Average bike in Ireland only costs 190 euro

clonmahon

Interesting report on the European cycle business in 2010 from the Association of the European TwoWheeler Parts' & Accessories' Industry. It claims that 80,000 bikes were sold in Ireland in 2010.

The average price payed for a bike in Ireland was 190 euros, which seems very low. The Dutch spent on average 745 euros to buy a bike. The average UK price was 280 euro per bike. I can’t find a breakdown of what kind of bikes we are buying in Ireland but I suspect the very low price maybe explained by a very high proportion of cheap kids bikes.

Anyway the full report is available at
http://issuu.com/coliped/docs/european_bicycle_market___industry_profile_2010

triggermortis

Finally - I'm above average in something cycling related!! (along with everyone else on here)

kona

clonmahon wrote: »

Interesting report on the European cycle business in 2010 from the Association of the European TwoWheeler Parts' & Accessories' Industry. It claims that 80,000 bikes were sold in Ireland in 2010.

The average price payed for a bike in Ireland was 190 euros, which seems very low. The Dutch spent on average 745 euros to buy a bike. The average UK price was 280 euro per bike. I can’t find a breakdown of what kind of bikes we are buying in Ireland but I suspect the very low price maybe explained by a very high proportion of cheap kids bikes.

Anyway the full report is available at
http://issuu.com/coliped/docs/european_bicycle_market___industry_profile_2010

Because Irish people are cheapskates. Same with cars, look at all the poverty spec BMW cars around, 1.6 and cloth seats? prestige my hole.

e190 is BSO money.

BostonB

kona wrote: »

Because Irish people are cheapskates.....

Or broke. People buying BMW's aren't buying unbranded bike, I'm guessing.

kincsem

Santa Claus shops around.

kenmc

BostonB wrote: »

Or broke. People buying BMW's aren't buying unbranded bike, I'm guessing.

Nope. That's clearly not it

BostonB

kenmc wrote: »

Nope. That's clearly not it

I don't get it.

kenmc

BostonB wrote: »

I don't get it.

Me neither, thought we were in a recession.

BostonB

I mean its got nothing to do with my comment.

DirkVoodoo

New model 5-series, the stalwart of the executive saloon, not surprising really. I've seen a LOT of new 5-series about, very few X1s (thankfully).

I also spotted a 10-D registered Ferrari 458 in town last week. There was no traffic yet it was still being driven like a Micra, for shame, barely a warble out of the V8. He was probably terrified it was going to spontaneously combust.

kippy

The average person who buys a bike wants something that gets them from A-B.
The serious enthusiasts (a lot of whom you will find here) wants a lighter/faster bike that has the potential to do it faster.

I dunno, 190 quid is a fair enough amount to be spending on a bike. And if the average is distorted by kids bikes then its probably over 300 for the average adult bike.

seamus

kona wrote: »

Because Irish people are cheapskates. Same with cars, look at all the poverty spec BMW cars around, 1.6 and cloth seats? prestige my hole.

That's more down to the fact that we pay ridiculous prices for cars as it is and there's very little competition in the car market. The basic spec on sale in Ireland is often not sold anywhere else in Europe and is still more expensive than the "basic" spec in a mainland EU country.

But this is a discussion about bikes. I suspect there are two things at play here;

1. Irish people are very poor at recognising value. As we demonstrated so spectacularly with our property bubble.
We tend to think that something which is priced cheaply is a bargain worth buying (even if it's a complete crock), while at the same time we view an abornomally high price as indicative of quality.

When it comes to the middle-of-the-road stuff we either try to haggle the seller down to the "bargain" price or start wondering what's wrong with it that it's not a "premium" price like the more expensive one.

2. Bikes are still seen as playthings, disposable toys, rather than a means of travel. As others have commented here a lot (kona I think mainly ), Irish people seem happy to spend hundreds on a bike and then secure it using a €10 piece of wire that could be cut with a child's safety scissors. You wouldn't buy a car and park it unlocked, yet so many people seem satisfied to effectively do the same with their bike. And arguably it's harder to steal an unlocked car than a locked bike.

The dutch would be more likely to see the bike as an addition to the family's transport arsenal, and so spend more money to get the quality that's required. In a Dutch city especially, they might look at a €1,000 bike and compare it to a €10,000 car. Whereas here (and to be fair in most other places), it's a not bike -v- car decision. The car is necessary, the bike is supplement.

When an Irish person looks at two bikes, one costing €190 and another costing €400, they see no difference. All they see is €210 in the difference and assume that the €190 bike is a bargain. It's only when they difference is huge (like €190 -v- €1k) that they start to think there must be a difference.

snubbleste

Clearly, Ireland is the place to buy a bike for the price-conscious

kona

seamus wrote: »

1. Irish people are very poor at recognising value. Dumb cheapskates

:pac:

BostonB

Most people know very little about bikes.

kona

BostonB wrote: »

Or broke. People buying BMW's aren't buying unbranded bike, I'm guessing.

Despite what RTE tell you, not everybody is broke, only a generation is that bought in negative equity. Im not broke, and TBH neither are alot of people, sure pre recession try selling somebody a 1K hybrid, during recession, they are flying out, C2W or not, they are still dropping a minimum of e550 or e760 ish.

Plenty of new Diesel cars on the road, which cost more than the equivalent petrol.

My point on BMW is that people are cheapskates, for the price of a base model bimmer you could get a full spec older model. Which brings me to seamus point of Irish and value.

Seriously, in too many cases trying to get somebody to spend e350 on a machine they expect to use everyday in all conditions and not break is some ordeal.

DirkVoodoo

seamus wrote: »

1. Irish people are very poor at recognising value. As we demonstrated so spectacularly with our property bubble.
We tend to think that something which is priced cheaply is a bargain worth buying (even if it's a complete crock), while at the same time we view an abornomally high price as indicative of quality.

I remember in college I was gawking at friends spending 200 to 300 euro on bikes for commuting. Sure, that's mad money for a bike! I can get one in Super Valu for 90 euro!

It's funny, people know that a Polo is more expensive than a Punto. But Puntos break down, polos are well engineered and hold their value, etc. so the price is justified. A lot of people are happy to buy Polos over Puntos because it is solid, reliable and nice to travel in. For some reason they can't extend this to bikes. If it has two wheels and it moves, then a supermarket junker is no different than a Specialized Sirrus or Trek 7.2 in their minds, so why pay more?

kona

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

I remember in college I was gawking at friends spending 200 to 300 euro on bikes for commuting. Sure, that's mad money for a bike! I can get one in Super Valu for 90 euro!

It's funny, people know that a Polo is more expensive than a Punto. But Puntos break down, polos are well engineered and hold their value, etc. so the price is justified. A lot of people are happy to buy Polos over Puntos because it is solid, reliable and nice to travel in. For some reason they can't extend this to bikes. If it has two wheels and it moves, then a supermarket junker is no different than a Specialized Sirrus or Trek 7.2 in their minds, so why pay more?

Pedal boxes on the polos go on them, the only reason the punto has a bad name is because of HGF of the cheaper 8v engine. The better more expensive 16v doesnt suffer this. 8v probably wouldnt either if people knew how to look after their cars!
Likewise I wouldnt say expensive bikes are reliable, your just more likely to get a good one. Look at the Sram rival shifters on the Boardman Team Carbon for example.
However spend under e200 and your guaranteed a heap of ****e.

Lumen

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

It's funny, people know that a Lexus is more expensive than a Alfa. But Alfas break down, Lexuses are well engineered and hold their value, etc. so the price is justified. A lot of people are happy to buy Lexuses over Alfas because it is solid, reliable and nice to travel in. For some reason they can't extend this to bikes.

Fixed that for you.

BostonB

Not everyone is broke, that doesn't mean that its people with money that are buying these bikes. Bit of a leap that. If someone buying purely on the brand, why would they buy unbranded bike. Its not logical. Someone buying a BMW isn't trying to save money. If they buy a base model BMW then they'll do the same with a bike, buy the base model once its branded. Thats not a 200 bike.

I expect its most people don't know anything about bikes as much as anything. Any figures on which shops are selling these bikes, because most local bike shops don't have bikes at 200 its the super stores. Like Halfuds.

kona

BostonB wrote: »

Someone buying a BMW isn't trying to save money. If they buy a base model BMW then they'll do the same with a bike, buy the base model once its branded. Thats not a 200 bike.

Then why not get a nice V8 7 series with all the nice bits instead of a poverty spec 6 cylinder with cloth?

DirkVoodoo

kona wrote: »

Pedal boxes on the polos go on them, the only reason the punto has a bad name is because of HGF of the cheaper 8v engine. The better more expensive 16v doesnt suffer this. 8v probably wouldnt either if people knew how to look after their cars!
Likewise I wouldnt say expensive bikes are reliable, your just more likely to get a good one. Look at the Sram rival shifters on the Boardman Team Carbon for example.
However spend under e200 and your guaranteed a heap of ****e.

Pretty sure the head gasket is known to crack on all puntos, although we have an 8 year old sporting with the 16 valve alloy block and it's fine. The brake and clutch master cylinders also gave problems on that and an 8v one.

Problems aside, it's the perception of quality. VWs have nice plastics, they're well finished, the body and interior panels are always properly aligned and fitted, there are no squeaks or rattles. People don't seem to see this with bikes, possibly because they are too bothered with externals like the weather or imminent death, but a cheap bike is still going to be awful to ride, the parts will squeak and rattle and possibly snap off. Yes, more expensive bikes aren't immune, but it's less likely.

SRAM Rival shifters are notorious though, cheap plastic innards. Great design let down by cheap parts. A little like my poor old punto.

kona

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

SRAM Rival shifters are notorious though, cheap plastic innards. Great design let down by cheap parts. A little like my poor old punto.

I know but not to people who would be into bikes. They would be just freaking because they dropped 1500 on a bike and the shifter snapped, all of a sudden they have lost confidence in what is actually a very good bike. Could say the same for a gear hanger on a Alloy frame, people just dont get that its designed to snap on their e1500 bike, even though they have been mashing it in and out of stands and the likes.

Very few Irish people can appreciate quality, I find other nationalities do. I also find what Seamus said about the price sand paranoia and haggling to be true too.

monument

I do always wonder how much of an affect do cheap bikes have on people's perceptions of bicycles? For example, even compare an average supermarket mountain bike to a half decent city bicycle -- the former more likely to be harder to cycle and slower, and less likely to be able to carry anything.

And then there's those upgrades that many don't get when buying he bike or later as a continued investment -- like upgrading to puncture resistant tyres which costs more but save a huge amount of time and money in the long run.

On the average for the Netherlands -- Dutch bikes can be on the pricey side for good reason give their higher spec in a lot of cases (often with breaks, gears, lights etc that will last longer but cost more and stuff like carriers and mudguards included) and they also have cargo bikes pushing the average up that bit more.

Outkast_IRE

i have the feeling halfords were probably the only one to send info to make these stats up, i dont think any of my LBS sell a bike in that price range

DirkVoodoo

Lumen wrote: »

Fixed that for you.

I won't bother fixing that for you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YllyBr_4Kxk

kona

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

i have the feeling halfords were probably the only one to send info to make these stats up, i dont think any of my LBS sell a bike in that price range

Either that or other LBS sell **** all

dev100

My mavic rims hope 2 hubs cost more than the average bike

asif2011

Wow I feel a real cheapskate!! I paid £79 plus £15 shipping for a Dunlop 26" Mountainbike from Sports Direct - worked out about €110. Some might say its a piece of s*** but it does me for general exercise and getting me from A to B every now and then... was never going to pay €200 odd. Had to put it together though, a small price to pay for a bargain. Might even sell it for a small profit in 6 months time once I've reached my target weight...

Similar bike below...

http://www.sportsdirect.com/dunlop-signature-series-realm-26-inch-932132

BostonB

kona wrote: »

Then why not get a nice V8 7 series with all the nice bits instead of a poverty spec 6 cylinder with cloth?

Because they don't have a dock in the marina for a barge like that?

monument

Even with Halfords, Smyths etc etc and the lower ranges some local bike shops sell you would still the overall adverage to be more than €190.

Would also love to know where the data is from?

Did the Irish bike industry report last week give a far higher adverage? Will look it up but I think it seemed unrealistic at the other end.

Captain Havoc

Here's my theories:
1) They did a survey, who's going to tell a stranger the actual amount they paid for a bike? You tell the nice survey person what you paid for a bike, when you're riding off, they signal to some knacker who proceeds to rob it.

2) Perhaps the bicycle shops are under-declaring their sales to evade paying more tax.

Just some thoughts

Icyseanfitz

asif2011 wrote: »

Wow I feel a real cheapskate!! I paid £79 plus £15 shipping for a Dunlop 26" Mountainbike from Sports Direct - worked out about €110. Some might say its a piece of s*** but it does me for general exercise and getting me from A to B every now and then... was never going to pay €200 odd. Had to put it together though, a small price to pay for a bargain. Might even sell it for a small profit in 6 months time once I've reached my target weight...

Similar bike below...

http://www.sportsdirect.com/dunlop-signature-series-realm-26-inch-932132

good god :eek:
.....
..... thats a lovely bike

dev100

asif2011 wrote: »

Wow I feel a real cheapskate!! I paid £79 plus £15 shipping for a Dunlop 26" Mountainbike from Sports Direct - worked out about €110. Some might say its a piece of s*** but it does me for general exercise and getting me from A to B every now and then... was never going to pay €200 odd. Had to put it together though, a small price to pay for a bargain. Might even sell it for a small profit in 6 months time once I've reached my target weight...

Similar bike below...

http://www.sportsdirect.com/dunlop-signature-series-realm-26-inch-932132

If you aint going to far and doing nothing to wild with it and it suits your needs who cares after that

Icyseanfitz

dev100 wrote: »

If you aint going to far and doing nothing to wild with it and it suits your needs who cares after that

true enough, just dont attempt any actual mtbing on it

clonmahon

monument wrote: »

Even with Halfords, Smyths etc etc and the lower ranges some local bike shops sell you would still the overall adverage to be more than €190.

Would also love to know where the data is from?

The full report is available at http://issuu.com/coliped/docs/european_bicycle_market___industry_profile_2010

The press release about it can be found at http://www.coliped.com/docs/40404.pdf

The publishers website is at
http://www.coliped.com/

Like many other posters I do wonder at the very low average price in Ireland. It is however high compared to 81 euro quoted for Bulgaria.

monument

monument wrote: »

Did the Irish bike industry report last week give a far higher adverage? Will look it up but I think it seemed unrealistic at the other end.

It was just the average bike cost on bike-to-work -- "€750 Average Bike Cost" says the graphic text.

Further down in the report it says:

"According to over half of bike retailers (53%), the average value of each initial bike purchase through the Cycle to Work scheme, including approved equipment, is between €500- €750. 42% of those surveyed said that customers spend from €750 up to the limit of €1,000. In the majority of cases (41%), customers also spend between €50- €100 on additional equipment each year"

It also says outside of the scheme that around €300 is the average of a family bike.

One then wonders if this was the reverse of the other report, with Halfords etc not included.

dev100

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

true enough, just dont attempt any actual mtbing on it

True

CiaranC

monument wrote: »

It was just the average bike cost on bike-to-work -- "€750 Average Bike Cost" says the graphic text.

Further down in the report it says:

"According to over half of bike retailers (53%), the average value of each initial bike purchase through the Cycle to Work scheme, including approved equipment, is between €500- €750. 42% of those surveyed said that customers spend from €750 up to the limit of €1,000. In the majority of cases (41%), customers also spend between €50- €100 on additional equipment each year"

Thats INSANE. i think I spent 50 quid on my last bicycle. I wanted to cycle down the street to work, not win the Tour De France king of the mountains

kona

CiaranC wrote: »

Thats INSANE. i think I spent 50 quid on my last bicycle. I wanted to cycle down the street to work, not win the Tour De France king of the mountains

and you think you would on a bike ranging from e300 to 1k??

flash1080

CiaranC wrote: »

Thats INSANE. i think I spent 50 quid on my last bicycle. I wanted to cycle down the street to work, not win the Tour De France king of the mountains

I'll race you on this: http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_800283_langId_-1_categoryId_165534 :pac:

dev100

CiaranC wrote: »

Thats INSANE. i think I spent 50 quid on my last bicycle. I wanted to cycle down the street to work, not win the Tour De France king of the mountains

Is it any more insane than someone pissing 750 euro down the urinal in the local pub or club over a number of weekends

Depends what you are into... I dont drink or smoke. I bought an expensive mountain bike which will last me years. Ill get value from it. There has been a big uptake in people taking up mountain biking or road biking and to do both you need a half decent bike.

Icyseanfitz

CiaranC wrote: »

Thats INSANE. i think I spent 50 quid on my last bicycle. I wanted to cycle down the street to work, not win the Tour De France king of the mountains

for some people cycling is a sport, and like most sports you have to put a little bit of time and money into it, your 50 quid bike would be alright for a slow trip around a small area but start trying to do any serious distance on it and its faults will soon show up,

as for the TDF it isnt so much what bike you got but what sort of legs do you have btw those guys racing in that have bikes worth a small fortune 5-10k id say

Icyseanfitz

flash1080 wrote: »

I'll race you on this: http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_800283_langId_-1_categoryId_165534 :pac:

we should start up some sort of sportive for bso's it would be class

flash1080

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

we should start up some sort of sportive for bso's it would be class

http://www.cheapbastardcigarcompany.com/
I'll approach this crowd for sponsorship, they'll be a good match with myself.

Icyseanfitz

flash1080 wrote: »

http://www.cheapbastardcigarcompany.com/
I'll approach this crowd for sponsorship, they'll be a good match with myself.

haha thats gas we should do a bso downhill event, it would be hilarious with all the forks snapping in half and what not, body Armour mandatory

monument

CiaranC wrote: »

Thats INSANE. i think I spent 50 quid on my last bicycle. I wanted to cycle down the street to work, not win the Tour De France king of the mountains

I think there's a chance it might be a bit on the high side overall for the scheme.

But even with a cheap €350 bike with gear -- ie say €45 for lights and €50-60 for locks and maybe a helmet €35, and sometimes add in mudguards and a rack, and you're looking at €500+ easily.

What did you get for €50?

flash1080

My reasoning behind buying a cheap bike was that I'm not going to be using it for anyway serious competition, it'll be used for a bit of fun and fitness, mostly on cycle paths. I'll run it into the ground and if I want to take cycling a bit more seriously I'll fork out for a better bike then. I don't really want to be spending a lot of money at this moment in time either so that also came into it.

If someone's just using the bike for a very short commute or for a run about on weekends then it's easy to understand why they'll go for a cheap bike.

Icyseanfitz

yeah id a few bso's when i was going to school and while they weighed a literal tonne they did the job, just about, i had the chain snapping and punctures a lot more as well as some other problems.

tried cycling one of them last year and while putting the cranks under pressure the cranks just snapped :eek: nearly killed myself, and thats the main problem with cheap bikes, they are made up of cheap materials and are a lot more prone to failing on you in a catastrophic manner

dayshah

kona wrote: »

e190 is BSO money.

kona wrote: »

However spend under e200 and your guaranteed a heap of ****e.

I paid €199 for a new bike about 5 years ago. It came with mudguards, bottle-dynamo, rear rack, bell and has 6 gears.

Apart from the bell its still going well.

I rarely go more than 5km on that bike (I've another for long weekend journeys). Bikes are a 100 year technology. They are not complicated machines. It's the simplicity that I love.

It's perfectly possible to find a bike for 5km journeys, which is what the vast majority of normal people want. Bike enthusiasts are different.

I paid €199 for the bike, and it does the job of a bike for common journeys. Why pay more?

kona

dayshah wrote: »

I paid €199 for a new bike about 5 years ago. It came with mudguards, bottle-dynamo, rear rack, bell and has 6 gears.

Apart from the bell its still going well.

I rarely go more than 5km on that bike (I've another for long weekend journeys). Bikes are a 100 year technology. They are not complicated machines. It's the simplicity that I love.

It's perfectly possible to find a bike for 5km journeys, which is what the vast majority of normal people want. Bike enthusiasts are different.

I paid €199 for the bike, and it does the job of a bike for common journeys. Why pay more?

I worked as a Bike mechanic for 5 years , your an acception to the rule if thats the case. Ive sold and fixed thousands of bikes Id imagine (I dont keep count ) but a good 95% of bikes that are returned for repair are sub e200 bikes. Im sure there is alot more wrong with your bike than the bell, only you are ignorant to these issues and so dont know about them.

Some bikes Bikes are complicated machines these days, very wide ranging, Aircraft is almost 100 year old technology too, want to explain a fedac system on a CFM 56? Because its fairly ****ing complicated.

You pay more for alot of things

Reliability
Comfort
Speed
Prestige
Technology

Sub e300 bikes dont have any of these, (well I suppose they have speed, they break up fairly fast.)

Maybe your bike suits you and thats fine, but your in the minority and to clain a e199 bike is good is ignorance. (Nobody likes to be called ignorant but claiming BSO are useful is)

Everything is designed for a purpose, your e199 bike fits yours, however not many people cycle sub 5k everyday.