The rising cost of biking….

I pay 26 quid each for butcher & purgatory and for me they as good as the maxxis etc at 45 to 50 each pump up tubeless easy as well

Kenda Nevegals? Just about everything by Specialized?

Conti are expensive because of their posh rubber and low production runs, and they can’t make a tyre that works without it. Schwabbly are expensive because they just like making everything ridiculously complicated. And Maxxis… Maxxis are expensive because you’ll pay what they charge, I think.

But are they any good? I don’t have the money to try every tyre on the market so (shamefully) go off the never-ending “what tyre” threads for my next tyre choices – never see either of those mentioned.

Next up I think is Massis High Rollers. Think you can get a basic pair of those for 30 that don’t weight a ton.

All 3 of my bikes cost me less than a grand. And when I say all 3, I mean collectively, not each. They’re not top end, no. But they are all very capable. OK, one was second hand, another partially second hand – new prices would tally around £1500, I cheat. Sometimes I ponder building something a little more…prestigious, but it’s hard to justify because it would be little more than vanity driving it.

If you’re happy to drop 5k on a bike. Do it. It’ll be a very, very nice bike, I’m sure. But it’s nota necessity.

plyphon – Member

But are they any good? I don’t have the money to try every tyre on the market so (shamefully) go off the never-ending “what tyre” threads for my next tyre choices – never see either of those mentioned.

Yep. But you don’t see them mentioned so much on here because they’re not expensive enough. (Nevegals used to be one of the official STW tyres til suddenly one day they were officially terrible.) But we do talk about those a lot, Butcher/Purg is a really popular combo now.

Specialized are made by Maxxis, or rather Maxxis and Specialized (and On One and no doubt others) are both made by CST. So when you ride a Butcher frinstance and think “Hey, this is like a Minion, improved in many ways” that’s because it’s exactly that.

My MTB cost me £600 and is still far more competent that I am and ever will be.
I am in a pair of Shimano SPD shoes which cost £50 three years ago but still going strong. They let water in as they are not waterproof. I’m prepared to live with it.
My helmet is the base model Giro one, £35 and two years old.
My backpack was £12 from Tesco

All works for me and I enjoy my riding…Unless it is a steep techy slow climb and then no amount of exepensive bling kit will stop me feeling pi@*ed off.

Interesting. Just checked the LBS and they stock the spesh’s for £30 odd, prolly get a cheeky local discount instore so that could be an option – good tip cheers!

Affordable kit is a hell of a lot better than it used to be.

Expensive kit is a bit better than it used to be.

If you want to, and can afford to, you can spend more now than you ever could, but you can also just spend the same as you used to and get far better gear than you used to.

Interesting answers.

Personally, I’ve less disposable income than 5 years ago, but also I’m “used” to riding around high end bikes with XT.

I may be being snobbish when I say this, but if they broke, I’d have to swallow some pride to roll around on a 32lb full susser with Deore/SLX when I really want a 27lb full susser with XT….*

I was talking RRP btw in my parts list, and the “cheaper” option isn’t comparable. I want to/but cant (at RRP) buy the same quality lid as I did a few years ago. Whilst I appreciated that all costs go up, the industry is showing a large like for like % increase.

* Awaits flaming

Ah, well Kryton57, the price of being a bike kit snob is high prices, yes. That’s self evident.

Sure. My point being is that I couldn’t afford (without finance) to buy an equivalent bike, other than looking for a 2nd hand/pauls cycles offer.

Its a first world problem for sure.

MTB cost me about ~£200 this year on material stuff and maybe 8-10x that on trips – flights, food on the way, etc. Happy with that ratio. Some years it’s a similar ratio but half the cost. Edit – oops forgot about the loop bars I bought. That makes a difference ..

On the subject of things being reasonably priced, I’m still wondering how you shoehorned £250 worth of brakes into the Arkose 3. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the BB7 SLs price per end.

* Awaits flaming

Isn’t that what you want, though?

The fierce competition on the internet shopping sites keeps it grounded. Buying at RRP on the high street would be no fun. £350 for an SLX groupset, what more do you need.

Your gentle blue run at a trial center is what a downhill race course looked like 15 years ago. Your red run is what a downhill race course looked like 10 years ago. And now we all want to ride the black run, and do 5ft drops to rock gardens. And we can on a £3000 bike.

Ha ha.. Where the hell did you race DH 15years ago?
15years ago Ft William was rougher, far more natural and way less “trail centre obstacle” sculpted. Like wise for Innerleithen and most of the Scottish and Welsh tracks.
Nowadays it’s all manmade jumps,nicely carefully built rock gardens and sculpted berms all over the place, you’re lucky if there’s a single rut in a lot of tracks and we all know trail centre mincers can’t ride ruts (no one runs skill courses on ruts as in the cafe all everyone wants to brag about the pitiful amount of air they managed on piss easy jumps)

STW classifieds is brilliant for picking up kit at reasonable prices
Amazes me the kind of high end stuff that appears which is only a few months or years old.

In 1991 I bought a Kona Cindercone. A great bike. It was £510 IIRC, with 21 gears, rigid forks, canti brakes and fully rigid…
£525 buys an alloy framed Trek with a usable suspension fork, 27 gears and hydraulic brakes. And another 20+ years of experience in the geometry.

£15 well spent I’d say!
🙂

campkoala, you are pussywillow AICM £5

2013 product same price as 2003 one = much better quality.
2013 product same quality as 2003 one = much lower price.

nice things cost money shocker

I started riding regularly in about 2000 and like thisisnotaspoon said, bought mx comps for about £200 and they’re actually still in use on a bike today. I was seduced for a while by the “new is better” thing and bought more and more expensive kit but it really doesn’t matter.

Currently ride an 06 FSR with Fox forks bought from ebay. Change the bearings as and when they wear out and the XT groupset the same.

Best advice to save cash – only change stuff when it wears out!

Jamie – Member

* Awaits flaming
Isn’t that what you want, though?

No, why would I? Its just what I expect…

Kryton57 – Member

Personally, I’ve less disposable income than 5 years ago, but also I’m “used” to riding around high end bikes with XT.

I may be being snobbish when I say this, but if they broke, I’d have to swallow some pride to roll around on a 32lb full susser with Deore/SLX when I really want a 27lb full susser with XT….*

SLX today is better than XT a couple of years ago.

If you’re talking RRP look up rockshox DHO – a 1996 elastomer sprung 4″ travel dry lubed fork that blew it’s poor quality damping cartridge with ridiculous frequency.

How much was this gem of modern bicycle suspension engineering ?

£1199

I just paid the same for two cars tyres as i did for two bike tyres…i still keep scratching my head over this…and the bike tyres were purgs.

S’funny how mtbers will buy the latest, grippiest best performing tyres they can find to skid their way down old Deer tracks at 8mph wile they’re happy to drive their loved ones on the road at 70 on some budget shit isn’t it?

my thinking on this is, mountain biking is no different than any other sport, i do alot of sea fishing, and how many fishermen use top of the range zziplex rods, and then cant cast them properly due to their skill is not good enough to use what are usually competion casting rods, plus there will always be bikers that think that if you havnt spent over 3k on a bike , you cant be a proper biker, there will always be people that justify why they should spend that kind of money on a bike that so they say will last the test of time, there usually the ones, that in 2 yrs time have the same bike up for sale, so they can have and need the latest new thing, biking is only expensive if you want it to be, slx kit is all most people will ever need,but they still justify to them selves why they need xt, i think todays bikes are far better value for money, and are better and last longer than anything ive bought over the last 30 yrs, as in most sports , some people have to have top end kit to make them look good or feel better.

I like my expensive suspension bike, I worked hard for it. I equally like my rigid bike with no gears or suspension, I worked hard for that too. I don’t think that makes me an idiot

Not really any difference between slx and xt in terms of weight either. Certainly not 5lb…more like .5lb

Mid range forks and frames have got pricier since 04 to 06 though. The first entry level 888s were no worse than the current basic dh forks (certainly better than domains) and less pricey.

…although I guess when one looks around – 27.5lbs 650b for £1499 new…

http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=3280#tab-reiter2

I’m pretty sure I can remember an XT rear mech being £30 on crc in 2008. Just had a quick look and they’re around the £50 mark. How does that work out inflation wise ?

I make it £38.29 if inflation was a steady 5%, which is being pretty generous…

I got a nice bike, I paid what I could afford for it.

I’m happy that in general the bike I have now is better by a long way than the one I used to own with the gear that was on it.

Apart from that I couldn’t GAS some people are just looking for an excuse to get grupy. If it wasn’t bike parts it would be pies and pints.

That’s a strange attitude mike. Speaking for myself, I’m not grumpy, Just observing a trend an posting to promote discussion. Shermer75’s post highlights the issue does it not?

Honestly Kryton? There is a thread every couple of months from people saying things are more expensive/rip off. Half of the people agree it is half don’t then someone points out that you can still buy cheap bikes and second hand. Maybe your not grumpy but there are plenty who are and keen to point out that everything is a rip off.

I’ve recently downgraded.. Loving the world, although my back wheel (from the tip) is a bit heavy and is letting the bike down..
The only other downside is the frame which although steel and the same weight as my soul, has a much harsher front end due to the inferior tube set..

still, I’m still getting pb’s, I can leave my bike locked up in town or outside the house without fear of it getting robbed, and most importantly.. I love riding it, even if the sum of it’s parts cost less than the crank on my previous bike 😀

its all relative really, what price can you put on enjoyment, if i added up the money ive spent on curries n strongbow over the years, and how much a pint costs these days, i would probably stop going out, doesnt really matter how much you spend, as long as you get the enjoyment out of it, then its worth its weight in gold, the memories alone are worth the expense.

Yes mike – speaking for myself as I said. Like many, I have a ss which cost the princely sum of £190 which I enjoy a lot, and a bottom end road bike bike which I very much enjoy, set pbs on and have trained on all summer.

I’m not disputing we can’t enjoy cheaper kit, I’m just commenting that like for like, bike parts/bikes cost has has an exponential rise.

Vis a Vis – if my asr5 disappeared over night, I’d happily by that canyon I listed earlier, but wouldn’t dream of replacing it with a new asr5 or sb75 at today’s cost. Second hand even would mean a cash purchase probably which is hard even at half retail. Can I replace an xt / Thompson shod Asr5 for less than 2k easily? No. P’raps by hunting the classifieds only.

Just as a reflection, I was talking in the office today about the fact that, with car advertising more often and not the best looking and most appealing car is advertised – of course – to attract buyers. But how many people actually by one?

Same with bikes – i love to know the ratio of people who read them actually buy a 4-8k bike, continual xtr upgrades or replacement these days.

It’d be nice for stw to perhaps do a working class “month” edition of the mag. 🙂

IIRC, the Japanese Yen played catch up on exchange rates in 2007/8 when the global market was bullish enough to allow it and their economy had started growing after years of flat-lining. This had a substantial impact on prices, particularly for Shimano, which started to have a knock on effect on bikes. The subsequent downturn left plenty of surplus stock around which negated the impact for some time but eventually supply became more aligned with demand and the higher prices stuck.

There has been a subsequent market downturn on the Yen but, as you’d expect, pricing from the Japanese manufacturers hasn’t changed to reflect this reduction.

Just a thought Kryton,the ASR5 Race* retailed at £3,800 in ’11 and is only £95 dearer now.

*standard Yeti ‘race’ spec.