- Location
- London
I'd better not quote the words of the oxbridge engineering don on such wheels at a cycling engineering event I went to a few months ago.
When off the peg new bikes start costing more than some new cars - !
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- Location
- London
Can we see a pic of the car?
- Location
- London
A like is not enough so a post to say you've hit the nail firmly on the head.
- Location
- London
Not sure i agree drago. An 11k bike is going to be very high performance and need a lot of care and attention to keep running at its 11k state. Is it possible that it might also need some increasingly rare bits?
Not at all, the point is we all like different things.
Nah, they didn't have photography back when I bought it.
SkipdiverJohn
Deplorable Brexiteer
- Location
- London
I'm not being grumpy, I'm perfectly happy to ride my current bikes, but the sort of machines I like best are not being factory-built in the UK any more. I don't want anything CF full stop and I don't want a rebadged import with a British brand logo stuck on it pretending to be the real thing. That's got nothing to do with grumpiness, just me being choosy where I spend my money and whose economy that spending ends up supporting when it comes to big ticket purchases. I will certainly treat myself to a "new" 531 framed drop bar tourer when the right one turns up locally and will even blow my normal loose change purchase budget for this, but it won't of course be new new, more likely 20-30 years old.
- Location
- London
an etching then.
- Location
- London
bizarre comment. There was a lot of sense in skipdiver's comment (in fact should have repeated it in this post) I can't see that any of my bikes have any tech that is particularly advanced. I have recently been stocking up on some second hand components for one or two bikes - not because I am some sort of vintage nut who has to have all the transfers from the exact year, but because they aren't made any more. And I know that some of those old bits are damn tough. Nice solid metal construction, no crazy weight shaving, strong springs. And so even with some use are to all intents and purposes new. My old ultegra rear mech is a solid piece of wonder - works as well as it did over 15 years ago. Despite the fact that I gave it a knock on a bollard a few years ago and had to get the hanger bent back.. Will be replacing the jockey wheels soon.
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Some shots look a very deep navy/glitter black colour? Its stunning
As soon as I win the lottery, I'll get you one.
P.S. could you lend me two quid for a lottery ticket please?
As with anything, a product's final price is much more to do with the market rather than the cost of the manufacturing. With today's leisure and image focused demographic, sporting goods manufacturers are falling over themselves to look more exclusive/better than their peers and pricing is something that can show relative status and positioning.
Most bikes (like the £8K Specialized above) are bought for emotional reasons and dare I say, bragging rights. If you're not being paid to get the extra 0.005% performance that's possible with the "latest thing" then you've wasted your money and if you are able to, why aren't you a cycling pro (in the true sense of the word pro - i.e. paid to ride a cycle). All this bullshit of marginal gains is just a load of justification nonsense for normal riders.
Cars have also crept up in price but arguably you get more product for the cash. Again, that's a market price - car manufacturers rely on volume as if they tried to charge £30K for an Astra they'd not sell any
Most bikes (like the £8K Specialized above) are bought for emotional reasons and dare I say, bragging rights. If you're not being paid to get the extra 0.005% performance that's possible with the "latest thing" then you've wasted your money and if you are able to, why aren't you a cycling pro (in the true sense of the word pro - i.e. paid to ride a cycle). All this bullshit of marginal gains is just a load of justification nonsense for normal riders.
Cars have also crept up in price but arguably you get more product for the cash. Again, that's a market price - car manufacturers rely on volume as if they tried to charge £30K for an Astra they'd not sell any
Lavender Rose
Specialized Fan Girl
- Location
- Ashford, Kent
Haha! Thank You - I do have £2 knocking around somewhere I'm sure
DCBassman
Guru
- Location
- The lumpy far South West
I'll have to say I lean toward SDJs way. Barring the old Trek, which I've had from new, all else is used, either free or cheap, then modified to my requirements.
To me, that's part of the fun - my bike really is MY bike. Unlikely to meet another on the road!
To me, that's part of the fun - my bike really is MY bike. Unlikely to meet another on the road!
SkipdiverJohn
Deplorable Brexiteer
- Location
- London
That's right, you're getting into the realms of snob value pricing not value for money pricing. The art of convincing customers to pay an inflated price for a "premium" product because they can then go and brag/show off about how rich and successful they are because they can afford to pay the price for a push bike that most people can't afford to pay for a car. It might be a bit better than a £1k bike, but it's only going to be a few percent better, not 8 times better.
Cars have also crept up in price but arguably you get more product for the cash. Again, that's a market price - car manufacturers rely on volume as if they tried to charge £30K for an Astra they'd not sell any
When you buy a car, the more you pay the more you expect to get; bigger car, faster performance, nicer trim, more gadgets, better sound system etc. Nobody pays 10 times more for a top of the range car compared to a budget car, just on the promise of saving a few pounds of weight or having a slightly smoother gearchange! That's exactly what they do with push bikes though.
As with anything, a product's final price is much more to do with the market rather than the cost of the manufacturing. With today's leisure and image focused demographic, sporting goods manufacturers are falling over themselves to look more exclusive/better than their peers and pricing is something that can show relative status and positioning.
Most bikes (like the £8K Specialized above) are bought for emotional reasons and dare I say, bragging rights. If you're not being paid to get the extra 0.005% performance that's possible with the "latest thing" then you've wasted your money and if you are able to, why aren't you a cycling pro (in the true sense of the word pro - i.e. paid to ride a cycle). All this bullshit of marginal gains is just a load of justification nonsense for normal riders.
Cars have also crept up in price but arguably you get more product for the cash. Again, that's a market price - car manufacturers rely on volume as if they tried to charge £30K for an Astra they'd not sell any
I think you'll find that some of the top time trialers are faster than the pros and are not interested in going pro as they can easily fund the sport for themselves .
Just because you cant justify buying something that costs more money than you want to spend doesn't make it emotional or a bragging right . It just means that you dont want to spend money on that thing .
