Disturbing Prices

[scott43]

Can't say I wasn't tempted.

Dude fat bikes rock!

 

[Primoz]

My Ducati was $9k new .....

It was meant to look different I wanted to say you get motorbike for less, and for 8k you already get a car not just a motorbike.

 

[Lauren]

Just as an example, if you go to Trekbikes.com and select all Men's Road bikes, it returns 82 results. 4 are under $2k. Granted some of those 82 results are frame-only. I could buy a custom frame for $1200, a 105 gruppo for $400 and still have money left over from $2k. Wow.

But you could go to a (for lack of a better word) "lesser" brand like Diamondback, filter men's road bikes and find 16 under $1000, 25 under $2000.

 

[Primoz]

I could buy a custom frame for $1200, a 105 gruppo for $400 and still have money left over from $2k. Wow.

When I was getting my current mtb year and half ago, I actually made some calculations, as I found really good deal for some Chinese full suspension xc frame (I know all frames are Chinese, but this one didn't have fancy company sticker on). And when I added all the parts together, there was simply no way, I would come anywhere near the price I paid for full bike. Just forks and read shock were around 1500eur. Whole bike (complete Shimano XT M8000 group with Fox Factory series shock and forks and "a bit" better DT Swiss wheels), was 3200eur, ok that was with discount included but still. So at least for me over here in Europe, there's simply no way to custom build bike, that would be cheaper then bike from store. Even if I would build it myself and wouldn't count my time and work into this price.

 

[scott43]

But you could go to a (for lack of a better word) "lesser" brand like Diamondback, filter men's road bikes and find 16 under $1000, 25 under $2000.

Well I don't really consider Trek to be a top-line brand..or maybe better to say, they're a full-range brand. They sell $90 kids bikes.. Giant is in a similar boat. I suppose what I'm saying is, a 105 equipped bike is, or used to be, the meat and potatoes level of bike. Now it seems like there is one 105 bike and 78 above that.. I wonder what the sales numbers are these days..

 

[scott43]

When I was getting my current mtb year and half ago, I actually made some calculations, as I found really good deal for some Chinese full suspension xc frame (I know all frames are Chinese, but this one didn't have fancy company sticker on). And when I added all the parts together, there was simply no way, I would come anywhere near the price I paid for full bike. Just forks and read shock were around 1500eur. Whole bike (complete Shimano XT M8000 group with Fox Factory series shock and forks and "a bit" better DT Swiss wheels), was 3200eur, ok that was with discount included but still. So at least for me over here in Europe, there's simply no way to custom build bike, that would be cheaper then bike from store. Even if I would build it myself and wouldn't count my time and work into this price.

Yeah and that was typical back in the day too. i always advised people to buy complete because the individual parts were marked up 100% generally and when on the complete bike it was more like 40%. Huge hit.

 

[Wilhelmson]

Do 11 year olds need $350 bats? How much better do those $200 sneakers make you in the over 40 soccer or basketball league? A carbon wheel costs more than the median monthly wage in China.

If there's a lack of lower cost options I can understand that point, but I don't know how true it is, and what would represent lower cost.

 

[scott43]

Or $350 hockey sticks.. Answer, no.

 

[skibob]

These are Chinese bikes.

10 years ago cellphones were made in China. They said motorola, apple, nokia, etc on them. They are still made in China, but now say Xioami, Huawei, oneplus, etc.

Still, my new oneplus 6 shipped from Hong Kong and arrived in 2 days. This, along with the fact that I don't need to test drive a phone will be the major barrier to chinese companies selling bikes direct.

Right now the frames are marked way up because they know only serious gear monkey's will buy them direct. That, and the Shimano/Sram stranglehold.

 

[Wilhelmson]

Do 11 year olds need $350 bats? How much better do those $200 sneakers make you in the over 40 soccer or basketball league? A carbon wheel costs more than the median monthly wage in China.

If there's a lack of lower cost options I can understand that point, but I don't know how true it is, and what would represent lower cost.

Or $350 hockey sticks.. Answer, no.

My friends tell me their kid broke 3 last season. What a joke.

 

[Monique]

But you could go to a (for lack of a better word) "lesser" brand like Diamondback, filter men's road bikes and find 16 under $1000, 25 under $2000.

A friend of mine got a Diamondback hard tail and rides circles around me, both up and down. The rider is definitely a bigger factor than the bike, which is why all sorts of college kids whizz by me on their cheap, old, used bikes. They seem to be doing just fine. I do, however, love my 1x12 and dropper seat post. And droppers just don't come cheap.

Well I don't really consider Trek to be a top-line brand..or maybe better to say, they're a full-range brand.

As you say, full range. There are Trek bike-shaped toys, and Trek Serious Bikes (take a look at the Slash or Remedy, for example, in the free ride / downhill world). Same for Specialized. Trek's economy of scale, and Bontrager components, allow them to provide a high end bike more cheaply than a boutique brand. I've always turned my nose up at Bontrager, but I don't have any factual basis except for the whiff of cost savings. Which is going to be a lot more attractive to me the next time I buy a bike ...

 

[Jersey Skier]

When I opened my shop back in 95, our entry level bike was about $299. For that you got a high tensile steel frame, steel rims, galvanized spokes, no quick releases, sealed bearings or any type of suspension. For another $100 you got 3 cromo tubes with the balance of the frame being high tensile steel, alloy rims and qr's. Had to pay over $500 for full cromo, over $700 for aluminum and no suspension till over a grand.

Now for $449 you get a front suspension aluminum bike with alloy rims, stainless spokes and disc brakes. That was a $2000 bike back then.

Anyone who says an entry level bike is $2500+ is shopping in the wrong store.

 

[Tom K.]

Pretty easy to argue either end of this debate.

Well I don't really consider Trek to be a top-line brand.

Well, I read somewhere once that Trek and Specialized together employ more engineers than the rest of the bike companies in the world combined, but I can't seem to Google-Fu that source anymore.

I used to be a boutique bike snob, and ended up being a Trek rider through an interesting variety of circumstances. I was initially a bit nonplussed at the idea, but I've raced four Fuel EXs now, and also owned a Remedy 29er for more rugged riding, and they have been amazingly fast, fun and problem-free.

 

[Doug Briggs]

If you put a top of the line bike from 1998 next to a top of the line bike from 2018, yes, you will pay a lot more. But you also get a lot more. Disc vs V-brake. 5' vs 2" travel fork. Dropper vs nada seat post. CF all over vs CF paint job on components.

Ya, things cost more because consumers demand more and the manufacturers are happy to sell us race inspired product.

Plus, you don't have to pay $5,000 for $5,000 bike. Just camp out overnight.

 

[Philpug]

When I opened my shop back in 95, our entry level bike was about $299. For that you got a high tensile steel frame, steel rims, galvanized spokes, no quick releases, sealed bearings or any type of suspension. For another $100 you got 3 cromo tubes with the balance of the frame being high tensile steel, alloy rims and qr's. Had to pay over $500 for full cromo, over $700 for aluminum and no suspension till over a grand.

Now for $449 you get a front suspension aluminum bike with alloy rims, stainless spokes and disc brakes. That was a $2000 bike back then.

Anyone who says an entry level bike is $2500+ is shopping in the wrong store.

Mid 90's?
Sounds like you are discribing the Trek line
800
820
830
930
7000

 

[Jersey Skier]

Mid 90's?
Sounds like you are discribing the Trek line
800
820
830
930
7000

Back then it was Giant and GT for me, but they were all the same anyway.

 

[JohnnyG]

Can I just say I find the price of bikes, and the lack of lower cost options, disturbing??

Define lower cost?

The engineering processes over the last 40 years have changed dramatically, and economies of scale make things cheaper and better than things were. Giant, and Trek are full range manufacturers, in a way, you could look at each one of them like the VW/Audi/Porsche/Lamborghini automakers, but all using the same Trek/Giant/Specialized name, nothing wrong with that, and it'll save them money versus having multiple brands under the same umbrella.

 

[Crank]

I ride an aluminum Kona Hei Hei I paid $1,500 for. I love it. I demoed a $6,500 carbon fibre Santa Cruz a few years back and loved it more, but not nearly $5k more. Not being into super high end bikes and not being a super serious rider I can;t see why I would spend so much on a bike. I have an entry level Giant road bike I paid $500 for. I think it listed for $750ish. It works just fine for me.

I bought my first mountain bike in '93, a Bridgestone, for $500 and it was far from top of the line.

 

[James]

Know nothing about bikes, but:
The original Mac was $2,400. No hard drive. Lisa was near $10k. With the Mac one really needed an extra external disc drive too to avoid the endless swapping of discs. As I recall the first Sony 3.5 inch drives were single sided discs.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

As far as top of the line bikes go, I like the fact that this is the one sport where you can have the exact same equipment that the top pros have. You can't have Lewis Hamilton's car, but you can have Chris Froome's, Greg Minnaar's or Julien Abasalon's. They cost a fortune, but at least you actually can get them.