£262.36

The Spiderman

As an example of how ridiculous parts prices now are:
Outer ring for an XT M770 is now £97.Middle is £36.20,inner is £14.67,cassette is £78.29 and chain is £36.20.9All rrp)
Thats £262 when your drivetrain needs replacing!
Cheaper to get my car serviced!
:shock:

Alex-nutsaboutbiking

yes i must admit things are a little pricey (i think i spelt that right :? )

but maybe go to your L.B.S they normaly have more budget parts in there, i picked up a whole back wheel last week brand new for 25 quid bargin (okay its a bit naff looking but it was only temporary)

djvagabon

I knw the feeling. Mine is XTR, which doesnt last very long. You then have tyres and servicing for forks, hubs. Its an expensive game. I always wince at the cost when i replace things. As soon as i take my bike for a spin though i forget about the cost. It makes it all worth it.

Northwind

Or, you could just replace the entire crank for barely more than the price of one ring

Alex-nutsaboutbiking

Northwind wrote:

Or, you could just replace the entire crank for barely more than the price of one ring

Noo no no, thats far too easy

dave_hill

Right now at CRC...

Full set of Middleburn Slick-Shift Hardcoat rings (British made too and infinitely better than Shimano's own rings) - £63.99 (Linky)

Shimano XT Cassette, 9 speed, 11-32 or 11-34 - £34.99 (Linky)

Total - £98.98

djvagabon

dave_hill wrote:

Right now at CRC...

Full set of Middleburn Slick-Shift Hardcoat rings (British made too and infinitely better than Shimano's own rings) - £63.99 (Linky)

Shimano XT Cassette, 9 speed, 11-32 or 11-34 - £34.99 (Linky)

Total - £98.98

Do they fit XTR?

Joe_Pineapples

My three XT rings need replaced, and they soon will be with a whole SLX crankset!

Joe.

The Spiderman

Will anyone continue to buy XTR?

Chaka Ping

Really shocking when you put it like that.

I was going to sell the spare chainsets I've managed to acumulate over the last few months while swapping bikes, but I think I may hang on to one of them now.

Glad I stocked up on cassettes and chains in the CRC flood sale too.

-liam-

So what is the manufacturers reasoning behind the price hike ?

Can't be materials as raw materials such as steel and aluminium are like 50% of the price they were at their peak months ago...

Andy B

-Liam- wrote:

So what is the manufacturers reasoning behind the price hike ?

Can't be materials as raw materials such as steel and aluminium are like 50% of the price they were at their peak months ago...

It's partly because of the prices when they were at their peak, as that's when the manufacturers bought the materials for the '09 product range. Also to do with the dropping value of the £

dave_hill

djvagabon wrote:

Do they fit XTR?

Er, no. But the OP did specify XT rings. However, Middleburn also do rings for XTR, also available from CRC (a careful search of CRC's website will show this to be the case) for not a lot more. Certainly a lot less than Shimano's prices.

dave_hill

Andy_B wrote:

-Liam- wrote:

So what is the manufacturers reasoning behind the price hike ?

Can't be materials as raw materials such as steel and aluminium are like 50% of the price they were at their peak months ago...

It's partly because of the prices when they were at their peak, as that's when the manufacturers bought the materials for the '09 product range. Also to do with the dropping value of the £

And the relative strength of the Yen/Dollar/Euro against the pound.

The company that I work for imports and sells packaging and material handling equipment from Germany and Italy. We are currently working on a £1 = €1 exchange rate and our spare part prices have shot up by about 30% in the last month alone.

dave_hill

Andy_B wrote:

-Liam- wrote:

So what is the manufacturers reasoning behind the price hike ?

Can't be materials as raw materials such as steel and aluminium are like 50% of the price they were at their peak months ago...

It's partly because of the prices when they were at their peak, as that's when the manufacturers bought the materials for the '09 product range. Also to do with the dropping value of the £

And the relative strength of the Yen/Dollar/Euro against the pound.

The company that I work for imports and sells packaging and material handling equipment from Germany and Italy. We are currently working on a £1 = €1 exchange rate and our spare part prices have shot up by about 30% in the last month alone.

-liam-

So taking into account the weakness of the pound, can we expect the prices to come back down to a normal level once the material bought at the current prices starts working its way into manufacturers production lines ?

lol ! I doubt it.

djvagabon

I doubt it aswell. It just means that their profit margins will increase.
I dont care what they say about how much they spend on advancements, testing and materials. The people who make these things are making huge profits.
You can buy a brand new Honda Fireblade for £9,000. That bike will do early 200 m.p.h. They spend hundreds of millions on testing and moto g.p.
Specialized sell the new Epic for over £5,000. Do they really expect people to believe that this is justified?
We are being ripped off and thats all there is to it.

chrisga

-Liam- wrote:

So what is the manufacturers reasoning behind the price hike ?

Can't be materials as raw materials such as steel and aluminium are like 50% of the price they were at their peak months ago...

Urr dont believe everything you read in the press. I work in the construction industry for a steel fabricator and the price of steel (sheet and rolled sections from Corus) has only dropped by about £150 since the peak last August of approx £850/tonne. And that is only the price stockholders are selling it atas they are trying to shift stock because nobody is buying it (they are making ridiculous losses trying to shift stuff but since one does it they all have to do it cheaper). Corus are increasing the price of steel in March by another £100/tonne and so all the stockholders are having to re-stock at the full price.

As for the analogy of the fireblade and the epic, Honda will sell many more fireblades than Specialized will sell Epics so you get economies of scale.

Mountain bike parts are fairly reasonably priced in my eyes, just shop around for the bargains. If you want to be ripped off, try getting into dinghy sailing!

djvagabon

chrisga wrote:

-Liam- wrote:

So what is the manufacturers reasoning behind the price hike ?

Can't be materials as raw materials such as steel and aluminium are like 50% of the price they were at their peak months ago...

Urr dont believe everything you read in the press. I work in the construction industry for a steel fabricator and the price of steel (sheet and rolled sections from Corus) has only dropped by about £150 since the peak last August of approx £850/tonne. And that is only the price stockholders are selling it atas they are trying to shift stock because nobody is buying it (they are making ridiculous losses trying to shift stuff but since one does it they all have to do it cheaper). Corus are increasing the price of steel in March by another £100/tonne and so all the stockholders are having to re-stock at the full price.

As for the analogy of the fireblade and the epic, Honda will sell many more fireblades than Specialized will sell Epics so you get economies of scale.

Mountain bike parts are fairly reasonably priced in my eyes, just shop around for the bargains. If you want to be ripped off, try getting into dinghy sailing!

Yes they will sell more Fireblades, but they will also spend more on testing and sponsorship deals. Mountain bike parts and clothing are overpriced. As for dinghy sailing, I think ill stick to mountain biking. My mate owns a bike shop and even he admits parts are over priced.

-liam-

chrisga wrote:

-Liam- wrote:

So what is the manufacturers reasoning behind the price hike ?

Can't be materials as raw materials such as steel and aluminium are like 50% of the price they were at their peak months ago...

Urr dont believe everything you read in the press. I work in the construction industry for a steel fabricator and the price of steel (sheet and rolled sections from Corus) has only dropped by about £150 since the peak last August of approx £850/tonne. And that is only the price stockholders are selling it atas they are trying to shift stock because nobody is buying it (they are making ridiculous losses trying to shift stuff but since one does it they all have to do it cheaper). Corus are increasing the price of steel in March by another £100/tonne and so all the stockholders are having to re-stock at the full price.

As for the analogy of the fireblade and the epic, Honda will sell many more fireblades than Specialized will sell Epics so you get economies of scale.

Mountain bike parts are fairly reasonably priced in my eyes, just shop around for the bargains. If you want to be ripped off, try getting into dinghy sailing!

I'm a sub contract production engineer. I know exactly how much materials are costing - Billet or raw bar and scrap values as well.

Corus are losing business hand over foot because they aren't cheap by any stretch of the imagination. If your company are using corus to supply you and you guys are putting up with their price increases(even though they are mothballing mills and plants) then more fool you.

The price of aluminum, which being specific is what we are really talking about has come down from around $3000/ton in the summer to not much over $1000/ton now in the metal markets.

Anyway, back on topic

chrisga

We wont buy directly from Corus for exactly the reasons you state and havent for a long time, but they drive the market value for the items we buy with their pricing strategy. Nothing we can do about that, I wasnt taking umbrage with you, what really annoys me is that someone at the BBC has been told that steel prices are falling when in reaility they are not and amongst other things it is strangling the construction industry.

Anyway back to bikes.....

Captain Turok

So what are the new Sram XX components going to retail at?
I'm assuming Sram are going to pitch them at a XO rear mech levels?! :shock: