Do you think the price of bikes are value for money?

ottolwinner

Prices seem to be ever climbing along with accessories is it good value?

(skin in the industry for 25 years but not a shop owner)

G1032

In a word no.

In a few more words.......

It's insane the price of bikes now. I don't see how it is in any way sustainable. Any decent bike now costs as much a many a decent car. There is absolutely zero 'value' if you ask me. It's like the industry just keeps on inventing new ways to fleece the cyclist.

There is value in accessories and some components if you look hard enough and are smart about it, but this more often than not will not be in the LBS. Recently, for example, I bought 4 * TPU tubes on AliExpress for 32 euro. Total weight saving of 264g (always carry 2 spares). To save that much off the weight of frame or drivetrain component would cost a small fortune.

CramCycle

Yes and no. Depends on how you place value on things. Cycling improves your health and increases life expectancy. So yes. In another word, no, the increase in popularity should see a downturn improves at the mid to low end which isn't happening.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058306167/do-you-think-the-price-of-bikes-are-value-for-money

No*

*Depends on your definition of value

They're still great value in terms of travel expenses, it's hard to get anywhere cheaper except walking

But realistically I think a lot of people who commute by bike are replacing a car journey, not the car itself. Unless you live in Dublin City and don't have kids then it's going to be hard to live without a car

I know people who do it, but they're often dependant on others for lifts

So it isn't like 5000 bikes sold means 5000 fewer cars around. So then the "value" of a bike is diminished if you're paying for it as well as a car

Also, I think a lot of manufacturers have been pushing towards more proprietary components, which makes maintenance a hassle and adds expense. This seems particularly bad with ebikes, look at VanMoof for example who recently went wallop

I get that in the early days there weren't a huge amount of options for manufacturers, but there's enough standard components now that they can put a bike together off the shelf

On top of that, the bike to work scheme has unfortunately played into the sellers hands, as usual. To be clear, I think it's a great idea in principle, but for example they raised the limit on cargo bikes to €3k this year, and funnily enough it's quite hard to find a cargo bike for under €3k nowadays

There's also just the pressure of supply and demand at work. A lot more people seem to be looking at cycling as an option for commuting or getting fit. It's a good thing overall but it does drive up prices

gn3dr

No.

At the upper end of the scale I cannot fathom how anyone can justify paying >€10k for a top end Specialized, Giant etc.

I've probably only once inmy life paid more than that for a car. And when you compare the complexity of a car to a bicycle...

It's even worse when you compare within brands e.g. how is the price difference between 105 vs Ultegra vs Dura Ace justified? I don't really see that level of value in the higher end stuff and years ago the difference between them was smaller.

Same goes for a carbon frames, especially when you see how much you can buy an open mould frame for in China which is in some cases being made by the same company supplying the branded frames

Seth Brundle

But realistically I think a lot of people who commute by bike are replacing a car journey, not the car itself. Unless you live in Dublin City and don't have kids then it's going to be hard to live without a car

I know people who do it, but they're often dependant on others for lifts

So it isn't like 5000 bikes sold means 5000 fewer cars around. So then the "value" of a bike is diminished if you're paying for it as well as a car

I bought my current car in Dec 2021 when another's driver's actions wrote off my car. I actually thought long and hard as to whether I actually needed to buy a car (as my OH has one) but figured it would be needed for certain journeys.

Nowadays, most of its use is travelling to various GAA matches around the county or else Summer hols.

However, most of my day to day travel is by bike. I spend feck all on fuel because I'm travelling by bike. The bike takes about the same time to get me to & from work in normal traffic.

I think the other unseen factor about the value from the bike is the emotional value. I always arrive in work feeling good (regardless of weayher or whatever). If I drive and get delayed in traffic, I feel crappy for a while after I arrive.

Getting back to the OP - I think the cost of groupsets for starters has gone to stupid levels at the moment. It has to come down.

John_Rambo

Depends. I'm speaking of non-competitive or performance bikes, my wife's & my 10 year old solid commuters are still alive & kicking, the kids (decent) bikes are used daily. No loans, no insurance, fuel, electricity, or tax. Our trailer we used for the oldest over 12 years ago is still perfect (and more socially acceptable on the roads these days) so we're back on the bikes for the school/creche runs, runs to the beach, butcher, baker etc...

On an amusing point, I just can't get over the ease of lighting up, small, rechargeable, light, powerful lights that are mounted with strong rubber bands. It's just unbelievable how good they are compared to the various larger battery lights or tyre driven dynamos we had when we were kids.

So handy.

this.lad

Prices are on the way up, theres no doubt. I think we might be getting rode a bit here on prices.

And heres the proof giant ireland v giant italy

I know we're getting up the foodchain there in terms of spec but that price difference is not insignificant.

My first road bike cost me the difference in price 10 or 11 years ago.

68 lost souls

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120889527#Comment_120889527

And surprise surprise the price difference is almost exactly what the money you would save using the bike to work scheme is...

Paddigol

You can buy a new bike for €500. If you don't ride it more than twice, it's probably not value for money. And I'd say there were an awful lot of cases like that during the Covid lockdowns. On the other hand you can as you suggest spend €10,000 on a bike. Assuming that price tag reflects the frameset and groupset, then if you spend hundreds of hours a year on it - maybe race it every week during the season/ maybe commute everyday to work - is that value for money?

The question of value for money isn't so much 'how much did it cost?' as 'how much did you use it?'.

beggars_bush

Buy a 2nd hand bike and see do you use it. You can always sell it again for little loss if it's not for you

Bought my first road bike for €1000 10 years ago, it's still going and doesn't owe me anything. It's like Trigger's brush though, the only original thing is probably the frame and handlebars.

nicksnikita

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120890751#Comment_120890751

The issue is that €10k can never reflect the frame/group/wheels on any bike that’s pumped off a production line in the Far East.

On top of that, bikes are heavier and far more complex than their equivalent from a decade ago as well as 4 times the price

MojoMaker

Value? Nope.

The country is awash with money since Covid so it's somewhat inevitable that prices would rocket to fill the vacuum created by much higher spending power.

Why sell at A when you have buyers at B, where B>A?

Only have to look at the poor Freds at any sportif in the country on very flashy metal relative to their fitness or performance levels. Very flashy indeed!

beggars_bush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120891031#Comment_120891031

I don't begrudge anyone having a nice bike. A lad in our club treated himself to a new bike on his retirement. I see it as an investment in his own health and mental well being

Johnny Jukebox

Depends on what you get out of it, and I think the more you love your bike, the more you'll ride it.

Personally I love the newer tech like Di2, disk brakes, super lightweight carbon frames and deep section wheels etc etc and am willing to pay for it.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120890045#Comment_120890045

This 100%

I was looking at buying a bike through the scheme, however my work uses a "partner" company to administer the scheme

Of course the partner company only works with some bike shops, and of course the bikes cost a good bit more from those shops. Partly I'm guessing because they need to pay the scheme organiser to be one of their listed shops

So effectively we're taxed on using the bike to work scheme 😬

Daroxtar

My bike cost a far too much for what it's made from and has given me some of the best days imaginable which were priceless.

PowerToWait

I'm out of the loop for a good while but bikes have been very costly for a long time now. On the road bike thing, I never understood paying 6 - 10k for an off the peg standard size bike. For that money I'm fairly sure you could go bespoke in titanium, if that's even a thing anymore. Or failing that then something handbuilt by the likes of Litespeed. Not a yoke from a production line in China.

CantGetNoSleep

I'm on my third summer of a 4000€ bike (Giant TCR with Di2, disc brakes, carbon wheels, tubeless etc). It is only marginally better (and no lighter) than my previous good bike which cost 1600€ (a rim braked carbon Canyon Ultimate with Ultegra). I see myself getting two more years out of it at least, and even then it will hopefully still have a bit of sell on value. To me, that is value for my money.

Where I think it is difficult to find value for money is in the 1000€ish price range. A few years ago that got you Shimano 105, maybe getting into carbon frame territory, basically anything most people would ever need.

Nowadays you are probably looking at close to 2500€ for a good mid range road bike which doesn't have cable discs or weigh 12kg

magicbastarder

i'm on my fifth year of my summer bike and i still consider it to be pretty much new!

dahat

Current race bike into year 3 - €4k all in for bike & wheels with plenty life in it so at current prices same bike & wheel combo costs €5k plus change. I’m hoping to get two more years at least from it as with mechanical & disc 11 speed Ultegra it should stand up.

I looked into changing it next year but a bike & wheel package all in from LBS was hitting €5k ish as most are now 12 speed DI2 & I’ve no internet in electronic ( replacement cost) at this time.

I’ve picked up a second hand Trek Emonda non pro for €1k second hand. There is value there but it takes time to find it & some luck.

As above the €1k bike market is terrible these days for the entry level rider.

Idleater

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120891810#Comment_120891810

12 years for me, albeit updated a bit over the years.

Back cycling my almost 30 year old bike training myself for an event later this summer. That one was £750, and a lot of my pocket money. I think both still serve me well.

As for value for money, I do think that there is significant r&d and engineering involved in the cutting edge of frame building, and carbon development is not trivial. I would liken it to you pharma r&d which has to be recouped. Plus the marketing budget now of course.

That said, I do think that I now prefer the hand built over race replica, but I absolutely do not suggest that no one should buy them if that is how they like to spend their hard earned.

this.lad

I'd never criticise anyone for spe ding whatever miney they like on a bike, ive spent over 150 hours on the bike so far this year.

150 hours of anything worthwhile and enjoyable will cost you money.

A 4.5k bike is costing you 30 euro an hour, that will be 15 by december and thats year one.

If you wash it and look after it you'll get plenty of value out of it.

gn3dr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120891899#Comment_120891899

I'm still riding my 19 year old TCR Once carbon although I only recently "upgraded" the groupset from DA 7800 to Ultegra r8000. I found the receipt for the frame recently and I think it was about €1k ( bought new from Bonthrone Bikes in the UK)

I don't think I'd agree with you on the development costs though. Sure there is some costs but carbon isn't specific to the bike industry so there is a lot of development done by the airline, motorsport etc industries that can just be used or copied. Also it's not like bike companies have to build.d wind tunnels to test aero stuff. Instead they just pay for time of the motorsport ones.

Look at Time bikes for example. Their frames are nice, still up to date and their process hasn't changed all that much. Same for Giant with the TCR, it's basically the same (brilliant) design as when it was launched.

iwillhtfu

Not even remotely would I consider most mid/high end bikes value for money. The prices are absolutely ridiculous and there's no real valid argument other wise imo. I recently considered upgrading a bike and for the money I could have a very nice motorbike to play around on, needless to say the motorless bike didn't win.

I think one thing driving the market and soon to be the next pitfall is huum etc making it very easy for people to finance very expensive luxuries.

I do understand the argument that if you get joy from the bike then why not and that's fair enough but you still can't convince me there's value there.

dahat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120892050#Comment_120892050

100% on Humm - it’s a bit like PCP for cars in the sense that it’s easy now to get credit for a super bike if that’s the way you want to go.

DaveyDave

Disc versions of road bikes seem to be expensive for what they are. The Canyon Endurace AL disc is 20% more expensive. Something that has been around on affordable mountain bikes for years and you aren't getting 105 at that price anymore either.

Humm/Klarna finance probably doesn't help as it allows you to buy something nicer without having to wait longer to save even more, so more higher end bikes will be selling. Prices aren't going down if people keep buying them.

I was looking at a lightweight summer MTB jersey and it was €80, a fair bit more than a normal Jersey. I got a dirt bike jersey for €35 instead, a lot of the body protection is cheaper if you get the dirt bike gear, they do the same job. Bibs and jerseys are quite expensive compared to the running gear I'd wear. The cycling kit I wear is never on sale, my running gear has been pretty much all sale from one brand, not even trying to shop around to save.

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120891364#Comment_120891364

Absolutely. There's a lot of begrudgery out there.

magicbastarder

i do begrudge people who get top end bikes and then don't use them, which is a little different from what's being talked about i think.

Tenzor07

It's a very wide and subjective question, plenty of "Non-cyclists" when I tell them how much one of my bikes cost the usual response is "Oh you could buy a car for that!"

Well, if that car was an "Equivalent" to the bike I have it would be a high end sports car and not a 10yr old VW Polo!!

DaveyDave

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120893113#Comment_120893113

A better comparison is motorbikes, you'd get a nice dirt bike or sport bike for the money some high end bikes are going for. As you said, it's not like for like in the sense that an aero Dura Ace Di2 bike isn't the same category as a 400-600cc sport bike but at the same time there's a lot of moving parts on them. It makes you wonder where the money on a push bike goes.

T-Maxx

Cycling is the new golf. As long as folks are happy to spend on the latest gimmicks and aero this carbon that prices will continue to increase.

CramCycle

I always thought when I retire, if I have a pay off, I'd buy a fancy bike but truth be told, I'd have the mid life crisis I never did. I'll buy a camper van. Should have got a loan and bought one when I was 18, hindsight is wonderful.