Average bike in Ireland only costs 190 euro

Captain Havoc · 10-10-2011 06:17PM

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 · 10-10-2011 06:25PM

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 · 10-10-2011 06:30PM

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 · 10-10-2011 06:33PM

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 · 10-10-2011 06:39PM

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 · 10-10-2011 06:40PM

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 · 10-10-2011 06:44PM

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

true enough, just dont attempt any actual mtbing on it

True

CiaranC · 10-10-2011 06:46PM

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 · 10-10-2011 06:55PM

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 · 10-10-2011 07:00PM

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 · 10-10-2011 07:01PM

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 · 10-10-2011 07:02PM

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 · 10-10-2011 07:03PM

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 · 10-10-2011 07:07PM

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 · 10-10-2011 07:10PM

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 · 10-10-2011 07:17PM

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 · 10-10-2011 07:20PM

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 · 10-10-2011 07:32PM

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 · 10-10-2011 07:49PM

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 · 10-10-2011 08:51PM

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.

flash1080 · 10-10-2011 09:22PM

kona wrote: »

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.

It's hardly ignorance to say a bike/BSO is "going well" if it's doing the job asked of it, i.e. short distance commuting. I don't think anyone's disputing that you get what you pay for.

kona · 10-10-2011 09:37PM

flash1080 wrote: »

It's hardly ignorance to say a bike/BSO is "going well" if it's doing the job asked of it, i.e. short distance commuting. I don't think anyone's disputing that you get what you pay for.

I just think its not the best thing to be saying, bit like saying a car for e500 will get you to work everyday, in every condition and ask no more than to be filled with petrol.
BSO are not good bikes, they are designed to a price and not a purpose, it just so happens that a minority of people fall into this category. The majority of people would need something of better quality (min e300) , this is the point of the survey and the points I raised.

Do you think people who bought a e190 bike would have chosen it over say a e300 bike if they were comparing purely on the use? People who buy BSO dont give a **** about anything other than cost, this is their downfall. When you are explaining this to people day in day out it drives you mad, it really is simple!

People have different concepts of "going well"

, how many 93 carina taxis are there that the drivers say are "going well"

DirkVoodoo · 10-10-2011 10:07PM

I think my point has been sort of proved here, like monument said €500 is not unreasonable for a bike and accessories that should last many years if well cared for. It is not insane to spend that sort of money on a bike, you don't have to, but to think you will get anything that is of any reasonable quality or durability for €50, new, IS insane.

To put it in context, assuming that €500 lasts you for one year of maintenance free cycling:

A year of commuting on the bus is around €1000, Luas is around €700 (excluding tax saving options).
The 2008 average cost of running a car was just under €2,000.

If you look after the bike and get it serviced, lock it properly and avoid theft, the cost of ownership is even more favourable. It is not expensive at all, only relative to your €50 bike, which I'm sorry to say is probably a POS.

dayshah · 10-10-2011 10:26PM

kona wrote: »

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.

...

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

I pedal the bike, the bike goes forward. I pull the brakes, the bike stops. I shift gears, the gears shift. I clip in the dynamo, the light works. I'm not a bike mechanic, but that sounds like a functioning bike to me. It ain't rocket science.

Of course, I don't work in a bike shop, so I've no reason to claim that someone should spend over €200 for a bike that works, and suits someone's modest needs.

Maybe not many bike enthusiasts cycle sub 5km a day, or lets say sub 1000km a year. But the Dublin bike scheme would indicate otherwise.

DirkVoodoo · 10-10-2011 10:33PM

dayshah wrote: »

Maybe not many bike enthusiasts cycle sub 5km a day, or lets say sub 1000km a year. But the Dublin bike scheme would indicate otherwise.

Not a fair statement. The scheme is purposely designed for short journeys, there are no stations outside the city and penalties and costs are there to discourage longer trips. The Dubling Bike scheme has been great for showing that people are willing to cycle around Dublin and that Dublin is indeed a nice city to cycle in, you can't say that it also means people only want to ride bikes within the city centre.

dayshah · 10-10-2011 10:39PM

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Not a fair statement. The scheme is purposely designed for short journeys, there are no stations outside the city and penalties and costs are there to discourage longer trips. The Dubling Bike scheme has been great for showing that people are willing to cycle around Dublin and that Dublin is indeed a nice city to cycle in, you can't say that it also means people only want to ride bikes within the city centre.

I didn't say that.

I first bought a €199 bike for short journeys. It got me into cycling, and I still use that bike for cycling into town. Its not such a loss if it gets robbed. Its perfectly suitable for short journeys.

I then got into cycling a bit more and bought a bike for about €450. I use that for journeys about 60km on the weekend. Its more comfortable, and has a better range of gears (27 versus 6 on my cheaper bike).

I'm sure there are people who want to make long journeys. This doesn't mean there aren't lots of people who only want to make journeys under 5km.

If we are to encourage people to cycle, why discourage them from buying a bike for €190 if it suits their needs?

tomasrojo · 10-10-2011 11:04PM

I had to buy a more expensive bike, because my last two bikes (somewhat BSO-ish: freewheel and three-piece bottom bracket) had to be scrapped when the frames snapped. Even before that, the spokes kept snapping.

I think it was down to the bikes being too fragile to carry a lot of luggage, so I bought a touring bike, which happily requires very little maintenance compared to the previous bikes.

reallyunique · 10-10-2011 11:06PM

Most people drive their car or use public transport or, in rare cases, walk. Cycling is a minority activity and many people who buy a bike will ride it a few times, get scared, or fed up and leave it in the shed. That's the majority. A BSO is perfectly acceptable for this, in fact it's overkill.

Those of us who post on this forum cycle far more than the average person and are more passionate about cycling than most people who just commute short distances or use their bikes to take their kids around a local park. Only one person on my street cycles more than I do (he's the guy in the boards kit) and I don't do anywhere near the miles (sorry, kilometers) that seem the norm here.

People need to get onto a bike. Have a go, see what it's about and not have to worry too much about the money they're spending. A €200 BSO fits the bill perfectly. If they like cycling around the area on a summers day and then want to try going to work or doing something serious with it they can upgrade, they might even have learned what not to buy.

I realise that few of us are cycling advocates. Some might even secretly prefer if cycling were just a lycra fetish scene, but if people are ever going to migrate from cars to bikes it's probably going to be via cheap BSOs from Halfords or some big chain-store. It's fair for us to poke fun at the people and the bikes because they'll probably never hear about it (though calling people ignorant because they don't need what we think they need is a bit rough) but it doesn't show us in a very good light.

If we want our roads to become safer, with fewer cars and more cyclists then we're probably going to have to be a little less snobby about what constitutes a bike. In the short term anyway.

kona · 10-10-2011 11:13PM

dayshah wrote: »

I pedal the bike, the bike goes forward. I pull the brakes, the bike stops. I shift gears, the gears shift. I clip in the dynamo, the light works. I'm not a bike mechanic, but that sounds like a functioning bike to me. It ain't rocket science.

Of course, I don't work in a bike shop, so I've no reason to claim that someone should spend over €200 for a bike that works, and suits someone's modest needs.

Maybe not many bike enthusiasts cycle sub 5km a day, or lets say sub 1000km a year. But the Dublin bike scheme would indicate otherwise.

I find that a awful word to describe people. Usually used as an excuse for people to hide behind to make themselves feel better. I can tell you I sold alot of expensive bikes to people who were FAR from "enthusiasts" , infact they hadnt ridden a bike in decades.

Your bike may work, but I can guarantee you for a hundred euros more at the beginning the bike would be exponentially better.
Sure it aint rocket science, but then again your brakes maybe rubbing off the rims somewhat, they may be not working as well as they should, your gears may not change correctley, your bottom bracket and headset maybe hanging out, theres a myriad of things.

kona · 10-10-2011 11:22PM

reallyunique wrote: »

Most people drive their car or use public transport or, in rare cases, walk. Cycling is a minority activity and many people who buy a bike will ride it a few times, get scared, or fed up and leave it in the shed. That's the majority. A BSO is perfectly acceptable for this, in fact it's overkill.

Those of us who post on this forum cycle far more than the average person and are more passionate about cycling than most people who just commute short distances or use their bikes to take their kids around a local park. Only one person on my street cycles more than I do (he's the guy in the boards kit) and I don't do anywhere near the miles (sorry, kilometers) that seem the norm here.

People need to get onto a bike. Have a go, see what it's about and not have to worry too much about the money they're spending. A €200 BSO fits the bill perfectly. If they like cycling around the area on a summers day and then want to try going to work or doing something serious with it they can upgrade, they might even have learned what not to buy.

I realise that few of us are cycling advocates. Some might even secretly prefer if cycling were just a lycra fetish scene, but if people are ever going to migrate from cars to bikes it's probably going to be via cheap BSOs from Halfords or some big chain-store. It's fair for us to poke fun at the people and the bikes because they'll probably never hear about it (though calling people ignorant because they don't need what we think they need is a bit rough) but it doesn't show us in a very good light.

If we want our roads to become safer, with fewer cars and more cyclists then we're probably going to have to be a little less snobby about what constitutes a bike. In the short term anyway.

Its not snobby or poking fun. Im not saying everybody NEEDS a cervelo or a Kona, what Im saying is for a extra e100 they could have something much better specced and a better ride. e300-e400 is **** all on a machine you use everyday to get in and out of work, if you think it is, your a cheapskate and theres no point in continuing a argument in a race to the bottom.

Why drive a VW when you can have a Lotus?

BSO have their purpose sure, but dear jesus if you want it to commute on, which , considering theres a c2w scheme the past 2 years, the whole survey above Must include people who intend bikes for this purpose, then a BSO will turn them away from cycling, they promote the ****e side of cycling.

Average bike in Ireland only costs 190 euro

Comments