bikes getting more expensive due to weak euro?

was buying a bike recently and the personnel in the bike shops said that equivalent bikes for 2016 will be more expensive - due to the euro dropping?

makes sense for stuff like shimano coming from outside europe I suppose and even European bikes and component manufacturers getting their stuff made elsewhere.

noticed one or two bikes of the same model 2015 to 2016 (that are just coming on stream now or over next month) dropping from say 105 to Tiagra (on lower range road bikes that have to hit the 1000 euro limit type price - Ireland is not the only cycle to work scheme country obviously and a small one at that) - I assume that on the higher range that the price will just go up instead of dropping equipment levels.

ted1

The likes of Cube are German , and operate in Euro, the yen and other Asian currencies are also down so it shouldn't be to much difference. They mightn't want to lower the price in Britain, as next year they may have to jack them right up

68 lost souls

I read this somewhere recently too, was either on GCN or Road.cc I believe, Cant remember exactly where

EDIT: Thinking about it I believe it was on a facebook group of one of the Irish bike shops, they were letting people know that they had x number of 2015 models and that the prices will be going up with the 2016 models.

ted1

ted1 wrote: »

The likes of Cube are German , and operate in Euro, the yen and other Asian currencies are also down so it shouldn't be to much difference. They mightn't want to lower the price in Britain, as next year they may have to jack them right up

actually noticed it on a cube bike. one bike that had full 105 for 2015, now had tiagra in all places instead of 105 for 2016 on the equivalent model. yes for the uk they have to be careful as the pound has gotten so strong against the euro. although with the EU policy of QE it may go weaker again as a currency but that's getting too much into economics for a bike forum I think.

nak

Yep, frame I ordered is more expensive than last year as manufacturer's price is converted from sterling as imported through the UK.

Peregrinus

Logically, of course, the sterling price should be dropping since they UK is in turn importing the frame from, e.g., China. So ideally it should all come out in the wash.

But what may be happening is that as sterling appreciates the UK importer decides not to drop prices, but to trouser the extra profit as a windfall. He may do this because he is greedy, or because he fears that it will be a temporary state of affairs, and he doesn't want the sterling price to be bouncing around too much. Either way, one consequence will be that exports onwards to other countries will suffer, as the price in the local currency of those countries will go up.

easygoing39

Scott and Felt have gone up in price since May.I also noticed Shimano parts have got more expensive on CRC and Wiggle.

cython

Didn't Rose announce a while back that they had to add a surcharge/price increase to all their bikes for this very reason as well? Basically all the components they were buying in from outside the Eurozone (as opposed to the wider EU) were costing them more so given they price natively in Euro they had to increase to keep up margins.

sconhome

Reason being most products distributed into Ireland come through UK distribution channels. Irish market is too small to service directly or as a splinter from one of the € countries. Any product sourced in £ is going to be more expensive here. For the majority of distribution stuff we're a wing of the UK.

cython

AKW wrote: »

Reason being most products distributed into Ireland come through UK distribution channels. Irish market is too small to service directly or as a splinter from one of the € countries. Any product sourced in £ is going to be more expensive here. For the majority of distribution stuff we're a wing of the UK.

It's a broader issue than just Ireland though; as I mentioned Rose (German, so large enough market to have own national distribution), and Canyon (bike I bought from them earlier this year is 100 dearer for 2016 with no spec change) have both seen some increase, and you can be reasonably sure they purchase as directly as possible, and almost certainly don't go through the UK for the majority of their stuff. In fact Canyon are cheaper to buy in Ireland than the UK, or at least they were when I bought, due to having the same currency - converting their GBP prices back to Euro was a bit eye-watering.

Potentially we're getting doubly screwed on the basis of the UK-based distribution, but I'm just saying that can't be all of it when direct sales bypassing the UK are also impacted.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Felt bikes went up in price too due to the strong US$ And will possibly go up again for next years (2016) bikes.

Koobcam

Your typical bike these days has a carbon frame manufactured in China and components that are also likely assembled in China or somewhere near there. There are hardly any parts of your average bike these days that are made in Eurozone countries-maybe the tyres? Up to a couple of weeks ago, the RMB had been steadily appreciating against the Euro for the past couple of years, and more so in the past year. You also have to factor in rising wage levels in China over the past number of years. So basically, it's not a surprise that bikes are costing more. In fact, I'd say that it's a surprise that prices haven't gone up by even more or that they didn't go up sooner. Perhaps the price of oil being relatively low is keeping prices from going even higher.

Tenzor07

Why do you keep saying China when it's Taiwan that make the majority of bikes?

barrymanilow

I was squirrelling away money for a surly disc trucker .Overnight the price jumped from 1700 to 1900 .I asked in the shop and they said it was the strong pound as its Uk distributed . Put me off getting it .

sconhome

cython wrote: »

It's a broader issue than just Ireland though...

True, $ has a lot to do with it too on the global scale. If we were able to skip out the £ bit in the middle Ireland would at least hold it's own (VAT is another area to consider) with continental Europe prices

Bedshaped

I'm not sure if it was a sales tactic but a lad in a bike shop near me said that Giant are probably the cheapest brand at the moment.

This is due to them fixing their prices before the US$ **** the bed.

siochain

I was enquiring in LBS about buying a Giant Defy 0 in January and the said the 2016 pricing will be €1,499 up from €1,249 with no change in spec.

Koobcam

Tenzor07 wrote: »

Why do you keep saying China when it's Taiwan that make the majority of bikes?

Without getting into the whole Taiwan-China thing, I think that China accounts for the largest single share of world bicycle production and it's well over 50%. I suppose it depends on the specific manufacturer, obviously some companies will outsource to Taiwan. There are lots of Taiwanese companies though with manufacturing facilities in China, particularly Guangdong province and Xiamen. I would reckon that a good deal of the frames that people on here would be buying would be made there, though who knows really. There's a good article here from inrng a few years back