Thread to tell everyone what bargains you've spotted!

focuszing723

Ummm. It was a hundred and forty five quid! It's a massive bargain at seventy for something which was knocked out in China for a couple of quid.

It's just a marketing exercise in taking the p1ss. I would hate to think there are people viewing this thinking somehow they need to buy this $h1t to be relevant.

pblakeney

There are posters you just know that you are going to be flagging as spam before reading a word.

focuszing723

I genuinely mean that.

daniel_b

I personally don't buy any kit because I want to be 'relevant' I simply buy it because I want to be comfortable, I like the look of it, and it may just possibly go with a bike or two

If it's massively reduced, all the better.

*I'll check when mine arrive, but 99.9% sure none of their kit (At least that I have bought) is made in China.

super_davo

Cycling kit is expensive but there are reasons for that...

Technical fabrics, low volume production, complex techniques.

You can get cheap stuff from China for a couple of quid, but it is generally terrible. You can get quality stuff from China that's a bit cheaper (SPExcel, Sirroko) but it's nowhere near as cheap as you'd think. And quality cycling kit does make a difference - comfort, fit, aero, weatherproofing, style - I can certainly notice it.

I would personally rather have Rapha/ Castelli on sale for a number of reasons, one of which being resale values can be really strong when you're bored with it and want to change.

focuszing723

I'm glad you both came back and put the other side of it. I just think for some, don't get caught up in it.

shirley_basso

I think for winter kit and shorts it makes a massive difference.

For summer jerseys I have a perfectly adequate Alibaba MAAP knock off which performed just as well as a £120 quid special in the heat.

That said, the expensive one is my go-to as it does feel more luxurious and like with all these things, whether you believe the marketing chat or not, who Charles what other people do with their money and why does it make people so upset that things are expensive when made overseas?

Rapha bottom line isn't that great if I recall. Margins are pretty thin given what they do and how much their kit costs, but I think that's because everyone who works there is fairly useless but loves riding their bike so nothing gets done.

mrb123

Some of the Pro Team Training jerseys are £46. Personally I don't think you'll find a better jersey for less money than that, and some of the colours look pretty smart too IMO.

daniel_b

I strongly suspect that the vast majority of people who post on here are far too savvy to get taken in by marketing etc, and know good quality and fit when they feel it.

I do see people who have recently taken up cycling who will deck themselves out head to toe in Rapha for example, I suspect as they buy it all in one hit, that they are paying full price, which is nice for Rapha of course, but I guess if the person can afford it, and it encourages them to get out on the bike, then why not.

The resale ease is a great point, I bought a couple of bundles a few years back, when it was shorts and a jersey + discount codes - I went for popular sized, and what I hoped would be coloured jerseys, and then sold them on, and ended up paying between £40 & £60 for the pro team shorts and core shorts, which are still in regular use to this day.

Jerseys I have sold on, have sold for around what I paid for them, if it was something desirable landed in a big sale like this, chances are you might make a modest profit.

I did once try some chinese cheap as chips (think £13-£15) jerseys, purely because it was a Scott design I was after from a few years back, that was simply not available in any official capacity.
The sizing is a lottery, and when they came, yes they looked ok, but the stitching was poor, the material was mediocre at best, and the fit was something else - also no silicone parts to keep anything in place.
I ended up giving them away, as it didn't seem right to sell them, even as fakes.

I take the point about high quality winter kit being more important, but when I'm on a hard ride in the heat (rare in this country I appreciate), I want really comfy, well fitted everything.

pinno

There is little doubt about the quality difference between cheap, mid range and expensive (but that Rapha jersey in snot green, FFS. Could they not contrive a better colour?).

I sold my Castelli Alpha for not much less than I paid for it and put it towards the Espresso 4(?).
It was used but showed little signs of it such was the quality of the garment.

I am sure the Assos and Rapha stuff is good but I couldn't justify paying full price except when it's on sale.
@ £105 for those winter tights from Rapha, now that's reasonable.

Quick review list of clothing I have or had:

Wilier bib shorts: Pad is superb (though feels slightly small) paid a mere £75 for them and they are excellent. Such a lovely fit, great leg grippers. I say 'mere', for the comfort, fit and quality, it's hard to think that you are going to get something much better for £25 to £100 more.

Castelli Giro D'Italia bib shorts: My go to pair. Just excellent. Paid £85. Fit is A1. Straps, cut, pad, leg grippers, length A1. (I like shorts to near the knee not Charely Mottet style).

I have other shorts with the Santini pad but that pad is over-used and over-rated.
Santini shorts: cut and length are a complete lottery. I have 3 pairs of which 1 is good, the other 2 are just all wrong. Paid iro £70 for them.

DHB and Lusso shorts: I use them for the rollers only. No good for < 35 mile rides. Fit is okay.

Le Col light winter tights (no pad). Not much to speak of. Paid £110 in a sale for them. Put me off Le Col a little. Maybe they have improved since then but i'll never know. Fit and cut is mediocre.

DHB Deep winter tights. They are good. An improvement on the previous version. Pad is a touch too large. Fit in M, they seem a little big TBH. Now I see the Rapha one's on sale for less, i'm thinking I was a little hasty as I could have held out with what I already had.

Nalini ss jersey - £35. I would rather pay double that and have something more versatile/better. Occasional use only. Will sell. It' held up but it's really out dated.

Giordana ss jersey. Love the fit and cut. Used in warm weather but the current stock of colours and patterns are off putting. Such a shame I won't be adding to my stock soon. Mine is a plain, deep burgundy with some detail and it looks and feels great. Cut in M is good. Fit is good. It's comfortable. It's 15+ years old!

Pearl Izumi full zip ss jersey: Never again. Cut was terrible. Baggy in the wrong places. The material felt odd when sweating.

Castelli perfetto ss jersey: £65 each on a sale: Worth every penny. Can't fault them. Now I know what they are like, I would happily pay full price.

Castelli lightweight race ss jersey (can't remember the name - Alpha ros?): Horrible. Just plain horrible. The sun seemed to burn through it. Fit was far too tight in certain places but okay in others. I am slim; 64kg's and caught between M and L in Castelli stuff - the fit is always in the back of your mind when buying Castelli. Paid £60 for it, sold for £35.
(It's a very good time to buy Castelli ss jerseys - all reasonably priced BTW)

Castelli Espresso jacket (£180 on sale iirc). Love the extended cuffs and collar. Zip tags could be better for pulling on with gloves. Like the twin pockets at the front. Rear pockets have slightly too tight elastic making removal of stuff whilst riding hazardous but it's still a superb bit of kit. Fit is great. Length is good. Breathes well, moves with you.

Castelli Alpha jacket. Could not get on with it. It was too tight in places - in M, same as the Espresso. Was very disappointed with it and what I paid for it (sale item again; £160 I think). Length at the back never seemed right either.

DHB full winter soft shell. Bought second hand (on here) for £60 I think. It's excellent for cold and dry winter rides. It actually competes with the Castelli Espresso that's much more expensive. Not a very sophisticated garment and not as versatile as the Castelli Espresso but it works!
I am in two minds if the temp is around 6-8 degrees: the Espresso or the DHB... The Espresso wins in colder and or windy conditions.

Helly hansen base layers: Pricey but good. The 'freeze' can be used as a jersey in mild weather if you have somewhere else to put stuff.

Odlo base layers: Not as pricey as HH. Just so soft and comfortable. They breathe very well. I run cold and they might be too warm for the non reptilians.

Wiggle used to do a heavy 220gm Merino base layer and it was very warm but stretched far too easily.
The 180gm isn't a patch on the above for warmth and i've gone off Merino in light of Sports pursuit offerings. I'll never go back to Merino - neither the over priced Baa Baa Merino or Craghoppers. Don't like the cut for cycling. They're okay for casual wear or maybe if you are a runnist. I use them when on my rollers because they are actually pretty light on their own, not as a layer.

Rough radical base layers are good. You'll pay iro £35+ but they are really hard wearing and just don't seem to ever wear out. Avoid the roll neck - the neck is far too tight.
I prefer the softer Idlo (just). You just don't know you are wearing one. I wear the Odlo stuff when not cycling.

Did I say 'quick'? I lied

daniel_b

pinno said:

Castelli Giro D'Italia bib shorts: My go to pair. Just excellent. Paid £85. Fit is A1. Straps, cut, pad, leg grippers, length A1. (I like shorts to near the knee not Charely Mottet style).

I have other shorts with the Santini pad but that pad is over-used and over-rated.
Santini shorts: cut and length are a complete lottery. I have 3 pairs of which 1 is good, the other 2 are just all wrong. Paid iro £70 for them.

DHB and Lusso shorts: I use them for the rollers only. No good for < 35 mile rides. Fit is okay.

DHB Deep winter tights. They are good. An improvement on the previous version. Pad is a touch too large. Fit in M, they seem a little big TBH. Now I see the Rapha one's on sale for less, i'm thinking I was a little hasty as I could have held out with what I already had.

Nalini ss jersey - £35. I would rather pay double that and have something more versatile/better. Occasional use only. Will sell. It' held up but it's really out dated.

Giordana ss jersey. Love the fit and cut. Used in warm weather but the current stock of colours and patterns are off putting. Such a shame I won't be adding to my stock soon. Mine is a plain, deep burgundy with some detail and it looks and feels great. Cut in M is good. Fit is good. It's comfortable. It's 15+ years old!

Pearl Izumi full zip ss jersey: Never again. Cut was terrible. Baggy in the wrong places. The material felt odd when sweating.

I suspect your Castelli shorts have the excellent Progetto or Progetto X2 pad in them, one of the best out there imho.
I started with a £60 pair of Santini bib shorts, from the now defunct GB Cycles - agreed, the material was fine, but the pad was nothing to write home about.
Surprised about the Lusso shorts, I have one pair and find them excellent fit wise, and pad wise, though not as good as Castelli, LP, Rapha or Ale.

I'm a little surprised about the Nalini jersey, unless it was full price at £35?
A little while ago PBK had a swathe of heavily discounted Nalini jerseys, I ordered a few and the cut/fit varied a lot, but it wasn't easy to tell from the websites write up - I kept a couple, and they fit really nicely, I was rather impressed.

Giordana are very underrated, used to make all of the Mitchelton Scott kit as well, top drawer I reckon - the giordana.co.uk site used to have some storming bargains, but last time I checked it was very small reductions if any.
Their bibshorts are excellent too.

I had the same experience as you with a PI jsersey, and that's only for turbo use now, but gambled on some of their Amfib heavy duty windstopper bibtights, and am very impressed with them.

I'd have to disagree on the green Rapha jersey though pinno, that dark green is one of my favourite greens - not a fan of the pea soup green. Like a bit of lime green too.
Appreciate it's all in the eye of the beholder

Back to bargains - I bought a Scott Centric in small for my 8 year old daughter recently, and I thought that was a stella bargain for £25, and it was.
However Westbrook now trump that with 2 colour options (In SMALL only), at only £19.99!
Down from £155 - bear in mind that in my experience they come with two sets of pads, and that one set of pads on it's own costs £20, it's quite the deal.

MIPS, great fitment system, and if you go for the black and yellow, and why wouldn't you, high vis as an extra bonus
https://westbrookcycles.co.uk/scott-centric-plus-cycle-helmet-p339814


Or this bronze thing.


Also, Santini have a pretty good sale on, and if you are a new signup they should send you a 10% code for your first order.
https://santinisms.co.uk/

Mad_Malx

Continental gp5000 25mm (or 23 if anyone still uses these) for £36

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/continental-grand-prix-5000-road-25c-tyres-pair-/rp-prod183075

Not tubeless though, and twinpack costs more per tyre.

Don’t think they do them in yellow

daniel_b

Mad_Malx said:

Continental gp5000 25mm (or 23 if anyone still uses these) for £36

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/continental-grand-prix-5000-road-25c-tyres-pair-/rp-prod183075

Not tubeless though, and twinpack costs more per tyre.

Don’t think they do them in yellow

I'm pretty sure there was a tyre I wanted where they announced colour options, and then changed their minds. Could have been the 5000.
I haven't had coloured tyres since Michelin pro 3s!

Pbk have higher % cashback through tcb, and they are £68 for a pair:
https://www.probikekit.co.uk/bicycle-tyres/continental-grand-prix-5000-clincher-road-tyre-twin-pack-black/12004047.html

redvision

Mad_Malx said:

Continental gp5000 25mm (or 23 if anyone still uses these) for £36

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/continental-grand-prix-5000-road-25c-tyres-pair-/rp-prod183075

Not tubeless though, and twinpack costs more per tyre.

Don’t think they do them in yellow

Or £30 at sigma sports if you ride 23mm (like I do)
https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Continental/GP5000-Clincher-Tyre/KJ5Z?id=957966

me-109

Elite Suito-T £460
https://wheelspincycles.com/accessories/turbo-trainers/trainer-suito-t-no-cassette-black-red-one-size__5510

N0bodyOfTheGoat

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/bundle-prime-rr-50-v3-disc-wheelset-tubeless-bundle-3875419

~£405 with SALE 10 promo code.

daniel_b

CRC (On TCB) have some pretty good discounts at the moment, and have that SALE10 code available - though bear in mind, despite it not being shown anywhere, it is single use per account.

vincesummerskRoxcBTr

Planet x neoprene overshoes on sale at £7.50 , they seem pretty good quality too.

veronese68

N0bodyOfTheGoat said:

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/bundle-prime-rr-50-v3-disc-wheelset-tubeless-bundle-3875419

~£405 with SALE 10 promo code.

Whoops, I seem to have ordered some wheels

pinno

vincesummerskRoxcBTr said:

Planet x neoprene overshoes on sale at £7.50 , they seem pretty good quality too.

I have a pair of them and I paid full whack. I really don't think much of them.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

https://www.evanscycles.com/brand/cannondale/slice-105-2016-triathlon-bike-916676#colcode=91667602

£599

Almost worth it just for the spares in this crazy pandemic world, besides being a cheap way into the world of TTing, if you can make sense of the 44/48/51cm frame geo compared to what you would need on a road bike.

MattFalle

veronese68 said:

N0bodyOfTheGoat said:

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/bundle-prime-rr-50-v3-disc-wheelset-tubeless-bundle-3875419

~£405 with SALE 10 promo code.

Whoops, I seem to have ordered some wheels

less than half the price of Hunts and exactly the same component parts and assembled in the same factory.

#bargain

andyrr

https://hollandbikeshop.com/en-gb/bike-computers-trainers/elite-cycling-trainer/elite-trainer/elite-suito-t-cycling-trainer-powermeter-black-722411/
Too good to be true ?

daniel_b

andyrr said:

https://hollandbikeshop.com/en-gb/bike-computers-trainers/elite-cycling-trainer/elite-trainer/elite-suito-t-cycling-trainer-powermeter-black-722411/
Too good to be true ?

The bike shop and offer are legit I think, but you'll now get clobbered for import duty, and admin fees the couriers can decide on.
In my experience it will cost about another 30%, so that would be pretty much £430, which I think takes it out of the REALLY good deal category?
Plus then if there is an issue, and you need to return it or it gets damaged in transit, the headaches begin.

No link to this place, or knowledge of them, but it popped up on a quick search for £399:
https://wheelspincycles.com/accessories/turbo-trainers/trainer-suito-t-no-cassette-black-red-one-size__5510

andyrr

I saw the wheelspincycles one and thought it good value but the Holandbikeshop one looks

daniel_b said:

andyrr said:

https://hollandbikeshop.com/en-gb/bike-computers-trainers/elite-cycling-trainer/elite-trainer/elite-suito-t-cycling-trainer-powermeter-black-722411/
Too good to be true ?

The bike shop and offer are legit I think, but you'll now get clobbered for import duty, and admin fees the couriers can decide on.
In my experience it will cost about another 30%, so that would be pretty much £430, which I think takes it out of the REALLY good deal category?
Plus then if there is an issue, and you need to return it or it gets damaged in transit, the headaches begin.

No link to this place, or knowledge of them, but it popped up on a quick search for £399:
https://wheelspincycles.com/accessories/turbo-trainers/trainer-suito-t-no-cassette-black-red-one-size__5510

Thanks - saw that one which i thought a great deal but a quick search for other Suito deals threw that one up which is (?) an even bigger bargain at 1st glance. Cheers for the advice.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

andyrr said:

Thanks - saw that one which i thought a great deal but a quick search for other Suito deals threw that one up which is (?) an even bigger bargain at 1st glance. Cheers for the advice.

Have you considered https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/elite-direto-smart-turbo-trainer/rp-prod177808 for £450 with SALE10 ?

daniel_b

N0bodyOfTheGoat said:

andyrr said:

Thanks - saw that one which i thought a great deal but a quick search for other Suito deals threw that one up which is (?) an even bigger bargain at 1st glance. Cheers for the advice.

Have you considered https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/elite-direto-smart-turbo-trainer/rp-prod177808 for £450 with SALE10 ?

Plus 3.8% through TCB, *could bring it down to around £433.

*Often they say TCB can be rejected if an unapproved TCB discount code it used, sometimes it happens, sometimes it still gets through.

pinno

Whilst perusing Sports Pursuit for base layers, this caught my eye:

https://www.sportpursuit.com/catalog/product/view/id/2336627

Reduced from £870 to £29.99?!
I guess they aren't selling and it's not hard to see why.

pblakeney

pinno said:

Whilst perusing Sports Pursuit for base layers, this caught my eye:

https://www.sportpursuit.com/catalog/product/view/id/2336627

Reduced from $870 to £29.99?!
I guess they aren't selling and it's not hard to see why.

Imagine if you'd paid full price. 🤣

pinno

pblakeney said:

pinno said:

Whilst perusing Sports Pursuit for base layers, this caught my eye:

https://www.sportpursuit.com/catalog/product/view/id/2336627

Reduced from $870 to £29.99?!
I guess they aren't selling and it's not hard to see why.

Imagine if you'd paid full price. 🤣

Indeed.
Imagine if they turn out ot be some rare cult collectors item in 10 years time worth thousands... and we had the chance to buy 3 for less than a ton.
I mean, you can buy an actual watch instead of a digital pair of Nike's.