Not really, I was told by a guy I know in a bike shop who was contemplating buying a Cervelo that his 'trade price' was around £1200, retail on the frame was £2150….by my reckoning thats about 50%

I think I need to start selling different bikes. Nearly 50% margin? From my experience, that's only available on bikes that get reduced so much (because they're not so great?!) that the margin is reduced to normal anyhow.

Trade prices are usually quoted without VAT, while RRPs are always including VAT. Bit of a joke but it hides real margin.

I know it's off topic but I believe that it was quite a statement and should be answered.

"Not really, I was told by a guy "

thus it must be fact …. do not doubt the power of "i was told by a guy" makes ANYthing fact

WTF comparing off the shelf alu to custom steel. IRRELEVANT.

Not irrelevant. Totally relevant, in that it's about the ride, it's about the actual thing that you do with the bike, not what the tubes happen to be made of.

my point was about your price comparison which you ahve conveniently ignored.

Anyway your tedium has ground me down. Well done. Night night.

Steve-Austin – Member

If steel is so great, then why don't the big companies sell frames made of it anymore?

easy, it's a well known internet fact that the only reason manufacturers started using fat aluminium tubes, and now fat CFRP tubes, is so that they can print their names in bigger letters.

as in:

'whoosh…'

'what bike was that?'

'don't know, something with skinny tubes'

'whoosh…'

'what bike was that?'

'a Look, with Reynolds wheels…'

it must be true, i just made it up.

@flyingfox, should have qualified it a bit more, it was a frame and fork only not a complete bike – I know on bikes the margins aren't that great. The VAT point is a good one and is probably right, its still a 35% margin though, or about £650 in real money 🙂

If steel is so great, then why don't the big companies sell frames made of it anymore?

Colnago Master?
De Rosa Neo Primato?
Orange P7?
Genesis?

There will be many more, I just can't be bothered to think of them

My mate has a Master, its light, handles beautifully and looks stunning. and with full super record 11 its very expensive!

I've got a Salsa la raza (54cm) which I'm looking to shift. It's platinum ox tubing, ultegra / 105 9 speed, with a triple. Let me know if this is interesting.

Steve-Austin – Member

If steel is so great, then why don't the big companies sell frames made of it anymore?

i've had something itching at the back of my mind for the last few hours, then i remembered:

it's a speccy allez double steel.

about £600 new if you can find one…

(s'quite nice inna 'my dad used to have a bike like that' way)

I think I need to start selling different bikes. Nearly 50% margin?

He said mark up, not margin – big difference. And as you say, there is the VAT element as well. Around 30% is normal IME. Anyway, i don't think it is cost/margins which has brought about the decline of the steel frame. And as I'm glad to report, there are still a number of people out there who prefer to ride and are happy to buy new steel frames.

Buying an old frame is also just a nice thing to do to offset rampant consumption. Call it recycling.

Try bikesandprams.co.uk as they do great value road bikes [Shimano equipped] that are ripe for upgrading

Haven't read all of the above (yet), but I have started riding a steel framed road bike I built in the early – mid 90s.

The ride is absolutely sublime. As on antoher thread on here, the only thing I can compare it to is a Lucky Strike Ti HT (obviously the bikes are very different, but the subtley and balance of the handling is similar)