old 9sd 11-32T.

We made a lot of components redundant when we went to dinner plate cassettes. We benefit from improved functionality, by not having to buy extra chainrings/front derailleurs/ shifters/cables in the first place and then maintain/renew them or lug them around. The downside is a higher cost single item consumable. I assumed everyone worked out what we were signing up for, but clearly not.

Can’t believe no one has mentioned being forced into more cycling by rising prices

It doesn’t apply to me but the guy next to me at work announced that he’ll consider riding to work more often to save fuel costs

I have a nice ish carbon fs bike that would be £3000 to replace and has a cassette that will be expensive to replace etc.

But most of my riding is done on a gravel bike with 2 sets of wheels. It’s 2×10 with mechanical discs. It’s mostly ridden from the house. I’d say riding it is a cheap hobby. I could easily afford a posh gravel bike but don’t really see myself gaining much

is where riding old 9spd bikes is great.
…
Cassette under £40

Those Cassetes could be had for less than £20 a couple of years ago.

I largely agree with you and I’m much the same, but whilst £40 might not sound like a lot of money, it’s still a 100+% increase on what people were previously paying, and it soon adds up when all component parts start to wear out.

Tyres and cassettes are definitely the most expensive bits.
I remember getting an SLX cassette for around 60 quid. Now they are 120 ish? Deore is 100.

Fortunately most other stuff I can maintain and fix myself, and prices for other spares like brake pads haven’t increased so much.

I checked my cycle to work scheme and the limit is 20,000 pounds and I’m in the 40% tax bracket, so that’s probably what I’ll do when I need a new bike.

I’ve gone after 6 years of good use from a 2015 Carbon Capra(£3000-Sold it for £1500) with X01 , top end suspension wheels etc to a barely used second hand Aluminium 2019 Mondraker Dune(£1800) Yari, NX level drivetrain,deore brakes ,generic wheels etc. I really enjoy,riding the Mondraker,I don’t notice the parts everything functions well.I did splash out to upgrade the fork to a charger damper .

The bike I’ve been riding the most in recent times is an old/spare parts bin 26″ Giant XTC hardtail that cost me £400 in 2004,I spent around £60 on a new drivetrain 38t and wheels bearings,slick rear tyre and now use it as a fun gravel/road bike.

Riding doesn’t have to expensive but it should always be fun.

Can’t believe no one has mentioned being forced into more cycling by rising prices

I’d guess that for some of us that aspect doesn’t register having made the choice to cycle to work years ago.

butcher – there are still 9spd casettes under £30.  I picked the ones I would buy.  a couple of places above the cheapest.  Same sort of price I bought my last one at years ago

I’d guess that for some of us that aspect doesn’t register having made the choice to cycle to give up work years ago.

FTFY 😂

You guys need to form a singletrack ascetics cycling club. Wool shirts,chamois gussets and cantilever brakes mandatory.

As I said earlier, most people judge how well they’re doing relative to others. Their bike doesn’t have to be shit, it just has to feel (relatively) shit.

If you could walk into a bike shop 15 years ago and come out with a decent spec from a top brand and now you’re scouring Go Outdoors then that’s going to feel like a problem.

Vitus used to be a good budget full sus brand, but the 2022 frames are 1900! Up from 1500 last year, and the 2018 alu ones used to be on sale at 650.

Interesting range of responses.
I’m very good at buying once and running things into the ground for years. We all have brands and specs we trust. I don’t get all the replies that essentially say ‘you don’t want that, you should do what I do’.

When things need replacing, upgrading, renewing for whatever good personal reason, they won’t be and there will be less riding.
Not ‘no riding’, just less.

I spent about £200 on replacing the drive train on my hardtail which has now been ridden loads.
The transition scout was seriously expensive but first new bike in about 7 years so I’m happy enough with the costs.
Triple and 9spd for the winter crap suits me

Around 13 years ago my mortgage was barely affordable due to a relationship ending and the obvious costs involved.
Was in negative equity and on a highish interest rate. Banks wouldn’t lend, so I had to pay whatever my then bank rate was.
So everything was second hand or bargain bin, except drivetrain.

I managed on one ride to destroy the mech, bend the hanger and somehow damage the cassette. I went single speed for ages.

My mortgage became more affordable so I was able to buy new stuff. Great!

Now the cost of living has gone up I’ve put the old single speed back together and only use a geared bike when it’s not minging to save wearing out expensive bits in the winter filth. Also it helps my fitness.

This thread is turning very much Monty Python, we’ll soon have mention of lumps of coal and being fed poison as a lad!

Again, nice bikes are selling, was out yesterday and on the same trails saw a few folk, one on a SC Bullit, two of the new kenovo SL s-works and so on, they were doing decent stuff and enjoying it, how they bought 10k bikes, or pay for spares, well i don’t think many care, they are just making sacrifices to pay for it, or earn enough not to worry.

Always reminds me of a discussion i had with a workmate years ago about why i needed a 2.5k bike when he managed on a 500 quid one, most of his usual discussions were about his 40k car and how he was getting modifications, remapping, etc, i didn’t have much input as i drove a 5k focus at the time. I didn’t really do any butwhataboutery, as honestly, it’s his money, his choice, same as me with bikes.

it’s his money, his choice, same as me with bikes.

While I agree…. To take your analogy to the levels being considered on this thread. It would be like your mate saying he cannot drive the car without the mods. Or because he has the mods he cannot afford fuel.

If you can afford a 10 grand bike every 2 years crack on. The sentiment here is -dont let the pursuit of kit to keep up with the Jones get in the way of your riding.

I ride a 7 year old touring bike with claris and a 12 year old rigid titanium single speed for about 90% of my riding. The other 10% I pull out a battered 2009 ibis mojo with 1*10 possibly an xt drive train but I think is actually a deore rear mech. I bought used. I have fun and I put it away again.

Certainly don’t feel priced out of riding.

Racing on the other hand.

Nah. Still riding a 26″ bike that’s evolved over the last 30 years, currently based round a Rockhopper frame I bought off here two years ago for £25. Sensible kit bought for durability and spares availability. Do my own maintenance. Prefer to spend my time riding it rather than (over) washing it.

However, I do have a 29er frame (£150 Scandal bought two years ago), Ridefarr bikepacking forks (£115) and Mavic wheels bought in the recent Evans sale (£125) waiting to swap everything else over on to at some point. Maybe when the current drivetrain wears out (the next one is already in the box – and I didn’t spend £200 on consumables like a cassette…).

Is it priced out of riding bikes or priced out of buying bikes?

I know parts wear out and yes the price of chains and cassettes and tyres have gone up a lot but even if you’re doing tons of mileage it’s a small expense compared to refuelling a car (unless you “have” to buy really expensive parts).

This thread is turning very much Monty Python, we’ll soon have mention of lumps of coal and being fed poison as a lad!

Not really, its just pointing out as others have that world events, life and other priorities can price you out of a new shiny bike or other thing of choice, but there’s usually a way to keep riding.
Most of us are getting poorer at the moment, relatively speaking.
Stuff is getting more expensive, wages aren’t keeping up.

I have been in the market for a new bike for a few years but haven’t bought anything yet. I bought a top of the range santa cruz around 2009 for around £3,800 – same type of spec now is £8/£9k where wages havent increased that much in the last 12 years.

Started running and hiking instead..😁