Why has it got so expensive

mowflow

So I've been away from mountain biking for a few years. My wife decided we were having children so it became impossible to get away which means I have been flirting with the dark side the last few years.

I have now returned with a bargain hardtail picked up locally. My previous bike was a meta 55 built from the ground up. I'm in the process of upgrading parts on the hardtail but was it was only about 4 years back that I built the meta I'm stunned at how prices have risen on some parts. For example 9 speed slx chainset with bb cost me roughly £60 then. It's now about double and most say no bb.....

What the hell changed? If anything I would have expected a reduction due to 10 and 11 speed.

welshkev

Buy it from ze Germans.

You can get a full group set for not much more than a chain set from crc

benpinnick

Since 2009 a lot if prices have risen at 10% a year. Combination of things, but I think the grey market is getting squeezed a lot by manufacturers.

cooldad

I blame Wiggle.

Thewaylander

cooldad wrote:

I blame Wiggle.

They cause so many problems in the world... I'm amazed no one has done something about it.

BigAl

cooldad wrote:

I blame Wiggins.

yeah, selfish sod!

With regards to the OP, I too have returned to MTBing after a haitus of several years. I am astonished by prices.

A grand for the SRAM 11spd group! More than £400 for an XTR crankset! And the mags frequently testing bikes of £4K or £5K. IIRC £2K to £2.5K would have been seen as a top end bike 6 years ago.

mowflow

So no good reason then.

I picked up a mag the other day and noticed the 5k bikes in the reviews. A fool and his money as they say.

Tom Barton

The supposed official line is that bike companies kept prices low through the boom years and that they were doing us all a favour and now we owe them big.

This is of course a pile of. The number of people buying high end bikes is steadily increasing so demand is good - equally competition between brands is fierce and for all the R&D that granted, goes into new parts, they are produced on an industrial scale (Shimano for example are not exactly a small company), many companies have also relocated to more efficient (cheaper) factories in Taiwan (Cannondale notably).

So yes - we're being screwed...

And Wiggle are lucky America is on shutdown and the UN security council can't organise a piss up in a brewery....

ilovedirt

I got my slx crankset for £90 four years ago and that was the absolute cheapest I could get hold of it. Sounds like you're wearing rose tinted glasses to me.

slickmouse

mowflow wrote:

So I've been away from mountain biking for a few years. My wife decided we were having children so it became impossible to get away which means I have been flirting with the dark side the last few years.

I have now returned with a bargain hardtail picked up locally. My previous bike was a meta 55 built from the ground up. I'm in the process of upgrading parts on the hardtail but was it was only about 4 years back that I built the meta I'm stunned at how prices have risen on some parts. For example 9 speed slx chainset with bb cost me roughly £60 then. It's now about double and most say no bb.....

What the hell changed? If anything I would have expected a reduction due to 10 and 11 speed.

whats changed is a combination of a subtle change in the demography of MTBers along with a concerted advertising campaign selling the benefits of the new/lighter/superior parts. or to put it another way, ''a fool and his money are soon parted''

TheNorthernTrain

slickmouse wrote:

mowflow wrote:

So I've been away from mountain biking for a few years. My wife decided we were having children so it became impossible to get away which means I have been flirting with the dark side the last few years.

I have now returned with a bargain hardtail picked up locally. My previous bike was a meta 55 built from the ground up. I'm in the process of upgrading parts on the hardtail but was it was only about 4 years back that I built the meta I'm stunned at how prices have risen on some parts. For example 9 speed slx chainset with bb cost me roughly £60 then. It's now about double and most say no bb.....

What the hell changed? If anything I would have expected a reduction due to 10 and 11 speed.

whats changed is a combination of a subtle change in the demography of MTBers along with a concerted advertising campaign selling the benefits of the new/lighter/superior parts. or to put it another way, ''a fool and his money are soon parted''

You must be skint then...

kajjal

My comparison is my Orange C16R from 1996 which I still ride and my 2013 Carve.

The Orange in 1996 cost £920 was an eight speed triple, V Brakes, 26er wheels and had Rockshok Indy XC 60mm elastomer suspension forks. Did loads of off road miles on it including going up and down actual mountains. It was an XC steel framed bike.

The Carve in 2013 cost £1200 has 2 x 10 gears, disk brakes , 29er wheels and 100mm travel recon gold air forks. An aluminium framed XC bike. Again this has now done a good few off road miles.

While both good bikes to ride the Carve is faster, has better brakes, better suspension and the 29er wheels really suit my XC riding. I also prefer the riding position on the Carve more. The steel frame of the Orange is more forgiving and it is a more nimble bike. Just interesting to compare to XC hard tails almost 20 years appart