Why is Cycling so F%&*ing expensive

holmeboy

Shitting here pissed, (12 hr shifts so it does'nt take much) but why is cycling so expensive? and how do all of you'se with a budget manage? Things i need which cost a lot :- Decent saddle (both bikes), Descent Lights (for commiting to and from work), not to mention tyres,inner tubes, brake pads, descent pump,new helmut. Worn out a few set of wheels, deraillers, cassettes, chains the list is fecking endless. Maybe I shouild have stuck to buying cheap second hand bike for 50 quid and just worn them out and then moved onto the next one, would be cheaper. :oops:

1footedninja

I have an old cronk of a bike which I use as my getting about bike and workbike, love it, hardtail old claudebutler - got it for 30quid ages ago, only thing I have to do is change the crank every now and again on it and however much I run it into the ground it keeps going and going. And then I have my Thorn Nomad which is the shizznits. Which I tour on.

My last buy was a new backrack. And I really should get some brakes sorted out on my work bike! :shock:

geoff_ss

If you think cycling's expensive then you should try (say) golf, sailing, aeromodelling, motor cycling for example.

The last 3 I've tried (still do the toy aeroplane thing). I'm not old enough for golf yet

In fact cycling doesn't need to be expensive. It's only expensive if you insist on the latest gimmicks. I was out today wearing a 30+ year old jersey and Sidi Winter boots I must have bought 20 years ago. If I chose I could build a perfectly good and lightweight bike for very little money. It wouldn't have indexed gears but it would still be perfectly rideable and good for 200km Audaxes.

Geoff

Ph!l_GeeWhizz

It would be nice to have all the top gear and look like a pro, no doubt.
I ride a 20 year old hard tail bike which has had a few upgrades in those 20 years but still keeps going and going. I dare say that with better gear i'd ride faster and longer but hey, i'm still out riding and love it.
When it comes to buying gear, keep a look out for bargains in the shops and check out the classifieds and e-bay.
Phil .

holmeboy

Geoff_SS wrote:

If you think cycling's expensive then you should try (say) golf, sailing, aeromodelling, motor cycling for example.

The last 3 I've tried (still do the toy aeroplane thing). I'm not old enough for golf yet

In fact cycling doesn't need to be expensive. It's only expensive if you insist on the latest gimmicks. I was out today wearing a 30+ year old jersey and Sidi Winter boots I must have bought 20 years ago. If I chose I could build a perfectly good and lightweight bike for very little money. It wouldn't have indexed gears but it would still be perfectly rideable and good for 200km Audaxes.

Geoff

How old are you?

I need a set of descent lights for cycling to and from work, a descent set ain't cheap. I need a descent saddle to save my aching Arse, they Ain't cheap Even if they were on a cheap bike. bike was 600 quid the other got 400 quids worth of groupset on it , probally regarded as cheap on here.

brownleather

holmeboy

Define cheap, Define expensive

ride_whenever

eeerm, cheap decent lights, P7 from deal extreme circa 30-40 pounds plus battery and charge £50-£60
cheap bike my singlespeed commuting bike cost £200 second hand it does need new wheels soon, but they wont cost me more than £150-£200 and that's after over a year's use
decent saddle: charge spoon £22.50

Frank the tank

All hobbies/passtimes are expensive because the manufacturers of the kit know because it's a hobby the persuant will pay silly money to have the best kit. This they exploit to the utmost.

Cycling can be as cheap/expensive as you wish it to be.

holmeboy

brownleather wrote:

holmeboy

Define cheap, Define expensive

Cheap anything under 20 pounds
Expensive anything over 20 pounds

just spent best part of 50 quid on lights

sonicred007

because we keep paying the prices advertised

Escargot

Cycling does not need to be that expensive at all. You can buy a bike for a few hundred ££ and if you buy other stuff online or at Halfords/Lidl etc. then it needn't cost much at all. In this day and age you can buy 80% of the things you need discounted either in a sale or if you ask for money off.

IMHO bike stuff can be expensive (relative to your disposable income) but then how much work do you think goes into designing/manufacturing/assembling/testing/developing/marketing/packaging/shipping an entire £400 groupset ? Many of the things you're talking about are luxury items after all.

Naturally there's markup on these items but if you haggle or buy discounted then you will have minimised this profit margin. What you're then left with is a fair price as far as I'm concerned and if you still think that's expensive then c'est la vie I'm afraid.

Slow Downcp

Is your ride to and from work on lit or unlit streets? I've bought some of these:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Smart ... 360026000/

Cheap and good enough to be seen.

brownleather

holmeboy wrote:

just spent best part of 50 quid on lights

To be totally fair £50 lights aren't expensive, especially if they are good ones like the Fenix.

APIII

Cycling is an industry like any other, with companies doing their best to prosper and therefore relieve your wallet of as much cash as possible. If I had any advice it would be to buy good quality, not necessarily the most expensive, nor the cheapest. If it lasts, the cost per year, per mile, or whatever isn't so bad. The inital outlay is the most painful part, I bet even Geoff_ss complained about the cost of those Sidis 20 years ago Just remember, last year's must haves are this year's bargains

sonicred007

Stop buying Cycling Plus - it's like one long session of tease and foreplay.. only the money shot is buying cycling gear ... take away the temptation and you'll only buy when things go wrong... but how do discover innovation and changes in products ... back onto the subscription then and wasting money on novelty

shouldbeinbed

holmeboy wrote:

brownleather wrote:

holmeboy

Define cheap, Define expensive

Cheap anything under 20 pounds
Expensive anything over 20 pounds

just spent best part of 50 quid on lights

realistically thats pretty cheap when you see sets for £250-400.

My main bikes have both cost me the price of a second/third hand car initially but have/will last far longer and wont need £150 odd tax disc and £750 odd insurance (my regular use bike's insurance is £120) nor costly MOT's each year and don't need to be filled up with £30 of fuel every single week, oil now and again, windscreen wash fluid etc. my bike tyres dont cost £60 and I dont need 4 or 5 at a time.

both have been my principle form of transort for years on end and now one is in semi retirement It's costing me nowt - transferred onto the house insurance with a riding it surcharge (costing me £ 20 extra p.a.). I've also got an old claud butler picked up for a tenner and built up from shed bits and scrounging.

I buy my bikes infrequently and carefully select them to be as bespoke as possible when I get them so not much extra to add. I've kitted my latest bike out to exactly what i want for £130 and that includes the price of the uber comfy and well worn in Brooks saddle and smart polaris lights I've transferred from the butler.

An annual bus season ticket would cost me well over £800 a year, its hit and miss whether I can use it on all of my deregulated connections so realistically £1000 p.a. and it takes 3 times as long to commute by bus as by bike or car so wasting huge amounts of my limited free time.

In what I would pay out for a car I could replace tyres & tubes as needed, a new helmet every year or two, cables and brackets as neccessary have the absoulute best kit and have most of it solid gold plated and still have money left over to pay a busty model to come round and wash my bike in nothing more than hotpants and a bikini top once a month.

in isolation they look costly, in comparison to the alternatives they're dirt cheap

geoff_ss

holmeboy wrote:

Geoff_SS wrote:

If you think cycling's expensive then you should try (say) golf, sailing, aeromodelling, motor cycling for example.

The last 3 I've tried (still do the toy aeroplane thing). I'm not old enough for golf yet

In fact cycling doesn't need to be expensive. It's only expensive if you insist on the latest gimmicks. I was out today wearing a 30+ year old jersey and Sidi Winter boots I must have bought 20 years ago. If I chose I could build a perfectly good and lightweight bike for very little money. It wouldn't have indexed gears but it would still be perfectly rideable and good for 200km Audaxes.

Geoff

How old are you?

I need a set of descent lights for cycling to and from work, a descent set ain't cheap. I need a descent saddle to save my aching ars*, they Ain't cheap Even if they were on a cheap bike. bike was 600 quid the other got 400 quids worth of groupset on it , probally regarded as cheap on here.

When I commuted (27 miles every working day throughout the year) I made my own lighting system. It comprised a halogen dynamo headlamp and rear light powered by a 3x2v 2.2Ah Cyclon lead acid batteries fitted into an old bidon. We had 2 sets one for me and one for my wife and I charged them at work using a bench power supply (I was an electronics design engineer). When LED rear lamps were introduced we changed to them instead of the tungsten filament ones we'd used previously.

There are some fantastic lighting systems available now. I envy you all the choice. We have a Shiman hub dynamo on the tandem and that works extremely well.

Geoff

squired

Over the last 20 years the quality of cycing equipment (especially the clothing) has improved dramatically, but so has the cost. I think back to the gear I used to ride to university in and sometimes it makes me shudder, even more so when I think of the terrible (British standard) bike lights I used. These days I'm not sure if the quality of the cheap stuff is actually good value - if anything it has been made purposefully bad to get you to buy more expensive stuff.

Yesterday I almost died of shock when I saw that GB cycles is selling the new range of Campag Clothing. Almost £250 for the top of the range bib tights. How on earth can you charge that much for bib tights? Is the material that high tech and expensive?

Frank the tank

squired wrote:

Over the last 20 years the quality of cycing equipment (especially the clothing) has improved dramatically, but so has the cost. I think back to the gear I used to ride to university in and sometimes it makes me shudder, even more so when I think of the terrible (British standard) bike lights I used. These days I'm not sure if the quality of the cheap stuff is actually good value - if anything it has been made purposefully bad to get you to buy more expensive stuff.

Yesterday I almost died of shock when I saw that GB cycles is selling the new range of Campag Clothing. Almost £250 for the top of the range bib tights. How on earth can you charge that much for bib tights? Is the material that high tech and expensive?

If nobody buys them they'll have to review their prices, but, I think enough people will buy them. Brand loyaoty and all that bollow.

Purchase a different brand, simple.

jermas

Why are 10 spd chains 3-4 times the price of 8 spd?
Why are cycle specific lubricants 10 times the price of "standard" oils?
How can gear shifters cost more than my laptop I'm writing this on?
Brake blocks £6.00 for a tiny piece of rubber?
Cycle helmets -made in China-flimsy bit of plastic and polyestyrene-lets say £80.
Wheelset-don't get me started.
The list is never ending.
I'm not saying that these products are poor quality, far from it but the price being charged for some items just can't be justified.

Frank the tank

jermas wrote:

Why are 10 spd chains 3-4 times the price of 8 spd?
Why are cycle specific lubricants 10 times the price of "standard" oils?
How can gear shifters cost more than my laptop I'm writing this on?
Brake blocks £6.00 for a tiny piece of rubber?
Cycle helmets -made in China-flimsy bit of plastic and polyestyrene-lets say £80.
Wheelset-don't get me started.
The list is never ending.
I'm not saying that these products are poor quality, far from it but the price being charged for some items just can't be justified.

I refer you to my answer I gave yesterday.

bexley5200

ultegra 9 speed cassette £20,10 speed £40 105

holmeboy

Frank the tank wrote:

Cycling can be as cheap/expensive as you wish it to be.

Please tell me how I can make cycling cheap and still do a lot of miles (even just counting going back and forth to work) and not be uncomfertable or at risk?

volvicspar

Write to Santa and ask for cycling bits, used to work for me..... 8)

Anonymous

holmeboy wrote:

Frank the tank wrote:

Cycling can be as cheap/expensive as you wish it to be.

Please tell me how I can make cycling cheap and still do a lot of miles (even just counting going back and forth to work) and not be uncomfertable or at risk?

Buy a massive and cheap gel saddle with springs on it and eat lots of tesco blue stripe carrots, no need to buy lights then. Also go to work when there is no traffic or walk beside your bike on the pavement.

geoff_ss

holmeboy wrote:

Frank the tank wrote:

Cycling can be as cheap/expensive as you wish it to be.

Please tell me how I can make cycling cheap and still do a lot of miles (even just counting going back and forth to work) and not be uncomfertable or at risk?

Buy a second hand good quality steel frame (eg Reynolds 531) or even a complete bike. They're good to ride and there must be 100s around now. You don't need expensive ergo-power or any combined gear/brake levers or even indexed gearing come to that though D/T shifters can be indexed. I've got perfectly good wheels that have many miles in them already and still many to come.

One of the most comfortable frames I've ridden is 60 years old and was nearly 50 years old when it was my long distance Audax bike complete with full mudguards and carrier rack.

If you want a modern bike, my wife has a hybrid Marin which weighed in at about 10kg before I fitted the 'guards and rear carrier practicality demanded. She's had it about 6 years and ridden it over 30,000 miles including many 100 mile plus days. It cost about £700 (ish). That's pretty cheap cycling in my book. We do all the repairs maintenance ourselves - her the routine stuff and me the more complicated. I wouldn't let her ride anything that was dangerous and she wouldn't ride anything that was uncomfortable.

Geoff

holmeboy

Please, inexpensive lights that'll let me see in the dark (can't eat that many carrots and don't want skin like ex Mrs Andre) and won't fall off going over potty Holes! Already bought most of my cycling kit from Aldi's, tried the gell saddle from Asda and wore it out but still had a sore ars* anyway. Have got about 8 worn out cheap pumps in the garage and my Mountain bike (old) needs a new front fork, were can I get a cheap one of them?
Santa would be alright if he existed and was't bank rolled by ME! CYCLING IS EXPENSIVE. no doubt about it! :roll:

geoff_ss

Why do you need a new pair of forks? My mountain bike is about 30 years old and the forks are still perfectly OK. Ah, I bet you want front suspension. As I said, if you want modern gizmos then you have to pay for them, Believe it or not front suspension isn't a necessity. I've ridden down huge flights of steps on my rigid bike. Can't do it now because of infirmity and injury but that's the only reason. Crikey I used to ride motor cycle trials on a 1933 350cc Ariel with all of 2" fork movement at the front and 0" at the back

8 worn out pumps? I've never worn out a pump in my life. I've bought better ones but the old ones still work. Get a track pump for home use and (hopefully) you'll rarely need to use the one you carry.

Cycling can be perfectly cheap if you want it to be and not by buying poor quality cheap stuff, either.

Lights? I rode all my long audaxes with a front wheel driven dynamo and an LED rear light. As I've said I made my own rechargeable battery system for commuting. Believe it or not people have been commuting for many decades without having to spend a fortune.

Geoff

shouldbeinbed

holmeboy wrote:

Please, inexpensive lights that'll let me see in the dark (can't eat that many carrots and don't want skin like ex Mrs Andre) and won't fall off going over potty Holes! Already bought most of my cycling kit from Aldi's, tried the gell saddle from Asda and wore it out but still had a sore ars* anyway. Have got about 8 worn out cheap pumps in the garage and my Mountain bike (old) needs a new front fork, were can I get a cheap one of them?
Santa would be alright if he existed and was't bank rolled by ME! CYCLING IS EXPENSIVE. no doubt about it! :roll:

Troll or Plank?

If cycling is so expensive use another form of transport and get a Gym membership. Then come back and tell us how much you've saved.

Google, ebay, work intranet, bike fairs, freecycle, put a wanted ad in the local paper - trust me you'll be amazed how many people have bikes in the shed they want rid of for little or nothing - Pal of mine did this and got over 80 to pick from in a week and a half. Maybe use a bit of initiative and lateral thinking and work it out rather than whinging so much and so very very wrongly (buy a car and see the difference).

Get off your sore ars* (adjust your saddle BTW that may help that one) and find the better deals and options.

and here's me not even a rocket scientist :roll:

KevinMcC

Halfords Carrera TDF- not great but good enough for me at £230

Jersey- red with reflective, very breathable, 3 pockets one zip pocket- £10

Specialized helmet- £20

Shorts- not bib shorts but padded and comfy (slight belly holds them up ) £12

Lights- £40 from LBS sale rack

Water Bottle and Cage- £4 from tesco

Arse that wasnt sore- rode through it till my bony arse got used to it

money I would have saved if I could get off my arse and cycle to work instead of sleeping in and getting the train- circa £350 (damn my comfy bed)

the joy of cycling- priceless

as has been said, cycling can be cheap if you dont want all the latest kit. You mention safety- old bike well maintained will be safe.

volvicspar

The trouble is if you work 12 hours shifts your unlikely to have much time to hunt bargains - that's if you can even be bothered after work. (I couldn't)

Personally I don't find cycling expensive at all - I've spent less than £50 on my bikes in 6 months, and my bikes were cheap to start with but that does not mean everyone can ride so cheap. Parts new are pretty expensive.

it's possible to find some great bargains - but he may not have the time to do that, especially if he has a family to look after ? (don't know if he has)


Token :roll: