Have you been priced out of biking?

Got a link? Reckon I’d struggle to commit north of 100k into a single bike.

haha me too, typo, meant 4 and 5 figures!!

weeksy – unless that vid is flattening it all out much more than is obvious I as a really old mincer would happily ride that on my hardtail – slower of course but it looks easier than laggan black which I have been down on my hardtail

LOL yeah…. ummmmm errrrrm. Sure.

I’m shit at riding but I’d happily ride that on my 100mm travel hardtail without a dropper.

weeksy – unless that vid is flattening it all out much more than is obvious I as a really old mincer would happily ride that on my hardtail – slower of course but it looks easier than laggan black which I have been down on my hardtail

HArdtail woudn’t be nice, but yes is completely OK…

But it makes me laught with things like the BMX track, when BPW is so far from that it’s ridiculous… but the internet heros tell me all the time that FoD is the easiest place in the world and Southern Enduros are for 6 year old girls on pink basket bikes 🙂

I just find it amusing.

I as a really old mincer would happily ride that on my hardtail – slower of course

Most things can be ridden slowly on any bike but who wants to ride slowly? 😉

Yes. Two bikes ,rigid on one 29er, still fine for be bashing, old giant reign, really struggled now even with some modernisation as my most ridden mtb, bike parks, winch and plummet, woods funs trails. A second hand replacement is looking like £1700. Usually I would have upgraded as I went but the standards change have made that impossible so the bike has just got more and more out of date with the push to make bikes more like cars that you replace the entire bike.

It’s getting pricy isn’t it?

On the plus side, R&D seems to have completely stopped in the non-E bike world so my 2019 bike is, as far as I can tell, still up to date with all the current standards and fashions, other than I went with a 275, I’ve been window shopping and aside from some shiny paint I don’t think I’d gain much from a new bike at the moment… well unless I want a motor or bigger wheels.

I’ll be happier when consumables are more available, and hopefully we’ll go back to a time when RRPs were sort of a guide and not set in stone.

Most things can be ridden slowly on any bike but who wants to ride slowly?

me. the longer you are riding the more fun 😉

with the push to make bikes more like cars that you replace the entire bike.

This +1, my only complete new bike was 30 odd yrs ago, now I’m just sticking with 9sd & qr axles, can’t be bothered with keeping up with the arms race for the riding I do. Recon I’ve got enough bikes & spares to see me until I have to go E bike in my old age

with the push to make bikes more like cars that you replace the entire bike.

Buying a frame and components separately is very much a UK thing. The two biggest markets for MTB USA and Germany, buying a complete new bike is more the norm.

The new stuff is silly prices especially consumables like drivetrains. Im still happy on my bikes with 10 speed and also happily still run a 2×9 speed. Some complete new bike prices seem way too high now. 6k is crazy money. The industry is forever getting cleverer at convincing people to “change and upgrade”. in the main the improvements are quite marginal.

Depends where you expenditure priorities are I’d say. I don’t spend a lot on anything else, so have pretty decent bikes. Other people spend on leasing a car, or have a wife that insists they need a new extension on the house, etc.

in the main the improvements are quite marginal

Not always. Each year the geometry is slightly tweaked but my current trail bike is from 2007 and all those tweaks add up to a huge change between that bike and any I could buy now.

or have a wife that insists they need a new extension on the house

Sexist much?

LOL yeah…. ummmmm errrrrm. Sure.

The really big stuff is, yeah, otherwise it would be lethal.

That isn’t but also not at all that worrying for a hardtail. My point about seemingly not being able to do blacks on a hardtail sans dropper still stands, you are right though, I worded it badly.

 6k is crazy money

I bought a £6K bike back in 2018 after saving and a bit of a bonus from work. It’s not totally crazy, and I don’t think that I’m somehow an outlier for wages or commitment of my monthly wage. What I will say is that for the £6K I’ve not had to change a thing (other than some cockpit changes) and I’ve just replaced worn parts.

Oh, and while you can ride BPW on a hardtail, some of the drops on the blacker trails would test my ankles fo’shure I don’t think I’d want to do all day on one

Buying a frame and components separately is very much a UK thing. The two biggest markets for MTB USA and Germany, buying a complete new bike is more the norm.

I’m not on about building a custom new bike more the ability to triggers broom your bike that have been lost. As a part breaks wearout renew with the updated version then every so often a new frame to fully pull yourself upto date.

Depends where you expenditure priorities are I’d say

Depends on your expenditure commitments I would say.

30k single living in a cheap area can have much much more disposal income than 50+k, kids, parents in an expensive area.

I’m not on about building a custom new bike more the ability to triggers broom your bike that have been lost. As a part breaks wearout renew with the updated version then every so often a new frame to fully pull yourself upto date.

There seems to be a reluctance to triggers broom stuff too, based on what I’ve read on more NA centric forums. ‘Why spend xxx on a part when xxxx will get me a whole new, up to date bike’. On stuff that’s rarely more than 3 years old.

Horses for courses.

I paid £675 for a Voodoo Bizango hardtail and another £80 (Maxxis Forekaster) on new tires when the originals (Maxxis Ardent OEM) had sidewall tears. I only do XC/bridleways and low speed trails (I’m unskilled!). The bike has been brilliant and got me out into the fresh air and kept me fit. The only issues I have now are comfort on long rides (saddle!) and brake performance on very steep hills (rotors and better pads?).

I’d say I’ve been priced into biking!

I’d say that the only thing preventing a 26″ full suspension Trigger’s broom would be linkage or rear triangle related and that’s not due to changing standards. It’ll be difficult enough to find a chainstay for a 3 year old boost 29er for example, let alone something pre 2015.

or have a wife that insists they need a new extension on the house

Sexist much?

Maybe. Realist from what I’ve seen in my own family.

There seems to be a reluctance to triggers broom stuff too

Consumerism push, buy on credit etc, spend yourself poor mentality, then moan about the rich you have just given all you income to in subscriptions, loans etc.

It part of the own, nothing, the model of ownership is dead it’s good for the consumer, it’s what customers want bullshit

I’d say that the only thing preventing a 26″ full suspension Trigger’s broom would be linkage or rear triangle related

Add tapered forks , so you’re at new wheels, frame forks to upgrade in one hit so even if you have tapered steer I think that removes the triggers broom

Add taped forks , so you’re at new wheels, frame forks to upgrade in one hit so even if you have tapered steer I think that removes the triggers broom

But as long as the steerer is long enough you can fit tapered forks into a straight frame can’t you with a headset spacer thing ?

Edit : That may be completely wrong and completely daft…. dunnno now.

No.

Wheel will not fit though, so you will need to upgrade wheels

Well they will fit but 26″ in 29er will be a bit odd!

A Marin Team Titanium was £5k back in the early 90s. No suspension, cantis, skinny tyres.

I paid £2k for a Mount Vision in 1999 – 83mm travel, 3×8 XT (40th Birthday). £2.4k for an Anthem X1 in 2009 – 100mm travel, 3×9 XT (50th birthday). I paid £3.5k for a Jeffsy CF Pro in late 2016 – 140mm both ends, full carbon, carbon cranks, carbon wheels, 1×11 X01, Reverb (wasn’t sure I’d make it to 60). Of these, the Jeffsy is the standout for value and things have clearly gone in the wrong direction since then. But look at it like this – the £2k that the Mount Vision cost would be £3693 today, and anything you could buy today for that would be a massively better bike, whether or not it had XT on it. So I’m really not sure about the ‘priced out’ bit, you will get a better bike for the same money adjusted for inflation. And as many have pointed out, riding your bike doesn’t really depend so much on money – I get just as much pleasure out of riding my 26″ rigid steel singlespeed as I do out of riding the Jeffsy. Any bike is better than no bike.

I have a confession to make, which might either label me as a pauper or a tight-arse (or it might not, who knows?) but in 35 years of riding and sometimes racing mountain bikes I have never, ever gone out and bought a new bike, or even a new frame.
This whole “factory fresh” idea is, for some odd reason, one that has no special appeal for me – it’s not just bikes either, all but one of my electric basses were bought second hand – and I have some pretty nice basses….
I was out riding a few days ago with an old friend ( both on RM Altitude e-mtbs, both purchased used) and I managed to rip the rear mech clean off mine.( 80 of my finest pounds then) So I shortened the chain and rode it home as a singlespeed – it worked surprisingly well tbh….

Anyway, it got me thinking back to how some of my best and most enjoyable rides were maybe ten or twelve years ago when all I rode were rigid singlespeeds – nice ones, but rigid steel singlespeeds nonetheless. No suspension to faff with, no mechs to rip off in the middle of nowhere, no endless bloody cleaning after every winter ride but just fun, as I said to my mate -like being kids again playing about on pushbikes.

I do still ride singlespeeds but only alone – at 70 I’m not out with the young ‘duro dudes (not on a rigid SS) or xc racing whippets and pretty much everyone else I know rides e-bikes 100% of the times, including my mate.
It’s probably one of the things that most saddens me – that I’ll never be able to relive those days.
More random bullshit from an old man then…..

Frustrating OP hasn’t at least set out his budget and current ride.
5 pages over how long is a piece of string.

As for rear cassettes as a measure of value, its doing more heavy lifting now than in the 3x and 2x era, of course it will be more expensive. Manufacturers have effectively moved the front rings onto the cassette, so we’re still paying for them.

True, but I think 1x leads to more expensive, less durable drivetrain components overall. Cassettes now have massive, alloy low gears, and relying on n/w teeth for chain retention means that chainrings are more sensitive to wear. And, of course, you spend more time riding with worse chainlines.

Maybe. Realist from what I’ve seen in my own family.

At the risk of derailing the thread, taking what one woman has done and extrapolating it to the rest of womankind is literally sexist, and then claiming it’s realism is even more so.

Anyway. Last year we had to change two cars and we also landscaped the garden which cost as much as a decent bike. We could have ignored the garden and I could have blown the lot on a bike for myself, but I don’t think I could be that selfish. If I spend money on a bike it has to be truly disposable. We need a new carpet and a new sofa, these are things that will benefit the family as our house will be nicer. Then I need to start putting a fair bit more money into my pension, as it’s quite crap atm; and we need to save for a new house as ours isn’t ideal.

All more important than toys for me. That’s where money goes.

I think 1x leads to more expensive, less durable drivetrain components overall.

Only the cassette is significantly more. And last time I bought one it was only about £45 for SLX which is what, double the cost of 9sp? Admittedly this was before the big price shocks.

Add tapered forks , so you’re at new wheels, frame forks to upgrade in one hit so even if you have tapered steer I think that removes the triggers broom

It’ll be more practical to change the fork internals. If the stantions are damaged, that’s another kettle of fish, but let’s be honest; few people are going to buy a brand new fork for a bike that old.

Yes its got daft. I’m hoping more bands offer the customisation options like Cotic or Bird where you can buy the base spec and then just upgrade the bits that you think count (i.e. Forks / Shock). I have no interest in XT / XTR or a Burgtec Stem etc.

Ok, I’ll reword my sentence slightly so as not to upset molgrip’s delicate feminist sensibilities:
“Other people have a wife or husband that insists they need a new extension on the house, or spend on leasing a car” 😆

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

Timely email from my energy company – You’re currently paying £95.00 a month for your energy. To cover your usage, we believe this needs to increase to £130.00 a month.

You can buy a boardman hardtail for £650 which would be perfectly fine for most of the riding most of us do.  Sure its not enough for the riding gods and the fork will be pretty basic but there is nowt actually wrong with it.  a fine base to up0grade from I would have thought

I’ll be happier when consumables are more available, and hopefully we’ll go back to a time when RRPs were sort of a guide and not set in stone.

Yes this last year all my spares / consumables have been bought at RRP when I can find them in stock somewhere. But that’s only a temporary supply/demand missmatch caused by Covid etc.

There seems to be a reluctance to triggers broom stuff too,

which seems bizzare.
If I wanted to “upgrade” my current trail bike, the only meaningful upgrade would be to go to a big wheeler, unless I was to drastically switch disciplines and required a xc or enduro race machine.
so I’d probably be doing the following.
New frame ~1400 to match the current level of blingness of my current frame
New forks £700 which would be an improvement over my current forks
New rims and a relace ~200?

£2300 minus what I could sell the older stuff for (£600 maybe? for a 3 year old bird with paint damage, and non-boost 650b pikes)

So £1700, and I’ll have a trail bike with top end suspension, fully kitted out with Hope, saint and AXS bits. Just if I’m willing (or rather, have the knowledge and ability and contacts) to put the effort in.

TWO HUNDRED!

(It used to be one hundred but everything has gone up)