Bike pricing disparity.

dyna-ti

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This is a about the price of bikes nowadays :evil:

Im in the market for an Ebike, and the price of the range im looking at is going to be about £4 1/2K.
A full suspension, maybe hybrid- eg Scott axis evo. = £4699

Last night im reading on of the trade tool catalogues from a company called Axminster Tools and machinery, probably familiar to some on here.

So im looking at the things I would always liked to have afforded, but never could, and looking at them is just a pipe dream.
But its the prices for what is trade/industrial machinery, that you would expect to see in a professional joiners or cabinetmakers, and be damned happy to own such capable kit.
Example Axminster AT254ps16 panel saw. WOW thats nice, especially compared to my own Axminster saw which cost £650 complete, the clear difference between hobby and trade. Cost of this panel saw - £2999 and will do anything you throw at it for decades to come. Or a woodworking combination machine, which combines 4 or 5 machines in one for use in a space like a big garage or workshop which is again £3000, and you couple to it a £1200 trade rated dust extractor, and even the last joiners I worked for didnt have anything like that level of extractor. Very nice kit indeed, and also going to give decades of service used daily.
Or anything, biggest bandsaw, saw bench or well pretty much anything they sell, a few industrial items aside.

So Im looking at the Scott Emtb/hybrid.
...and thinking £4 1/2K, you're fking kidding me :?

I cannot compare them against a professional saw or spindle moulder or planer thicknesser weighing 350-400kg cast iron, all the attachments you could get foro it.

Bikes have been around a long time,and for a long time the technology to build them has been in place and developed. This isnt new, or some mysterious art form that a scant few highly trained individuals can perform, this is welding alloy tubes together, or into box form and welding that onto some other tubes.

To build a frame for an Ebike - 100 quid worth of alloy plus labour :? Its not titanium, its not carbon fiber its mostly readily available aluminum and most of the time its a robotic welder jointing it all together, with a skilled welder doing some of the work, and i say skilled, but every welder is a skilled welded, "Skill"

The parts to complete it are for the most part long in use -wheels, brakes, gears and in these categories those components are mass produced, not crafted by an individual artisan.
Today its electric motors, mainly from companies who have been making electric motors also for a long time, and those that dont, Shimano for example arent starting from scratch, the designs are already there, and it takes little to adapt or shape them, but the internals are 90% the same.
I can understand batteries are new, but that new :? I think not, again adapted technology, so why the £500-600 price. It is gold, platinum and diamonds hidden inside that plastic casing :?

I just cant see how they can justify these prices, not at all. ~Not one iota.
 
Re: Bike pricing rant.

...and breath... :)

I was thinking the same recently, looking at a Rocky Mountain, nearly twice the price of that Scott, but most things nowadays are high cost, inflation i suppose, bought myself and my daughter a Magnum the other day, £5 :shock:
 
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£4.5k is not a lot really, what that's 2k to 2.5k from the early 90s.

So your typical higher end double diamond steel frame with xtr on and decent parts.


The motors as still in development, efficient, lightweight and compact and using less power. It's not quite the same as powering a bandsaw or even a washing machine.
And then you have wage costs, research costs, marketing and everyone along the way and the government taking its part.

That and it must be a crap time to buy, limited part supply, high demand.

Why do cars still cost more and so expensive, they are the same few designs with different shells on them.
 
Re: Bike pricing rant.

Fall in the value of Sterling, high demand etc etc.

I remember a similar feeling years ago when toddler son wanted some tools:
Cheap metric combination spanner set 8-15mm from local shop: £3.
Bob the Builder magazine with two crappy plastic spanners £4.50

Go figure. Things are worth what people are prepared to pay for them. People aren't necessarily rational. Look at the price of cars with a 13 plate compared to 62 or 63. Happily driving a 13 plate car as a result.
 
Re: Bike pricing rant.

IMO, mix of demand, supply, inflation and cycle to work scheme. Channels like GMBN etc don't help with their description of £2K bikes as "budget". That's simple anchoring and I'd argue one of the reasons why manufacturers sponsor such channels ie to set pricing expectations.

There is some real crap in the ebike market selling for more than a grand due to lockdown craziness. I reckon about half the bikes I see around here now are ebikes. They have really taken off this year. Unlike the OP though, I reckon the market and technology has a lot of maturing to do.

Not sure comparisons with top end 90s bikes are completely right. £4K does not a top end bike buy nowadays.

I always liked what Elon Musk said about rockets. The actual raw materials are relatively cheap, so making a cheaper one should be possible. He has been proven right. The same should be true of bikes, but the incentives aren't there.

Personally, I'd consider getting a decent hard tail and bolting on an aftermarket kit. Or keeping an eye on Halfords ebike offerings some good value there in comparision to others.

For me, there's no value in ebikes like these unless you are out on it practically every day. Batteries degrade, components wear out, unproven tech breaks, short 1 or 2 year guarantees - how many of these do we think will still be fully functioning in five years time? In some cases, it would probably be cheaper to hire if only using one occasionally.
 
Re: Bike pricing rant.

I won’t be buying anything “New” for a long time... and by the end of 2021 there’s gonna be a ton of un sold stuff sitting in warehouses all at bargain bucket prices ‘cause now we’re set a drift from main land Europe we are gonna have to deal with this monumental Covid inflicted deficit on our own...

I wonder if when all the Dentists go bust if there will be a ton of hi-end kit on eBay?...
 
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Well.. no offence to you dyna-ti, but only somewhere like Retrobike could the irony of someone with twenty bikes bemoaning the price being asked for number twenty-one pass by without comment?.. unless you really have sold them all to fund a holiday in a skip?

Peachy seems to be anticipating an opportunity to acquire an up-market Dremel or something? That is not the first thing that comes into my mind when I consider the prospect of bankrupt dental practices..

And, I know you are just using an analogy, greencat, but I don't buy the Musk story for a second: Are we really supposed to believe that the federal Usanian govt.- who on the face of it haven't been arsed to send a man to the mooon since 1974- are now out-resourced and out-initiatived by one of their own private citizens? That comes across as (suspiciously) great PR for the ideology of 'not taxing rich people'.
 
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Profit isn’t a dirty word you know!

Think of all the wages and costs incurred for building each part. The R&D , rent , tax , and a million other things that go into a product. Plus dependent on brand - the costs of the supplying dealer. Oh and they will want to make money whilst doing this you know the swines.

Always amazes me when people complain about costs of a item. In today’s market there is pretty much a price for any budget on any item (within reason)

If it’s such a money spinner why not Chuck your hand in the mix and start your own company making ebikes? Then the mere £4.5k will start to look a lot cheaper trust me
 
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