"Bikes are so expensive"

novembercp

So says a colleague who recently spent €400 on one. (very roughly £268).

I told her I'd paid IR£400 for one in 1987 and the new one for €400 is probably better.

What do people expect? They'll easily spend that on a 'fashionable' clothes which will be 'useless' in 6 months or twice as much on a on a TV, or 100 times as much on a car.

heavymental

Same as anything I fear. Not everyone realises that you get what you pay for. Their wobbly rattly piece of crap bike is sat in the shed rusting because they got a puncture after the third ride but they'll put that down to bicycles being crap generally and forget about it.

redddraggon

When I bought my first road bike a few months, I spent £270 and thought that was a lot. I was appointed I was able to get so little for £300. At uni last year I lived with a lad who was pretty serious into the road racing and his bike was £1300, I thought that was a massive amount - but I knew nothing about bikes then. Now it just seems like the norm who for someone who's really interested.

However now I'm into this cycling lark, I'm already planning to spend £1500 on my bike next summer.

heavymental

I like it when people who drink alot give you stick for buying a bike for £1000. Its the equivalent of 30 odd nights out pssing your money against the wall.

blackhands

I spent £29 on my first new bike - in 1956. Reynolds frame and Campag gears. that was about 1.5x the average wage at the time - which is equivalent to £6-700 today. And today you'd get a much better bike for 1.5x the average wage.

Clever Pun

I remember a friend of the missus being shocked at one of her friends spending £500 on a bike she said it was crazy... she went a shade of white/green when she was told mine was 3 times that

homercles

Heavymental wrote:

I like it when people who drink alot give you stick for buying a bike for £1000. Its the equivalent of 30 odd nights out pssing your money against the wall.

Trouble is I do both :oops:

bryanm

We had this debate at work a while back. I was buying a bike for the same amount as a work colleague was spending on a car.....

He thinks I'm mad!

andyp

bryanm wrote:

We had this debate at work a while back. I was buying a bike for the same amount as a work colleague was spending on a car.....

He thinks I'm mad!

If it's any consolation Bryan, I think he's mad!

BeaconRuth

Another angle on this issue is to ask how many miles people do in their car compared to on their bike. I do significantly more miles on a bike than I do in my car, and spend a lot more time on a bike than in a car - it doesn't seem unreasonable therefore to spend more on bikes.

Ruth

Titanium

You can't buy Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari or Casey Stoner's Ducati but you can buy Bettini's Colnago.

A cheap bike is significantly better than a cheap bike from 20 years ago.

The luxury end of the market has expanded in the last decade. A while back a Colnago with Record was about as premium as you could get. Now it's something like a Parlee with custom components like THM cranks, 0-G brakes. A $5000 bike was something outrageous, now you can easily drop $10000 on a road bike. Diminishing returns for every cent spent apply.

McBain_v1

Yeah, but you get the pleasure of knowing that for at least 2 months you're riding the best that money can buy. At least bikes are still "fit for purpose" for a years after the initial purchase - unlike computers which are obsolete within 20 minutes of getting it out of the box! :evil:

spen666

McBain_v1 wrote:

Yeah, but you get the pleasure of knowing that for at least 2 months you're riding the best that money can buy. At least bikes are still "fit for purpose" for a years after the initial purchase - unlike computers which are obsolete within 20 minutes of getting it out of the box! :evil:

Unlike most of us who ride them

redddraggon

Since I've started cycling, I justified getting a more expensive by comparing it to a computer.

I build my own computers, about £1000 a time, it'll only last for 2 years before I could do with a new one, it won't play new games, or hard drives getting a bit filled, or new OS coming out. The old computer will then probably disappear into the loft somewhere and I get a shiny new one.

If I bought a bike for £1000, two years down the road the hills haven't changed, the requirements of the bike (probably) haven't changed. The hills won't have changed and the performance difference between the bike from a couple of years ago and the future won't have changed massively. And even if I did get a new I'm sure the older bike would come in handy for wet or winter riding.

richardjallen

Is it the consensus that bikes of equal value get better over the years? Inflation makes money worth less all the time. On the other hand groupsets and components keep improving but don't they go up in price as well?

I've been following a brand since I bought one in 2004 and a lot of the components on them go down in spec while the price goes up.

HungryCol

Never tell your mother how much you spend on bikes/parts/clothing. She'll think you're more bonkers then you already are! Divide all original costs by at least 3.

Smokin Joe

Bikes are cheaper in real terms than they were 30 years ago, like all consumer goods. Another big difference is the range of groupsets from Campag and Shimano, which means you can have a bike with a Xenon group which does everything a top-end set like Record does and nearly as well, though weighs a bit more and is not as durable long term.

In days of old it was either expensive Campag stuff that many couldn't afford, or crap.

Monty Dog

As disposable incomes have increased considerably over the years, then consequently we are far more able to spend increasing amounts on things like bikes. But relative to many other sports, the cost of the technology is relatively accessible - bike and component manufacturers can only justify their investment in R&D if they sell the products to enthusiasts, not just supply professionals. I know I could buy a replica of Troy Corser's Ducati, but it would cost me £100k+ whereas I could buy a replica of Bettini's WC bike for about £5k. Unlike many people I don't spend £20k plus on a new car and watch it halve-in-value whilst sitting on my drive for 3 years.

Wheelie82

About eight or nine years ago I paid over £700 for a KHS Montana comp, move forward to now and you get a lot better value for your hard earned pounds, in real terms bikes are cheaper now than what they were 10 years ago.
But you could go and waste your cash on a car or go out getting pissed every night now that is a waste.

SteveR_100Milers

15 years ago carbon fibre was the wonder material for airbus and F1, I cannot recall any bikes made from it other than Boardman Lotus TT bike, which I'll bet cost a tad more than the £2k or so you would pay today for a decent road bike. Provising you don't crash damage the frame then it will theoretically last indefinitely, so the cost oif technology as ever has reduced dramatically. Electronic shimano Tiagra g/sets for £200 in 5 years time anyone?

NFMC

I also think it's to do with perception. The majority of people still see a bike as something that they had as a kid so they equate it to a toy. They can't see that anyone would pay over £1,000.00 on a toy.

Anyway...people at work think I'm mad at paying £70.00 for an annual service for my bike. But, I commute in all weathers so I feel that this investment is worthwhile. Copmpare that to the cost of their service and repairs for their family second car which they only ever use to go to work in and I think I'm quids in.

pneumatic

Never mind expensive, what about value for money?

I "recouped" the cost of my last two bikes:

1. by commuting on them rather than using a car (even just the fuel cost at 10p per mile soon adds up)
2. by taking a bike on holiday by ferry rather than a car (big difference in fares)
3. by taking a bike on holiday rather than hiring a car at my destination (10 quid to take it on the plane, rather than a week's car hire)
4. by using a bike for my exercise, rather than joining a gym (joining and membership fees for these places are not trivial)
5. by cycling for recreation rather than watching live football (day out at the Emirates for me and son = £150 at least), playing golf, going to Ikea etc...

Ok, so I do some of the other things as well as cycling and I am not completely miserly (although my wife would disagree) but the point is that cycling is hardly the most outrageous lifestyle choice, of those available to us.

SteveR_100Milers

Well, lets see what the reaction to spending so much money on a bike is when petrol hits £5 a litre.....

duckiciao

HungryCol wrote:

Never tell your mother how much you spend on bikes/parts/clothing. She'll think you're more bonkers then you already are! Divide all original costs by at least 3.

Tell me about it! I told my mam that my new jersey and bibshorts cost me £60 together (which they did), and she almost had a hernia. I then pointed out I could have spent about £150 with the same result and she calmed down a wee bit.

Garry71

I like it that there is a wide choice of prices for bikes, as my Carrera Virtuso only cost £260 which lets me dip my toe in the water where road bikes are concerned. I know £400-£500 is probably the widely accepted starting price for a beginners bike, but I couldn't justify that much on something I might not like, even though it's affordable.
I set the bike up myself, and am very pleased with the way it performs, and I wouldn't criticise anyone who wanted to spend £2000+ on a bike which they'd get good use out of.
Some blokes I work with would spend that much to lie drunk on a beach for two weeks.

Garry

daniel_b

Titanium wrote:

You can't buy Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari

Typo, joke, or genuine error?!

whyamihere

I was thinking about this a few days ago. If I say to someone who doesn't ride how much by bike actually costs, most of them will say "You could get a car for that!". They can't seem to grasp the difference between a top end bike and a bottom end used car...

This got me thinking, why don't people who buy supercars get told that they could have bought a plane for that much?

Shadowduck

whyamihere wrote:

This got me thinking, why don't people who buy supercars get told that they could have bought a plane for that much?

Maybe they do - I've never been in a position to find out!

Both my bikes put together cost about £400 so I'm probably a bit out of place in this thread - and I'm carless so it's not like I'm just playing at it! I don't race so I just buy cheap / second hand and then get on with riding what I've got rather than getting stuck on the upgrade treadmill. I have considered buying an "entry-level" £500 road bike but at the moment I don't see enough of an improvement over what I've got, for what I use it for.

You don't have to spend a bucket o' money - though I do understand the appeal!

Cunobelin

There is a theme called "trickledown technology"

I can remember disc brakes at £300 per set, and they were of poorer quality than some of the sub £100 of today. Equally a pair of v brakes were in excess of £100

Then the technology is copied, becomes competitive on the market and the price drops.

Of course if you are in cycling for fashion then that is another issue.

Personally I look at what I need and then buy something that fits that specification.

My Catrike was about £1500 and my new Thorn Nomad is about £2000

Both are superb machines and whilst I could have economised and bought cheaper, I feel they are both ideal machines for what I need, and I see them as an investment.

mea00csf

Also there's money saving on what you do in your leisure time.

For instance, i had a completely free weekend (rare thing for me, can't remeber the last time i had that!) and all i really wanted to do was get out for a long ride on my bike. Having no commitments other than to get back before it got dark i could take as long as i wanted at my pace so i was out all afternoon.

What would i have been doing if i hadn't been on the bike? probably cinema/meeting friends for drinks etc, all fairly costly.

and as far as £1000 getting you 30 nights out!? I don't go out much, but can't remeber coming back having burnt through less than £60 with drinks/club entry/taxis

I also recently had to lie to the parents over who the third bike in the flat belonged to As i have a full suss mountain bike (with upgrades it's cost me about £1000), a hybrid for commutes and hacking around on (cost about £250) and recently bought a road bike for £650 (which as far as my parents are concerned is my housemates, they'd have a heart attack if they found out!!!)

bice

i think my wife's 20 year old steel frame Raleigh is better than £200 aluminium frames today