Is Cycle Equipment & clothing overpriced and too expensi

team south east

Is it me or does everyone find that cycle equipment is very overpriced for what you get? I just wanted to know the general opinion on this as I find some of the stuff really expensive. Has it always been like this or has the price increased due to cycling being more popular now? Am I just looking in the wrong places to buy cycling equipment and clothing?

Wooliferkins

Hmm, criminally weak pound, everything but Lusso made in the far east, spiralling raw material costs as China tries its' best to buy everything. I wonder

biondino

Technical equipment will always be expensive as you have to pay for a) the special materials, b) the design and c) the research and development.

The more popular cycling gets, the more economies of scale will come into play, so it should get (relatively) cheaper. However, we're in a period now where the crappy pound means imports of both finished goods and raw materials are much more expensive.

Finally, yes, you're probably looking in the wrong place, as there are bargains to be found, whether cheap, good value brands like DHB or Craft, or discounted goods from makers like Descente, Adidas, Castelli etc., especially out of season or when the retailer is looking to clear old stock.

tailwindhome

Expensive compared to what?

downfader

If you're looking at things like cycling gloves, jerseys etc, yes I agree it can be expensive.

However you dont need cycling specific gear to ride. You can do it in jeans and I did that for years. Even during the summer when I was a kid

Then there are outlets like Blacks, The Cotswolds, Millets etc the walking shops often have sales on cheap sports wicking fabrics. So an proper jersey would cost me say £35, but I can get similar threads from a walking shop £12 a t shirt if I go at the right time or the right place.

Just shop around.

pastryboy

Considering you can get a whole bike for £80 the price of some components/clothing seems unjustifiably high. Like anything else though you need to shop around - cheap running kit is good.

Wooliferkins

pastryboy wrote:

Considering you can get a whole bike for £80 the price of some components/clothing seems unjustifiably high. Like anything else though you need to shop around - cheap running kit is good.

As you can't buy the raw materials needed to manufacture a bike for less than £300ish what does that tell you bout BSOs

downfader

Wooliferkins wrote:

pastryboy wrote:

Considering you can get a whole bike for £80 the price of some components/clothing seems unjustifiably high. Like anything else though you need to shop around - cheap running kit is good.

As you can't buy the raw materials needed to manufacture a bike for less than £300ish what does that tell you bout BSOs

On the small scale yes. BSOs are made from super-bulk-bought materials to save money. All kinds of manufacturing anomalies are put in place too, to save money.

snellgrove

To answer the posters question - yes, cycling equipment is extremely expensive.

Until you look at other hobbies like photography (top of the range canon 400mm lens anyone? £5000+) same goes for their top camera - £4500+ (I don't own either but would love to - maybe in about 20 years)

Bike stuff aint tooo bad compared to some hobbies but it's certainly not cheap. I think the problem is, good kit is just about in grasp, so I tend to stretch myself to get it. I must be a snob or something... I do believe you get what you pay for.

Everything's gone up though due to the pound weakening against important other currencies like the euro, USD and the Yen. That covers Campagnolo, SRAM and Shimano really quite nicely

Christophe3967

biondino wrote:

Technical equipment will always be expensive as you have to pay for a) the special materials, b) the design and c) the research and development.

The more popular cycling gets, the more economies of scale will come into play, so it should get (relatively) cheaper. However, we're in a period now where the crappy pound means imports of both finished goods and raw materials are much more expensive.

Finally, yes, you're probably looking in the wrong place, as there are bargains to be found, whether cheap, good value brands like DHB or Craft, or discounted goods from makers like Descente, Adidas, Castelli etc., especially out of season or when the retailer is looking to clear old stock.

+1 (although I do think that calling the pound 'crappy' is a little mean )

Some stuff may be expensive but this usually reflects the fact that it is well made, lasts for years, and is a pleasure to own. And compare the cost of, say, a skiing jacket with a cycling jacket, which I am currently doing, and the cycling jacket suddenly seems a bargain.

There is also plenty of stuff that is cheaper but still well made. Wiggle has a sale on right now btw.

Sailorchick

I'd agree cycling stuff is expensive. I sail and my sailing kit costs less than cycling clothing despite being very technical materials. I actually wear some of my sailing thermals (poly pro top) for cycling as they are warm, breathable and very stretchy http://www.roostersailing.com/merchant2 ... _Code=RPPT.

team south east

Well I bought one of those Altura fluorescent jackets and within a year the zip has busted along with breast zip so i basically had to take it to a taylor to get a new zip fitted, a proper one at that. I find the jackets flimsy. I think they are using cheap materials and ripping us off is you ask me.

il_principe

Yeah - it can be expensive and some of it is probably overpriced - but most of it is of excellent quality and as others point out it's not that bad especially if it's something you use a lot, you'll get your value in the long run. The key is to look after your purchases properly - a well maintained groupset will last much longer than one that is hardly ever serviced. Anyway it's not nearly as overpriced as some things are - Tube travel in London for example.

iPete

snellgrove wrote:

To answer the posters question - yes, cycling equipment is extremely expensive.

Until you look at other hobbies like photography (top of the range canon 400mm lens anyone? £5000+) same goes for their top camera - £4500+ (I don't own either but would love to - maybe in about 20 years)

Bike stuff aint tooo bad compared to some hobbies but it's certainly not cheap. I think the problem is, good kit is just about in grasp, so I tend to stretch myself to get it. I must be a snob or something... I do believe you get what you pay for.

+1 to this!

People joke about what I've spent on my bike, all the clothes etc that come with it but its somewhat an insignificance to what I've spent on my Canon DSLR, my last lens cost more than my bike :shock:

Specialist gear in any field is going to cost extra, less mass production, more r&d but its generally better. That or I'm a snob as well

Headhuunter

Cycling as a hobby if pretty much on a par in terms of cost with other sports that require specialist equipment and clothing. Think of the expense of things like scuba diving, windsurfing, sailing etc etc. Also cycling doesn't have to be expensive, it's perfectly possible to source cheap clothing and stuff from places like Decathlon, LIDL, Aldi and even (gasp) Halfords. Of course if you only want the best of the best and are an extreme poser, then of course cycling will be expensive.

amnezia

Its no worse than skiing.

always_tyred

I think it depends on the type of cycling you are doing. If you are a roadie, you are fleeced. Mtb stuff seems more reasonable to me. Seems to go for the clothes as well.

il_principe

team south east wrote:

Well I bought one of those Altura fluorescent jackets and within a year the zip has busted along with breast zip so i basically had to take it to a taylor to get a new zip fitted, a proper one at that. I find the jackets flimsy. I think they are using cheap materials and ripping us off is you ask me.

Yeah well Altura is cheap, poorly made sh1te (IME).

Headhuunter

Always Tyred wrote:

I think it depends on the type of cycling you are doing. If you are a roadie, you are fleeced. Mtb stuff seems more reasonable to me. Seems to go for the clothes as well.

I would consider myself a "roadie", I cycle around 120 miles per week both commuting and with my local club and I source most of my stuff relatively cheaply from the above places. I don't own any Castelli or fancy branded stuff, but I don't feel the need to....

bails87

Another thing with cycling is that you can ride from your front door for free. Scuba diving, skiing etc all have costs associated with not just the equipment, but actually doing the activity as well.

Buckled_Rims

bails87 wrote:

Another thing with cycling is that you can ride from your front door for free. Scuba diving, skiing etc all have costs associated with not just the equipment, but actually doing the activity as well.

Damn! I had to buy my bikes

bails87

Buckled_Rims wrote:

bails87 wrote:

Another thing with cycling is that you can ride from your front door for free. Scuba diving, skiing etc all have costs associated with not just the equipment, but actually doing the activity as well.

Damn! I had to buy my bikes

I didn't



But seriously, I'd class a bike as part of the equipment needed for cycling. You need to buy it like you need to buy skis, but you don't need an expensive bike-pass to get access to the roads (or the trails if you've seen the light).

always_tyred

Headhuunter wrote:

Always Tyred wrote:

I think it depends on the type of cycling you are doing. If you are a roadie, you are fleeced. Mtb stuff seems more reasonable to me. Seems to go for the clothes as well.

I would consider myself a "roadie", I cycle around 120 miles per week both commuting and with my local club and I source most of my stuff relatively cheaply from the above places. I don't own any Castelli or fancy branded stuff, but I don't feel the need to....

Sure, but last time I compared for example a set of mtb hubs with supposedly equivalent road ones (e.g. XT/ultegra or LX/105's) the cost difference was alarming. That extends to the rear mechs, shifters, brakes, you name it. Try to get a pair of mtb baggies for the £120 its possible to spend on bib shorts (and the rest, if you are daft enough). Top end road helmet - vs. top end xc helmet? About a 30% price difference, I reckon (I don't think a comparison between an Ionos and a full face dh jobbie is reasonable, before anyone interjects).

Headhuunter

Always Tyred wrote:

Headhuunter wrote:

Always Tyred wrote:

I think it depends on the type of cycling you are doing. If you are a roadie, you are fleeced. Mtb stuff seems more reasonable to me. Seems to go for the clothes as well.

I would consider myself a "roadie", I cycle around 120 miles per week both commuting and with my local club and I source most of my stuff relatively cheaply from the above places. I don't own any Castelli or fancy branded stuff, but I don't feel the need to....

Sure, but last time I compared for example a set of mtb hubs with supposedly equivalent road ones (e.g. XT/ultegra or LX/105's) the cost difference was alarming. That extends to the rear mechs, shifters, brakes, you name it. Try to get a pair of mtb baggies for the £120 its possible to spend on bib shorts (and the rest, if you are daft enough). Top end road helmet - vs. top end xc helmet? About a 30% price difference, I reckon (I don't think a comparison between an Ionos and a full face dh jobbie is reasonable, before anyone interjects).

OK I guess you're right with regard to components and actual bikes which seem to have shot up in price over the past year or so.

bails87

One thing I've never understood is why entry level road stuff is more expensive than entry level mtb stuff. Rear mechs for example. They should be identical except the road version can be more fragile.

I've been thinking that it should be possible to make a cheap, light entry level (maybe even flat bar) road bike, to get people off MTBs, which aren't needed when you're riding to the shops. Something like the Carrera Subway, but not so....'industrial'.

MTBs have complex forks, suspension linkages, Dual Rate Control Valves, Brain shocks, FIT cartridges, hydraulic brakes and similar components that are still evolving. When a set of basic forks are £200 cheaper than Rebas, you can justify that price difference by pointing out the Motion Control Damping and the Dual Air system. Which are expensive, but make a noticable performance difference.

All road bikes are doing in terms of 'evolution' is getting slightly lighter, surely? Oh, and adding more gears.

I understand it at the top end, where weight becomes more of an issue and you get a lot of R&D spent on scraping away every last gram without making the thing fall apart, but that's the same in the MTB world.

jedster

I think a lot of cycling clothing is surprisingly expensive.

I own a few rapha things and I like them. But I don't think they are as good (well designed, technically performing) as my arc'teryx skiing and climbing gear. And most of the arc'teryx stuff is made in Canada rather than emerging markets. And arc'teryx is regarded as being pretty pricey in its market.

I'm not picking on rapha, I'd make the same point about anyone selling lycra shorts at >£100

davmaggs

A lot of it is simply market segmentation, and cycling seems to be a sport that people will pay a markup for.

Examples I can quickly think of are the technical materials that make the clothing are simply licenced (think Gortex). Sell a jacket to a cyclist and they'll pay more that say the climbing market. LED lights can be bought in supermarkets for a few pounds, but put a plastic bracket on them and they tripple in price. Go to a car parts dealer and you can buy lubricants by the gallon, but cyclists like buying tiny bottles because "its specially designed".

Whilst branded items do have higher production costs, their markup is far in excess of this. That's why year one of any marketing course is about brand building.

iPete

Surely if the mark up is so big, in such a competitive market somebody is going to come along and drastically under-cut everyone?

& Always Tyred without looking to deep its easily possible to spend £100-200 on MTB shorts.
My full length hi vis bib tights were £40 and my Humvee shorts £45, its apples for oranges...

toshmund

Have you tried these? Good kit with a lot of features you don't get on more expensive jackets (the waterproof features a handy little tab, for fitting your rear light on), superb admin and prices. Good people to deal with.

http://www.tenn-outdoors.co.uk/

vorsprung

jedster wrote:

I think a lot of cycling clothing is surprisingly expensive.

I own a few rapha things and I like them. But I don't think they are as good (well designed, technically performing) as my arc'teryx skiing and climbing gear. And most of the arc'teryx stuff is made in Canada rather than emerging markets. And arc'teryx is regarded as being pretty pricey in its market.

I'm not picking on rapha, I'd make the same point about anyone selling lycra shorts at >£100

There are plenty of good shorts at around the 60 quid mark or less in a sale. When I say "good" I mean OK for a 1200km BRM event. For commuting Lusso coolmax shorts are great, and these are certainly less than you suggest.

Merino base layers, SS jerseys, even shoes can be had from Lidl / Aldi at rock bottom prices

I'm sure Rapha stuff is what some people want, but you are paying for the brand. The little label is what is costing you. Assos kit is maybe 10% better than other brands but it costs 100% more. I fear I will never get an Assos Intermediate jersey because I couldn't pay 100 quid+ for it!

Headhuunter

vorsprung wrote:

jedster wrote:

I think a lot of cycling clothing is surprisingly expensive.

I own a few rapha things and I like them. But I don't think they are as good (well designed, technically performing) as my arc'teryx skiing and climbing gear. And most of the arc'teryx stuff is made in Canada rather than emerging markets. And arc'teryx is regarded as being pretty pricey in its market.

I'm not picking on rapha, I'd make the same point about anyone selling lycra shorts at >£100

There are plenty of good shorts at around the 60 quid mark or less in a sale. When I say "good" I mean OK for a 1200km BRM event. For commuting Lusso coolmax shorts are great, and these are certainly less than you suggest.

Merino base layers, SS jerseys, even shoes can be had from Lidl / Aldi at rock bottom prices

I'm sure Rapha stuff is what some people want, but you are paying for the brand. The little label is what is costing you. Assos kit is maybe 10% better than other brands but it costs 100% more. I fear I will never get an Assos Intermediate jersey because I couldn't pay 100 quid+ for it!

£60 for a pair of shorts? <Cough, splutter>, the most I have paid is about £20 and most of my shorts were about a fiver a pair from Decathlon