Bike imports into UK fall to 10 year low

[Cycleops]

I would like a new bike, but it doesn't seem a good time to buy , I'm considering selling my brompton to fund a new audax frame.

Now that does sound sensible.

 

[screenman]

I am sinful, I used to water ski behind my own boat, I used to windsurf and owned several boards and sails, I used to kayak, plus loads other things. See what I am getting at.

 

[DCBassman]

Well, pretty soon, I suspect, the average punter who needs a bike* will have to do what me and @SkipdiverJohn do, get something old and renovate it. SDJ maybe doesn't need to do this, but I do...Barring consumables and renovating the mixte, that's my lot of buying even new bits for at least another year, maybe more...

* that isn't a BSO...

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Maybe you can get @SkipdiverJohn to give you his cast offs?

 

[Cycleops]

Maybe you can get @SkipdiverJohn to give you his cast offs?

Hmm, dont know you could do an awful lot with them;

 

[Shadow121]

Still seeing very lightly used 2 - 3 year old machines for sale and this week i picked up a 2 yr old Voodoo Limba that had only been ridden once in that time for less than 5 miles !!

I cried all the way home Saturday week, saw a cracker of a bike in a trailer heading for the
dump, was a bank holiday weekend and roads crawling with cars so no hope of getting turned to follow it.

 

[steveindenmark]

[QUOTE="Cycleops, post: 5724644, member: 23409"
Brompton is not really a bike company but one of urban commuter [/QUOTE]

 

[steveindenmark]

Electric bikes have taken off so well in Denmark that the new big thing to steal in Copenhagen is electric bike batteries.

 

[Smudge]

The increase in sale of lazE-bikes is because 1) people are frikin lazy and 2) they don't give a crap about the damage they are doing to the planet.

I agree.... I think i'll give up using my ebike for longer distances and hauling shopping home, and just go back to using my car.

 

[BurningLegs]

I agree.... I think i'll give up using my ebike for longer distances and hauling shopping home, and just go back to using my car.

Exactly. I think a lot of people are buying ebikes for their commute. An ebike is not a ‘zero harm’ option but clearly a dramatic improvement over a car for both fitness and environmental benefit.

 

[Smudge]

Exactly. I think a lot of people are buying ebikes for their commute. An ebike is not a ‘zero harm’ option but clearly a dramatic improvement over a car for both fitness and environmental benefit.

Yup, not to mention those that have a disability or health issues.
How dare they use something that enables them to carry on cycling.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Ive lost more money owning one new car in one year than ive lost buying 10 new bikes..

Half the trouble is people go to Halfords and buy a piece of junk for 200 quid.
Ride it up the road and then think fook that, shed filler.

Ebike sales would improve vastly if you could actually get the bike that's advertised.
Stock levels are terrible. Check Rutland cycles website ect to se how many are out of stock.

Another big put off is when the would be save the planet cycle convert leaves the safety of the car and suddenly realise how bad the car drivers are, how bad our roads are.
So this also puts bikes in the shed again.

My 7 mile cycle commute is nearly all cycle ways with half a mile on road.
Peterborough cycling is quite good.

Maybe infrastructure is also a big turn off

 

[Levo-Lon]

Yup, not to mention those that have a disability or health issues.
How dare they use something that enables them to carry on cycling.

My wife only cycles because she has an ebike, she couldn't manage the hills or fitness anymore.
Medicle conditions and riding with people 20 odd years younger.
She loves going out again now, instead of worrying about spoiling others ride

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Hmm, dont know you could do an awful lot with them;

View attachment 482891

You say that but I bet there's rather a lot can be salvaged from that.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

No, saying you got an amazing product that just kept on going,as opposed to the throw away products of today that are designed
to fail or become too expensive to fix, necessitating another purchase.

You mean like the good old steel Raleighs and Dawes that I own?

Plus of course a Yorkshireman is like an Aberdonian with the generosity squeezed out . People can't see any reason to splash out so hold onto their cash and bike.

You just made me spill hot coffee all down my jeans laughing at that.....
I must have some Yorkshire tendencies as well, because I don't see any reason to splash out cash on new bikes either when my 20/30/40 year old bikes are still going strong.

It's true I see a lot of ads for newish bikes which have hardly been used. Dont know if this a trend.

Maybe it's getting even more common, but there have always been numerous well-intentioned "lose weight/get fitter" types who have gone out and bought new quality bikes - then hardly ever used them once they realised that riding can involve physical exertion. I have a '94 Raleigh Sabre MTB and a '88 Raleigh Gemini hybrid, both one previous owner and still in virtually as new time warp condition. The MTB was ridden down a canal path no more than a handful of times then put in a shed. The Gemini is Reynolds 531 and would have been expensive, yet didn't even get used enough to wear out the original Michelin World Tour tyres in 30 years!

I would rather people try cycling and find it is not for them, rather than not trying it at all.

So would I. It keeps the market flooded with hardly used secondhand bikes at bargain prices.

Well, pretty soon, I suspect, the average punter who needs a bike* will have to do what me and @SkipdiverJohn do, get something old and renovate it. SDJ maybe doesn't need to do this, but I do....

I could go out and buy any new bike I want, but 99% of what is being sold today just doesn't appeal to me at all, from the £100 suspension BSO right up to the £6k carbon roadies.
Fat frame tubes, garish decals all over the frame and wheels, and a foot of seatpost sticking out of a silly small sized frame doesn't do it for me I'm afraid. That's before you consider the rubbish engineering at both the BSO and super bike end of the market.