Are we being ripped off?

samburgess

In response to some threads being posted about the Blackburn H4 Pump I wrote the following thread to express my views and increasing concerns that I have in regard to the general public in the UK being drastically over charged and frankly ripped off, this is a sentiment that I am hearing from fellow riders as well as bike shops.

Please see my post below and feel free to comment, in addition can I also throw the cycling media’s responsibility in all this and how they also play their part in not condemning blatantly overpriced items.


“I think this is another example of a bike component/bike manufacturing company taking the p*ss out of the British consumer.

I travel a lot with my job and will always pop into a local bike shop where ever my travels take me and I can assure everyone that there is no way the Americans pay any where near what us suckers pay in ole blighty.

I had to get some cable outing for my rear derailleur on my Orange 5 and was told that it would cost £10 a meter. To put this into context, gear outer cables are more expensive per meter than silver plated speak wire!! I don’t mind paying for quality as I work in the manufacturing industry and appreciate the costs of items, however what I am adverse too, is being ripped off which I think is becoming increasingly the case with bikes and bike components in the UK.
Draw your own conclusions from 2 common examples that I have highlighted below.

Santa Cruz Blur Lt2 Painted Frame US vs UK.

UK £1799.00 http://www.stif.co.uk/gear/select_optio ... &store=mtb
USA £1066.00 ($1750.00) http://www.bicycling.com/article/0,6610 ... -2,00.html

Blackburn Air tower 4 US vs UK.

UK £79.99 http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... delID=9546
USA £36.50 ($59.99) http://www.coloradocyclist.com/product/display/70520/”

supersonic

£10 a meter? I pay about £1 per metre in the UK!

Air Tower 4, £40:

http://www.cyclelane.co.uk/products.php ... p315&rs=gb

Shorty12

I think we are http://www.jensonusa.com/store/product/ ... ke+07.aspx

nicklouse

LOL go live in the USA and have all there other perks then.

supersonic

The 99c double cheesburgers were good. So many loons about though.

nicklouse

and all the other costs.

CommandoBoy

£50 isnt much, plus if the US is so cheap why do loads of people from there order from CRC?

GHill

samburgess wrote:

Santa Cruz Blur Lt2 Painted Frame US vs UK.

UK £1799.00 http://www.stif.co.uk/gear/select_optio ... &store=mtb
USA £1066.00 ($1750.00) http://www.bicycling.com/article/0,6610 ... -2,00.html

This isn't quite accurate. USA RRP is $1850 (powdercoat), UK is £1799. Remove sales tax from the UK price (as the USA price doesn't include any) = £1564.35.

Converting the USA price using a tourist rate from today = £1124.91. Still a big saving, but no where near the original mark.

This could also be seen to be a bit of a straw man example too, a boutique bike is likely to cost much less in it's country of origin than the export market. For example I looked at buying an Orange 5 frame out here, only place I could find it wanted $2100, compare with the UK price (less sales tax) of £1108.65 and the US price looks like a total rip off (which it is).

EDIT: corrected a mistake in my maths.

cat_with_no_tail

You cannot seriously compare prices of good in the US to prices of goods in the UK anyway, it's all relative.

The 2 products you highlighted above are both manufactured in the US, so you would expect to pay less anyway.

Can you post some examples of Hope stuff? or Orange?

supersonic

RRP is just that though - shop carefully and you can pick up some bargains (not always with frames like above, but the pump that was pointed out).

nicklouse

GHill
good to have a view from over the pond

GHill

nicklouse wrote:

GHill
good to have a view from over the pond

Did I mention having to pay $100 for a basic doctors appointment. That's after my (fairly decent) health insurance picked up some of the tab. Asthma inhaler, $50.

Don't get me wrong, there are some bargains here but it's not as cheap as people seem to think. Sales tax is often a big culprit for that. If you'd like another silly example Trek Fuel Ex 8 US MSRP $2639.99, UK SRP £1750. Remove UK sales tax and UK price = £1521.74. Convert UK to USA using tourist rate = $2408.15. And that's a bike from the big US brand.

As someone mentioned above, prices are relative (take into account wages, how much tax comes off that wage, cost of living etc) and exchange rates fluctuate a lot. A couple of months ago £1 was approx $1.35. It's now $1.58. A year ago it was about $2.00.

In essence, don't worry about it unless you're an economist and need to study it - it's a waste of time.

Rockhopper

Plus economies of scale come into play, the US market is huge compared to the UK.

rudedog

Regardless of the USA/UK debate on price variations, I still think that a lot of bike parts/goods are more expensive than they probably should be.

Tank-slapper

Life in general is more expensive than it needs to be. But it's only money.

spongtastic

yes everything's more expensive than it needs to be.

I pay over £1k in tax every month.

But then again I don't have to pay to visit the doctors. When a friend lived in the us it cost him $400 for a course of anti biotics. I visited and it cost me $3000 after a marine knocked a front tooth out. And we complain about a £7 prescription fee.

horses, courses, swings and rounabouts.

I like it here and don't really mind.