When did things get so expensive?

[Arrowfoot]

Might be better to wait it out or go for a second hand. It not just price, it is also the specs that is in short supply so its bit of a double whammy.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

My employer is still at £1000, but container prices have gone up 6x fold according to one of my friends who has a factory in China.

This is true, we were paying $2k to bring a container from China to the UK 12-24 months ago, we've been paying up to $16k this year, though it does look like it is on its way back down again.

The problem seems to be that the containers are all in the wrong place, i.e. over here and not in China.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Or rather most of the manufacturing is now in the wrong place, so globalisation has come back to bite much of the the world on the arse.

 

[Blue Hills]

Or rather most of the manufacturing is now in the wrong place, so globalisation has come back to bite much of the the world on the arse.

I doubt you have much to worry about anyway skipdiver - have the impression that most of your componentry comes from cheap full bikes you can just strip as you need.
Did you see this coming?
Are you the second coming?

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

I doubt you have much to worry about anyway skipdiver - have the impression that most of your componentry comes from cheap full bikes you can just strip as you need.

For my everyday machinery, I'm not in the slightest bit concerned about future parts availability. You're correct, I grab anything going begging if it has no-nonsense MTB/Hybrid triple based mechanical stuff on it. To save on storage space though, I generally cannibalise them immediately after acquisition rather than store whole donor bikes - quickly discarding the frames and any other unwanted/incompatible stuff. Occasionally I will encounter a rigid steel frame worth retaining, but most are boingy MTB's or really cheap & nasty hybrids - neither of which I have any need to retain spare frames for.