When is enough enough?

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Comments

  • joey54321
    joey54321 Posts: 1,297
    It's the same thing, how long do you think a manufacturer will carry on producing and selling a product if no one buys it?
  • bristolpete
    bristolpete Posts: 2,255
    Second hand market is buoyant at the moment. You can strike gold on here and other places. I buy and sell. Was looking for Black S-works 6 in the shops online when s-works 7 dropped. Nothing. Sold out everywhere as down to £199. Then they popped up on here. Mint. Ridden twice just £100. Job done. Bought and ridden with a massive smile on my face. My employer, who is a multi millionaire nearly faints when he hears someone buys 'second hand shoes'. Naturally, I tell him to pay me more.
  • First.Aspect
    First.Aspect Posts: 17,402
    davebradswmb wrote:
    If there are people who want to spend £15,000 on a bike, a manufacturer will come along to fulfil that need. If these people didn't exist the bikes wouldn't exist
    This is wrong. Products like that aren't there to make a profit in of themselves.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_effect

    Those Mavic shoes are another example. I can't believe that the pricing couldn't have been set at £500 or £600 but its been set "aspirationally" and they will hardly sell any. If they are indeed a good idea you'll see a trickle down effect to merely "high end" on the basis that the products in question share the same wonder technology as the halo product. Whereupon people who could afford £900 but aren't stupid enough will get interested.

    I don't see those as being in quite the same bracket as over-priced bibshorts.
  • norvernrob
    norvernrob Posts: 1,448
    The manufacturers charge what they think people will pay, and generally there are plenty of people willing to pay it. If there aren’t, well the business isn’t going to last long. Whether you’re one of those people is up to you, but it’s nobody elses business what someone wants to spend their money on.

    I’ve got plenty of Rapha kit, but every single item was bought in the sales with at least 40% off. I’ve got eTap but that was bought through cycle to work. My Fulcrum Zero Nites were bought from Germany at a near £300 saving. I shop around for for everything, look for discount codes etc etc, and I sometimes deliberate for hours over purchases.

    Manufacturers/shops can price stuff at whatever they want, surely it’s better to have a massive choice so there’s a market and a price point for everybody.
  • Mapaputsi
    Mapaputsi Posts: 104
    Let’s be fair the price of bicycles and bicycle kit is absolutely ridiculous. I don’t have much disposable income at the moment as I’m saving for a deposit and not long out of university so learning to live on my own income, so have to pick and choose the money I spend very carefully. This is really highlighting how costly everything is.

    A full bike service at the end of winter (done by myself) cost about £150 in parts (cables, pads, cassette, chain, bar tape etc.). I had a crash and needed a new helmet, £50. My wheels needed truing after riding through potholes and rubbish roads all winter, £30. I tore the sidewall of my front tyre, £30. Needed to buy a club jersey to race in under BC rules, £80 for an ex-demo one(!). My old turbo trainer broke and was not repairable after only 3 years, £150. I always try to go for good value, so not necessarily the cheapest but the ones that I can read good reviews of and are recommended by club mates and friends or on here.

    It's difficult to have that sort of cash to routinely drop every month or two and that doesn’t even include replacing bib shorts and having enough for new kit or even a new bike (lol). How people can go out and drop £1000 on smart trainers and power meters is absolutely alien to me. Never mind buying £3-5000 bikes or £1000 sets of wheels!

    I guess the disposable income will come with age for me but I feel that cycling will eventually become like motorsport racing and the majority of younger people will be priced out of the sport.
  • joey54321
    joey54321 Posts: 1,297
    Mapaputsi wrote:
    Let’s be fair the price of bicycles and bicycle kit is absolutely ridiculous. I don’t have much disposable income at the moment as I’m saving for a deposit and not long out of university so learning to live on my own income, so have to pick and choose the money I spend very carefully. This is really highlighting how costly everything is.

    It's difficult to have that sort of cash to routinely drop every month or two and that doesn’t even include replacing bib shorts and having enough for new kit or even a new bike (lol). How people can go out and drop £1000 on smart trainers and power meters is absolutely alien to me. Never mind buying £3-5000 bikes or £1000 sets of wheels!

    I guess the disposable income will come with age for me but I feel that cycling will eventually become like motorsport racing and the majority of younger people will be priced out of the sport.

    I don't think so, i've seen some juniors on some fantastically expensive bikes. If one is sensible, buys old/discounted/second hand stuff you can pick up absolute bargains. I've got a Scott Foil bike with Zipp Firecrest 404s, a Quarq and DI2 for under 2k. Granted, 2k is a lot of money, but I've had the bike for 3 years and that is a very high quality set up that doesn't give much away to guys going and dropping £5k+ IMO. I commute on it, is my hobby, gym and (part of) my social life. When you add up what people spend on Gym, booze, cigarettes and other social activities I imagine it would add up to a lot more than £2k over 3 years.
    NorvernRob wrote:
    and I sometimes deliberate for hours over purchases
    Lol, I get the sentiment but the way this is put made me chuckle, "I waited at least an hour between seeing the shiny carbon to buying the shiny carbon, what more can you expect?"
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    If your not long out of uni you're supposed to be poor. There's no fun in superbikes if anyone can afford them straight off the bat. They're meant to be an object of desire. I'm sure you'll be able to look forward to getting them in good time.

    I'd think the demographics of this site is mainly blokes in their late 40s or 50s who can afford toys.
  • fixerupper
    fixerupper Posts: 32
    I am a cheapskate...my bike cost 100 euros .. and the most expensive item of clothing I own is my 140 quid chainsaw trousers ...
  • norvernrob
    norvernrob Posts: 1,448
    joey54321 wrote:
    [
    NorvernRob wrote:
    and I sometimes deliberate for hours over purchases
    Lol, I get the sentiment but the way this is put made me chuckle, "I waited at least an hour between seeing the shiny carbon to buying the shiny carbon, what more can you expect?"

    Haha maybe it was a Freudian slip, as I meant to put days! When I recently got eTap I couldn’t decide what was the best way to spend my money on the chainset, cassette etc, and it took me a couple of weeks to eventually decide. Usually it is hours at the most though, especially when I’m on the sales pages :lol:
  • de_sisti
    de_sisti Posts: 1,283
    Mapaputsi wrote:
    I feel that cycling will eventually become like motorsport racing and the majority of younger people will be priced out of the sport.
    Cycling as an activity/pastime/hobby doesn't have to cost as much as you make it out to be though.
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    Mapaputsi wrote:
    I feel that cycling will eventually become like motorsport racing and the majority of younger people will be priced out of the sport.

    I thought that about twenty years ago but seems I was wrong then. My bike club had pretty good support for the youngsters. Expenses paid and some kit there to be borrowed when needed.

    Wasn't the BBAR won on a bike that was under a grand ?
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,505
    De Sisti wrote:
    Mapaputsi wrote:
    I feel that cycling will eventually become like motorsport racing and the majority of younger people will be priced out of the sport.
    Cycling as an activity/pastime/hobby doesn't have to cost as much as you make it out to be though.
    Like any hobby, it can be as expensive, or as cheap, as you make it be. Most people would actually laugh out loud at the price of expensive hifi cables. Most people listen on a phone, or similar.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • milemuncher1
    milemuncher1 Posts: 1,472
    PBlakeney wrote:
    De Sisti wrote:
    Mapaputsi wrote:
    I feel that cycling will eventually become like motorsport racing and the majority of younger people will be priced out of the sport.
    Cycling as an activity/pastime/hobby doesn't have to cost as much as you make it out to be though.
    Like any hobby, it can be as expensive, or as cheap, as you make it be. Most people would actually laugh out loud at the price of expensive hifi cables. Most people listen on a phone, or similar.


    Exactly. I find it hard to justify spending more than a grand, on a bike. I know plenty of people who think nothing of spending 5 grand on a pair of wheels, or 12 grand on a built, store bought, bike. Although I could, there so many other things I could do with that sort of money, I couldn’t possibly justify paying that sort of money for something that can be demonstrably killed, in less than 5 seconds, based on harsh experience. I think a lot of the folk that do spend those sorts of sums on their bikes / kit, fail to realise how easy it is for them to be turned into scrap, and how much of a ball ache it is to get the money back, if / when it happens. That said I also know a fair few that will spend the big money, then ride the bike so rarely, they stand more chance of having the winning ticket in a lottery draw, knocked out of their hand, by a meteorite.
  • mfin
    mfin Posts: 6,729
    How many people do you personally know who think nothing of spending £5000 on a pair of wheels really?

    The answer is not "plenty" as there aren't even many wheelsets that expensive.

    Was it a typo or was it bullshit?

    (I accept the general point that there are plenty of people who buy expensive gear).
  • Moonbiker
    Moonbiker Posts: 1,706
    Funny how the people with the more expensive bikes I know hardly ride much were as the ones with cheaper below £800 bikes do alot more riding.

    & some times funny that people will buy a £2000 new bike & still use the wire bead 60 tpi tyres than came with it.
  • FatTed
    FatTed Posts: 1,205
    I usually divide the cost of a bike item by Kilometres or hours it will be used to justify to myself the cost of whatever i'm about to purchase. Sometimes I buy something just because I like it.
  • milemuncher1
    milemuncher1 Posts: 1,472
    mfin wrote:
    How many people do you personally know who think nothing of spending £5000 on a pair of wheels really?

    The answer is not "plenty" as there aren't even many wheelsets that expensive.

    Was it a typo or was it bullshit?

    (I accept the general point that there are plenty of people who buy expensive gear).

    I knock around with people who spend millions on gin palaces. 5 grand for some wheels is like you or I spending 5 quid.

    O1RDlVn.png

    Here’s a seven grand wheel set. I know someone who’s bought some. I couldn’t even begin to think of doing so.
  • milemuncher1
    milemuncher1 Posts: 1,472
    FatTed wrote:
    I usually divide the cost of a bike item by Kilometres or hours it will be used to justify to myself the cost of whatever i'm about to purchase. Sometimes I buy something just because I like it.


    And so you should too. If you’re not enjoying it, what’s the point?
  • milemuncher1
    milemuncher1 Posts: 1,472
    Moonbiker wrote:
    Funny how the people with the more expensive bikes I know hardly ride much were as the ones with cheaper below £800 bikes do alot more riding.

    & some times funny that people will buy a £2000 new bike & still use the wire bead 60 tpi tyres than came with it.

    That’s very true, and very much my experience as well.
  • First.Aspect
    First.Aspect Posts: 17,402
    Milemuncher1 wrote:
    Moonbiker wrote:
    Funny how the people with the more expensive bikes I know hardly ride much were as the ones with cheaper below £800 bikes do alot more riding.

    & some times funny that people will buy a £2000 new bike & still use the wire bead 60 tpi tyres than came with it.

    That’s very true, and very much my experience as well.
    Yes there is certainly a strong correlation between salary and stupidity.

    It is the sign of a proper cyclist to be able to make do with nylon jerseys, see through shorts and a bike that's been cobbled together from at least 4 group sets. But you can't manage without hand sewn Italian tubulars, even if the do cost more than my weekly wage to replace if I ride more than 100 miles on them.
  • MiddleRinger
    MiddleRinger Posts: 678
    Milemuncher1 wrote:
    Exactly. I find it hard to justify spending more than a grand, on a bike. I know plenty of people who think nothing of spending 5 grand on a pair of wheels, or 12 grand on a built, store bought, bike.

    It's all relative. If I were on a seven figure salary, then a 5k set of Lightweight Meilenstein wheels wouldn't be that much of a stretch in the scheme of things when speccing out a full custom build that would only get ridden on perfect summer days on the continent (for me though, very much out of reach for now).

    78d247bbfe98b2ac2d28147445ae1c3ff473ac48.jpg
    ~ ~ How fast is fast enough? ~ ~ ~ ~ Tempo Cyclist - Tasmania ~ ~
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,599
    edited June 2018
    Matthewfalle wrote:
    Right

    With the prices of cycle clothing going basically mad - £300 for a pair of shoes, £200 for a helmet, silly money for tops and shorts, at what point would you turn around and say “ nah, bugger that - that’s stupid money”?

    Already gone past my limit I can tell you that much,

    You should join a club :wink: My old club was £20 per year membership and we had top quality kit at cost price that the club then subsidised. The supplier would even customise it so if you had a long torso they could do bib shorts with the bib up a size from the shorts.

    I wouldn't pay more than £100 for helmet or shoes though, I suppose at least if you get a helmet with crash replacement it's not so bad but shoes I struggle to see the benefit.
  • norvernrob
    norvernrob Posts: 1,448
    Milemuncher1 wrote:
    Moonbiker wrote:
    Funny how the people with the more expensive bikes I know hardly ride much were as the ones with cheaper below £800 bikes do alot more riding.

    & some times funny that people will buy a £2000 new bike & still use the wire bead 60 tpi tyres than came with it.

    That’s very true, and very much my experience as well.

    Wouldn’t most people with an expensive bike have at least one cheaper one as well, which category do they fall into?
  • milemuncher1
    milemuncher1 Posts: 1,472
    NorvernRob wrote:
    Milemuncher1 wrote:
    Moonbiker wrote:
    Funny how the people with the more expensive bikes I know hardly ride much were as the ones with cheaper below £800 bikes do alot more riding.

    & some times funny that people will buy a £2000 new bike & still use the wire bead 60 tpi tyres than came with it.

    That’s very true, and very much my experience as well.

    Wouldn’t most people with an expensive bike have at least one cheaper one as well, which category do they fall into?

    Some do, some don’t.
  • FatTed
    FatTed Posts: 1,205
    I don't
  • haydenm
    haydenm Posts: 2,997
    First Aspect wrote:
    Milemuncher1 wrote:
    Moonbiker wrote:
    Funny how the people with the more expensive bikes I know hardly ride much were as the ones with cheaper below £800 bikes do alot more riding.

    & some times funny that people will buy a £2000 new bike & still use the wire bead 60 tpi tyres than came with it.

    That’s very true, and very much my experience as well.
    Yes there is certainly a strong correlation between salary and stupidity.

    No there isn't.

    Your views on what you would and wouldn't spend money on change with your financial situation. It's not stupidity, just a different perspective. If you have millions, buying a posh bike (and barely riding it) would be like someone on an average salary buying a £200 halfords bike and likely never riding it.

    As a student I wouldn't have dreamt of having different wheels or bikes for different things, I may have even called people who did that 'stupid', but a few years later and it's perfectly justified to me.

    The law of diminishing returns applies to all but your attitude to what is worth spending changes. Student me can judge me all he likes.

    In my experience I see a lot of very nice bikes about and a lot of wealthy older guys on them having a great time, clearly all idiots...
  • First.Aspect
    First.Aspect Posts: 17,402
    HaydenM wrote:
    First Aspect wrote:
    Milemuncher1 wrote:
    Moonbiker wrote:
    Funny how the people with the more expensive bikes I know hardly ride much were as the ones with cheaper below £800 bikes do alot more riding.

    & some times funny that people will buy a £2000 new bike & still use the wire bead 60 tpi tyres than came with it.

    That’s very true, and very much my experience as well.
    Yes there is certainly a strong correlation between salary and stupidity.

    No there isn't.

    Your views on what you would and wouldn't spend money on change with your financial situation. It's not stupidity, just a different perspective. If you have millions, buying a posh bike (and barely riding it) would be like someone on an average salary buying a £200 halfords bike and likely never riding it.

    As a student I wouldn't have dreamt of having different wheels or bikes for different things, I may have even called people who did that 'stupid', but a few years later and it's perfectly justified to me.

    The law of diminishing returns applies to all but your attitude to what is worth spending changes. Student me can judge me all he likes.

    In my experience I see a lot of very nice bikes about and a lot of wealthy older guys on them having a great time, clearly all idiots...
    Whoosh.
  • haydenm
    haydenm Posts: 2,997
    First Aspect wrote:
    HaydenM wrote:
    First Aspect wrote:
    Milemuncher1 wrote:
    Moonbiker wrote:
    Funny how the people with the more expensive bikes I know hardly ride much were as the ones with cheaper below £800 bikes do alot more riding.

    & some times funny that people will buy a £2000 new bike & still use the wire bead 60 tpi tyres than came with it.

    That’s very true, and very much my experience as well.
    Yes there is certainly a strong correlation between salary and stupidity.

    No there isn't.

    Your views on what you would and wouldn't spend money on change with your financial situation. It's not stupidity, just a different perspective. If you have millions, buying a posh bike (and barely riding it) would be like someone on an average salary buying a £200 halfords bike and likely never riding it.

    As a student I wouldn't have dreamt of having different wheels or bikes for different things, I may have even called people who did that 'stupid', but a few years later and it's perfectly justified to me.

    The law of diminishing returns applies to all but your attitude to what is worth spending changes. Student me can judge me all he likes.

    In my experience I see a lot of very nice bikes about and a lot of wealthy older guys on them having a great time, clearly all idiots...
    Whoosh.

    God damnit, I hate the internet, this always happens to me :lol:

    I assume MM gets paid millions...
  • thegreatdivide
    thegreatdivide Posts: 5,807
    Like his GPS data I bet he triples his salary and his 'friends'.
  • milemuncher1
    milemuncher1 Posts: 1,472
    HaydenM wrote:

    God damnit, I hate the internet, this always happens to me :lol:

    I assume MM gets paid millions...

    Never assume........ and, I wish :lol:

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